bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Environmental Benefit of Circular Economy Decisions for Managing Waste in Road Construction: The Norwegian GoGreen Case Study
Authors: O’Born Reyn , Vetnes Alexander 
Published: January 2025

AbstractCircular construction is a branch of circular economy (CE) that seeks to reduce the environmental impacts in the built environment through intelligent, sustainable, and circular practices. Examples such as design for reuse, use of recycled materials, and regenerative infrastructure are nascent concepts within the construction industry, as most focus is directed towards buildings with less focus given to other forms of infrastructure, especially roads. A pilot project, known as GoGreen, has been developed for a Norwegian highway project, where materials from demolition are recovered and sorted on the construction site and sent for recycling. While construction projects typically recover less than 40% of waste, GoGreen uses careful planning and implementation to recover nearly 100% of waste materials for recycling. In this chapter, we investigate the circular concepts implemented in the Betna-Hesnes highway project to understand if the choices made lead to lower emissions and to help understand the scale and relevance of these actions as part of larger infrastructure projects. Through the use of life cycle assessment (LCA), we have analysed the processes for collecting, sorting, and recycling materials on the Betna-Hesnes project to understand the overall environmental footprint and attempt to quantify the impact of circular activities. The overall environmental benefit from the GoGreen tent was approximately 89 tons of CO2-equivalents saved. The results of this study will be useful for policymakers and actors within the construction industry to give greater insight into what actions can lead to the best environmental outcome and to push the road construction industry towards greater circularity.
Three-Dimensional Printing of Fly Ash-Based Geopolymer Materials
Authors: Alam Shaurav , Gordon Stephen , Bassett Blake , Cobb Kevin , Jefferson Brandon , Nwoha Nnamdi , Manzur Tanvir , Crittenden Kelly , Matthews John 
Published: January 2025

AbstractThis research aims to design and develop a proof-of-concept system for three-dimensional (3D) printing of fly ash-based geopolymer materials. The primary focus of this research was designing and creating a 3D printer capable of printing straight multi-layered geopolymer walls. The geopolymer mixture consists of fly ash, an industrial waste by-product, sand, sodium silicate, sodium hydroxide, and water. Through the controlled application of AC voltage, the natural resistance of the geopolymer causes heat generation through a phenomenon known as ohmic heating. This heating method rapidly cures the geopolymer in as little as five (5) minutes based on volume. Several off-the-shelf 3D printer designs were studied to understand the working principle, and ultimately, the final design was developed based on the necessary design criteria. This design allowed the printer to extrude geopolymer through a rotating auger assembly. Parallel copper electrodes mounted at the end of the extruder allow AC voltage to apply through the uncured geopolymer and heat it as it is extruded. Following many trials, the developed printer provided proof of concept for a viable electrically heated rapid-setting geopolymer 3D-printed wall. This design effectively demonstrates that with further development, the 3D printing of geopolymer can potentially serve as an eco-friendly alternative to 3D-printed concrete.
Compressive Characteristics of Perforated Re-entrant Auxetic Steel Honeycomb–Mortar Composite
Authors: Momoh Emmanuel Owoichoechi , Hajsadeghi Mohammad , Jayasinghe Amila , Vinai Raffaele , Kripakaran Prakash , Orr John , Evans Ken E. 
Published: January 2025

AbstractThe possibility of achieving auxetic behaviour in conventional materials is currently attracting significant research interests in the form of auxetically enhanced cementitious composites and, especially, in re-entrant honeycomb structures. Most studies on the behaviour of re-entrant steel honeycomb auxetic reinforcement for concrete focus on achieving uniplanar auxetic behaviour perpendicular to the direction of loading. This study focuses on investigating multi-planar auxetic behaviour throughout the composite. The auxetic behaviour was achieved by perforating the steel sheets before making the re-entrant honeycomb structures. The re-entrant honeycomb was fabricated by folding mild steel strips 70 mm wide into a re-entrant profile and welding the strips onto one another. Three types of perforations were investigated, representing three categories of samples: circular perforation, orthogonal elliptic perforations and orthogonal peanut perforations. The perforated samples were compared to the non-perforated re-entrant honeycomb (control) through compression strength tests of the composites. Direct tension tests were also carried out on each steel strip in order to understand their respective stress–strain behaviour. The study demonstrates that perforating the re-entrant honeycomb walls could be a simple method for achieving multi-planar auxetic behaviour in re-entrant steel honeycomb-reinforced cementitious composites.
Scaling Effect on Mechanical Property of Calcium Silicate Hydrate in Cement Using Reactive Molecular Dynamics
Authors: Cao Jie , Wang Chao , Gonzalez-Libreros Jaime , Tu Yongming , Elfgren Lennart , Sas Gabriel 
Published: January 2025

AbstractMolecular dynamics simulations have been increasingly employed to investigate the mechanical properties of cement hydrates at the nanoscale. This technique deepens the understanding of cement-based materials, yet correlating these nanoscale findings with larger scale experiments remains a challenge, particularly due to scaling effects. This study focuses on the scaling impact on calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H). Two types of C-S-H models were constructed: one with defective silicate chains and the other without. Each model includes three sub-models of varying sizes. Under uniaxial tension along silicon chain direction, the stress and strain responses were recorded. The results show that at the nanoscale, model correction such as silicon chain breakage has a greater impact on the elastic modulus and tensile strength than model size. Additionally, the stress–strain curve obtained during the tension process needs to be corrected before comparison with stress–strain on other scales. The findings provide crucial insights into the mechanical behavior of C-S-H at the nanoscale and offer a theoretical basis for bridging the gap between nanoscale simulations and larger scale experimental results.
Exploring the Impact of Silica-Rich Calcined Clay as Portland Cement Additive to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Authors: Meddah Mohammed Seddik , Najjar Ola 
Published: January 2025

AbstractLocal clay, characterized, ground, and burnt, was used to partially substitute ordinary Portland cement (OPC) for mortar production. The raw clay burning was optimized to guarantee the lowest possible environmental effect with the highest possible reactivity of the calcined clay Fanja (CCF). The obtained clay pozzolana was used in mortar at (0–30%) proportions to partially replace OPC. The blended mortar was evaluated at fresh and hardened states, including the flow, compressive strength, and durability properties.The findings show a decrease in the mortar’s flow, while the various CCF contents enhanced the compressive strength. Meanwhile, the mortar’s porosity and permeability decreased. The blended CCF mortars showed an impressive resistance to chloride compared to the plain mortar. Apart from its noteworthy mortar’s mechanical and durability performance improvements, the developed cementitious system is more cost-effective and environment-friendly compared to the control. This research advocates for using locally sourced, eco-friendly construction materials, as they enhance building performance and longevity and have minimal adverse effects on the environment and ecosystem.
Performance Evaluation of the Quantification of Cement Microphases Using Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy Imaging
Authors: Silva Anuradha , Baduge Shanaka , Mendis Priyan 
Published: January 2025

AbstractCement manufacturing is one of the widest industries in the world and yet largely contributes to the global CO2 emissions. As a result, introducing low carbon sustainable concrete designs without compromising performance has become one of the greatest challenges over the last few decades. This complexity was majorly caused by heterogeneity of concrete due to the existence of cementitious particles, fibers, or fine filler materials. Further, this multi-scale material heterogeneity of concrete influences the performance of concrete at macro levels and makes it more complicated to understand the hydration behaviors. Macroscale trial and error-based mechanical property testing might not always be the feasible way to find the optimum mix designs, because those techniques cannot quantify the root cause relationship to the microstructure. Therefore, microscale quantitative chemical and mechanical characterizations pave the way for cement to upscale strength from microlevel to structural level using strength homogenization, revealing the compositional characteristics which contributed to the strength variation in any novel cement mix. Since microphase identification is crucial to achieve that task, in this study, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) together with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to quantify the hydration of an ultra-high-performance cement paste at microlevel. The image analysis is carried out using the mapping data collected from four different locations of the same cement batch, and the accuracy of the hydration quantification is compared with an independent analytical hydration simulation software, Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL) by NIST.
Effect of Discarded Rubber Tire Crumbs and Tile Ceramic Waste Powder on Workability and Strength Properties of Geopolymer Concrete
Authors: Faridmehr Iman , Huseien Ghasan Fahim , Baghban Mohammad Hajmohammadian , Lund Håvard 
Published: January 2025

AbstractCurrently, geopolymers are introduced as sustainable construction materials with high durability performance and lower carbon dioxide emission. This experimental work prepared geopolymer concrete specimens with 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70% of tile ceramic waste powder (TCWPs) as ground blast furnace slag (GBFS) replacement. Then, the natural coarse and fine aggregates, including crushed stone and river sand, were replaced by 10, 20, and 30 vol% of discarded rubber tire crumbs (DRTCs). The effect of TCWPs and DRTCs inclusion on the geopolymer matrix workability, compressive strength, and splitting tensile and flexural strengths are assessed. From the results obtained, it was found that the content of TCWPs and DRTCs significantly influences the proposed geopolymer’s workability. The results show the increasing content of TCWPs as GBFS replacement led to improved concrete workability. However, the utilization of DRTCs as natural aggregate replacements negatively affects slump value and workability, with a trend to decrease with increasing replacement levels. Moreover, the results show an inverse relationship between TCWPs and DRTCs content and strength development of proposed concrete. The loss in strength was found to increase with increasing content of both TCWPs and DRTCs. However, the investigated geopolymer concrete achieved acceptable compressive strength (more than 25 MPa), which can be considered for many applications in construction sectors. It is shown that using TCWPs and DRTCs in geopolymer production can help produce construction materials with reduced environmental impacts, including carbon emissions and landfill problems.
Effects of Low-Carbon Binders on the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Biobased Insulation Materials
Authors: Affan Houssam , El Haddaji Badreddine , Khadraoui Fouzia 
Published: January 2025

AbstractThe impact of climate change has prompted government authorities to implement regulations aimed at reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The construction industry holds a prominent position among the major greenhouse gas emitters, contributing a large amount of global energy consumption. A significant portion of these emissions is attributed to heating. In response to these challenges, the use of biobased materials emerges as a solution. In this context, this study aims to assess the impact of low-carbon binders on the mechanical and thermal properties of biobased insulation materials. Binders such as natural prompt cement and natural air lime CAEB CL 90-S are considered sustainable, low-carbon alternatives. The results highlight that hempcrete (cement/hemp) exhibits enhanced mechanical strength with a 0.80 MPa at 28 days and low thermal conductivity with a value of 0.12 W/(m·k). In comparison, hempcrete with lime exhibits lower mechanical strength (0.4 MPa) and thermal conductivity (0.20 W/(m·k)) at 28 days and flax shives with both binders. In a parallel manner, it is observed that the compressive strength of flax shives, when combined with both binders, is inferior to that of cement/hemp. Simultaneously, the thermal conductivity of flax shives with both binders surpasses that of cement/hemp.
Increasing the Incorporation of CO2-Sequestering Materials in Concrete
Authors: Mezhov Alexander , Asante Bright , Schmidt Wolfram 
Published: January 2025

AbstractThere are different ways to reduce the CO2 amounts emitted from concrete production, e.g., carbon capture during the cement production, application of low-clinker binders, or changing the structural design strategies to decrease the total consumption of overall materials. Another vital approach is to foster the application of locally available resources, which does not require a significant amount of energy for the production and transport, and which could be used as cementitious materials without compromising the properties of the concrete. Biochar, produced by pyrolysis, is a potentially promising material for improving the sustainability of cementitious materials as it can sequester CO2 and can be made widely available. However, its use in concrete is limited due to negative effects on concrete properties at dosages that can have a significant effect on the carbon footprint. These effects depend on the source of raw biomass and pyrolysis conditions. Biochar’s high porosity leads to the absorption of mixing water, altering the water to cement ratio and rheology. Superplasticizers can help adjust this, but at the cost of longer setting times. High levels of biochar also reduce the mechanical properties of cement-based materials. Currently, the maximum replacement of cement with biochar without compromising mechanical properties is 5–10%. However, to increase the CO2 reduction potential, the content of biochar in cement-based materials must be increased. The current paper suggests possible strategies to promote the use of biochar in cementitious materials to increase its CO2 reduction potential and pave the way to net-zero concrete technologies.
Optimization of Nativo Wood Fibre Insulation Board Through LCA Analysis
Authors: La Rosa Angela Daniela , Thomassen Gaute , Erlandsen Petter 
Published: January 2025

AbstractA previous LCA study on the insulation products has led to some uncertainty on the resulting Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certification obtained by Hunton Fiber AS in Norway. There are certain themes included in the existing LCA which contain larger uncertainties than others. The bulk of uncertainties are related to allocation of impacts stemming from the phase of extraction and production of raw materials (A1), impacts from the transportation of raw materials (A2) and impacts of different scenarios of waste processing (C3). Goal of this study is to address these uncertainties by investigating (i) different scenarios for allocation of impacts from raw materials (wood chips), (ii) the impact of different modes of transportation of raw materials and (iii) different waste treatment scenarios. A comparative analysis of different LCA scenarios was assessed focused on the product’s impact on climate change and results are taken by the company as useful suggestions for future decisions.
Dynamic Characterization of Indian Pond Ash Through Cyclic Simple Shear Tests
Authors: Sireesha Ghanta Naga , Raychowdhury Prishati 
Published: January 2025

AbstractIndia depends heavily on coal-based thermal power plants for its energy requirements, with as much as 75% of all installed power production capacity sourced from coal-based plants. Although the country is gradually moving towards non-conventional and renewable energy sources, still the dependency on coal-based energy is significant to date. Some recent studies have indicated that by 2030, the country will be in need of more than 1340 MT coal for power generation annually. The average ash production is 33% of coal consumed, which in turn implies that nearly 437 MT of annual ash production. To reduce this disposal problem and the construction cost of engineering structures, pond ash is nowadays encouraged to be widely used as a geotechnical fill material in various infrastructure, in particular highway construction. However, there is significant research gap regarding understanding the behaviour of pond ash, particularly under repetitive cyclic loading, vehicle-induced vibratory loading, and earthquake-induced high-intensity and high-frequency transient loadings. The present study focuses on experimentally investigating the cyclic behaviour of pond ash samples under various confining pressures and strain levels and relative densities. The pond ash sample was collected from the nearby Parichha Thermal Power Plant located in Jhansi town in Uttar Pradesh, India. A series of element-level strain-controlled cyclic simple shear tests have been conducted for this purpose, apart from physical characteristic tests, compaction test, permeability tests, and direct shear tests on pond ash. The dynamic shear modulus was observed to be highly sensitive to the change in confining pressure, showing an increase of about 34% when the confining pressure was increased from 100 kPa to 200 kPa. For subjected to higher strain amplitude, the ash material showed softer behaviour with faster degradation in strength and stiffness and increased vulnerability for liquefaction related failure.
Analysis of the Mechanical Behavior of Rammed Earth Mixes Using Soft Computing Methods with an Emphasis on Sustainability
Authors: Baibordy Aryan , Yekrangnia Mohammad , Khodabakhshian Fatemeh 
Published: January 2025

AbstractThe construction industry is expected to be transformed due to its significant contribution to the consumption of natural resources, emissions, and solid waste. Despite its slow progression in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), in recent years, engineers have been adopting several techniques to address sustainability issues. Among the available sustainable construction techniques, the utilization of earthen materials, particularly rammed earth, which has been adapted from historical practices, has attracted significant attention from the public. Notwithstanding being recognized as a sustainable technique, its compressive strength is not on par with certain applicable construction materials, especially concrete. Therefore, its compressive strength remains a controversial issue. In the first place, this study performs a sentiment analysis using an NLP-based tool to assess the public’s comments and sentiments toward implementing sustainable techniques in the construction industry. In the second place, through a bibliometric study, the trends and gaps in rammed earth research are studied. In the third place, this research article employs soft computing methods such as ANN and DT and data science principles so as to predict and analyze the mechanical behavior, particularly compressive strength, of both unstabilized- and stabilized-rammed earth materials. Finally, the results are compared and critically discussed with an emphasis on sustainability. Overall, this article offers valuable insights into gauging public perception of sustainable construction methods such as rammed earth and exploring the practicality of computer-aided modeling for predicting the mechanical behavior of rammed earth mixtures.
Environmental Impact of Timber Concrete Composites: An Overview
Authors: Dalbiso Alemayehu Darge , Baghban Mohammad Haj Mohammadian 
Published: January 2025

AbstractIncreased attention toward a sustainable built environment has driven the construction industry to utilize new materials such as bio-based materials and composites as an alternative to conventional materials. Timber concrete composite (TCC) structural members address performance challenges of timber construction, offering improved stiffness, sound insulation, fire resistance, and reduced deflection and floor vibration compared to timber elements. Moreover, TCC structures are lighter and have a lower carbon footprint than conventional reinforced concrete elements. Extensive research has been conducted to identify the structural and economic viabilities of TCC. Nevertheless, there is a demand for comprehensive understanding of the environmental impacts of TCC. LCA method is currently being used as an effective tool for evaluating the environmental impacts of alternative building materials. In this study, a systematic investigation on peer-reviewed studies on LCA of TCC elements is performed. It is found that a holistic LCA or life cycle inventory (LCI) study of TCC is not available yet and the studies vary in scope, system boundaries, data sources and indicators in the LCA. The system boundary was set as cradle-to-gate in most studies due to a lack of sufficient data regarding the end-of-life phase. Particularly, there is limited information on the material disposal impacts that will occur some decades later, and the carbon storage potential of timber is often overlooked. In the future, additional studies need to be conducted to comprehensively assess the entire cradle-to-grave cycle to understand the potential environmental impacts of using TCC.
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of New Reinforced Concrete Structures in Aggressive Environments: From Real Experience to Future Applications
Authors: Hernandez Juan Daniel Cassiani , Keßler Sylvia 
Published: January 2025

AbstractThe carbon emissions of future reinforced concrete structures need to be considered throughout their entire life cycle to meet CO2 reduction targets. This is critical for structures exposed to aggressive environments, such as chloride, due to the increased risk of reinforcement corrosion. Premature degradation caused by steel corrosion leads to significant repairs, increasing both the CO2 footprint and also the costs of the structure over its service life. This work proposes a design framework that integrates the laboratory performance concept consigned in the new Eurocode 2 and Sustainability Assessment. The framework’s applicability is demonstrated through a case study inspired by an existing structure. By employing a multi-criteria decision-making method, the proposed framework concurrently considers environmental impact and cost, facilitating the selection of the most balanced alternative in terms of environmental reduction objectives and budget constraints. The results show that appropriately selecting the Exposure Resistance Class leads to more cost-effective and environmentally friendly structures.