Development and characterization of green durable concrete for truly sustainable infrastructure applications

Resumo

Sustainable alternatives to energy intensive, high carbon footprint, concrete building materials are needed in order to meet the needs of both new construction and to maintain existing infrastructure in harmony with the natural environment. True sustainability demands both material greenness and enhanced durability, which lowers the need for costly and environmentally unfriendly repair work. This project develops a novel class of fiber-reinforced composite materials, combining the greenness of incorporating agricultural fiber and mining waste (iron ore tailings) with the enhanced durability of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC). These new "Green ECC" will provide a highly sustainable alternative to conventional concrete materials for Infrastructure systems, an alternative that is badly needed and not currently provided by any other materials. On a societal level, this project will touch the life of every person by producing truly sustainable construction materials that substantially lower the energy consumption and carbon production of the building and construction industries. Replacing even 1% of conventional concrete with Green ECC would be equivalent to taking millions of cars off of the road. The PI in Sao Paulo has a current FAPESP project on "Agroindustrial waste and their potential use as appropriate materials for housing and infrastructure." This project will contribute to the tine of activity in composite design methodology. The PI in Michigan has current NSF and DoD projects on ECC development for infrastructure and defense applications. This project will contribute to the line of activity in greening material ingredients through agricultural fibers. (AU)