Dr. Mukhopadhyay Anol, Ph.D., P.G, FACI will present Innovative Performance-based Approach for Effective Utilization of Alternative SCMs in Making Durable Structural Concrete at the upcoming Cementitious Materials Congress Americas ( March 11-12, Dallas, Texas, Hilton Anatole Hotel).
The use of fly ashes as primary supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to make high-performance bridge deck concrete is a common practice by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and other highway agencies. However, the recent trend of decreasing availability of good-quality fly ashes has spurred interest in the utilization of emerging and alternative SCMs. Natural pozzolans (NPs) and ground glass pozzolan (GGP) have been gaining importance as promising alternative SCMs due to their abundant supply and cost-effectiveness.
TTI has developed innovative tests, performance-based approaches, and Tools for formulating durable structural concrete containing both conventional and alternative SCMs. From evaluating the effectiveness of NPs and GGP to ,mitigate ASR for highly reactive aggregates by these approaches/Tools, NPs alone were found to be adequate to mitigate ASR, whereas ternary blends were needed for GGP. Preliminary durability assessments by the Tool show that, while NP mixtures exhibit higher autogenous shrinkage, they have reduced drying shrinkage and comparable (low-moderate) shrinkage-based cracking potential to binary fly ash (Class C & F) mixtures.
Improvement in transport properties (diffusion and sorptivity) exceeded the binary fly ash mixtures by 90-180 days, but slower early-age microstructure development may create some limitations for field applications. Binary NP mixtures likely outperform fly ash in chloride ingress and freeze-thaw resistance. One significant observation is that NPs need additional water for optimal performance. NPs are viable alternatives to fly ash in making durable, sustainable structural concrete suited to exposure conditions while reducing carbon footprints.
This study underscores the importance of using a comprehensive performance-based approach using innovative tests to formulate tailored solutions for making sustainable and durable structural concrete using alternative SCMs.
About the speaker
Anol Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D., P.G., FACI, is a Senior Research Scientist at Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), an adjunct professor at Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, and Director of the Concrete Innovation Lab at Texas A&M University. Dr. Mukhopadhyay has over 25 years of research and project management experience related to concrete materials & durability, testing, and repair of concrete pavement/bridges, with extensive experience in developing innovative test methods related to alkali silica reaction (ASR) in concrete. He developed two ASR test methods (AASHTO T364-17 and AASHTO TP142-21) and a performance-based approach for formulating ASR-resistant concrete using locally available conventional and alternative SCMs. He led the development of a durability-based performance evaluation tool for TxDOT to evaluate ASR, shrinkage, corrosion, and freeze-thaw resistance while reducing carbon footprint. Dr. Mukhopadhyay is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and has served as Chair of ACI 221, an Executive Board member of ICMA, and Associate Editor for the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering and ACI Materials Journal.
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