Effect of Silica Fume on Engineering Performance and Life Cycle Impact of Jute-Fibre-Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

The brittleness of plain concrete (PC) is a result of its lack of tensile strength and poor resistance to cracking, which in turn limits its potential uses. The addition of dispersed fibres into the binding material has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on the tensile properties of PC. Nevertheless, using new or engineered fibres in concrete significantly increases the overall cost and carbon footprint of concrete. Consequently, the main obstacle in creating environmentally friendly fibre-reinforced concrete is the traditional design process with energy-intensive materials. This study investigated how the engineering properties and life cycle impact of concrete were influenced by varying the volume fractions of jute fibre (JF). The impact of incorporating silica fume (SF) as a partial replacement of Portland cement was also studied. The studied parameters included mechanical behaviour, non-destructive durability indicators, and the life cycle impact of concrete using JF and SF. The efficiency of JF in mechanical performance improved with the increase in age and with the addition of SF. When using both SF and 0.3% JF, there was an improvement of around 28% in the compressive strength (CS). When 0.3% JF was added, in the presence and absence of SF, the splitting tensile strength (STS) improvement was around 20% and 40%, respectively. The addition of JF improved the residual flexural strength (FS) and flexural ductility of PC. The SF addition overcame the drawbacks of the poor resistance of JF-reinforced concrete (JFRC) against water absorption (WA) and rapid chloride ion penetration (RCIP).

A Modified Reactive Powder Concrete Made with Fly Ash and River Sand: An Assessment on Engineering Properties and Microstructure

“…As previously stated, the primary goal of employing NFRS and a large amount of FA is to produce positive effects on the environment and the economy. Based on local market prices and prior research, the production cost and the global warming potential (GWP) index per cubic meter of RPC were computed to evaluate these benefits [24][25][26]. Table 3 displays the unit price and GWP for each item in RPC mixes per kilogram.…”

Physical, Mechanical and Structural Characteristics of Sulfur Concrete with Bitumen Modified Sulfur and Fly Ash

“…Such types of waste include waste from the fuel and energy complex and waste from gas and oil plants. For example, with regard to the use of fuel and energy complex waste in construction technology, there are many works on the use of fly ash [4][5][6][7][8][9], slag [10][11][12][13][14][15] and microsilica [16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. As for gas and oil production, the main types of waste are oil sludge, spent proppant and sulfur.…”