Iano's backfill

Carbon Negative Cement

Material ConneXion has given its 2010 Material of the Year Award to Carbon Negative Cement, developed by Novacem. Unllike traditional portland cement production, a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, the production of Novacem's cement actually consumes carbon dioxide, making it a carbon-negative material.

The Comparitive Sustainability of Structural Materials

Materials Matter (Architecture Record, March 2011) compares the life cycle effects of wood, steel, and concrete construction. this article provides an informative discussion of life cycle analysis techniques and interesting comparisons of these three structural materials. (Caveat: The article is sponsored by a group affiliated with the forestry industry.)

Regarding comparing the embodied effects of various building materials, the current issue of Architecture Record (March 2011, p. 115) has an article comparing the life cycle effects of wood, steel, and concrete construction. As I mentioned in my talk, this article was sponsored by a group affiliated with the forestry industry. Nevertheless, I think the material is useful.

 

The article is also available online here: http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=221&C=754 .

Tall Buildings and The City

How Skyscrapers Can Save the City, Atlantic Magazine, March 2011, is a provocative analysis of the role of tall buildings and density in the development of cities and the fostering of social equity. Some additional interesting features are also included, such as a interactive graphic of the historical development of tall building structures, an interview with article author Edward Glaeser, an historical gallery of architecture by Louis Sullivan, articles on the world's most dynamic cities, and more.

Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Reinforced Concrete Bridge Design

Building a Bridge of (and to) the Future (www.nytimes.com, October 12, 200) describes the innovative use of inflatable carbon and glass fiber arch forms in the construction of economical arched concrete highway bridges. 

23 tubes, roughly 12 inches in diameter are inflated, bent to the proper shape, and infused with resin. The lightweight hollow tubes can then be lifted into position by just two workers. Once set in place, the tubes are filled with concrete to make inexpensive composite arches.

The FRP reinforcing is more resistant to corrosion than traditional steel reinforcing and lighter in weight. In this system, the lack of expensive formwork creates an added economy.

Interesting graphics and audio are also included.

See also Bridge In a Backpack.

Bridge In A Backback

Maine first to use process for stronger bridges (forbes.com, 4/11/2009) describes innovative concrete bridge-forming technology developed at the University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center.

Formwork for concrete arches is made from lightweight, composite fabric tubular arches that are prefabricated off-site and then folded up for easy transport. Once on site, the arches are inflated into final shape and then filled with concrete. The fabric tubes, made of a carbon-glass fiber blend coated with resin, become an intergral part of the concrete  structure in the finished construction. Erection of formwork and pouring of the concrete arches can all be accomplished in as little as one day's time.

The Center's own web site provides information on a range of technologies in development, such as composite-reinforced structural wood panels, glulams, and more.

Pollution-Reducing Cement

A Concrete Step Toward Cleaner Air (Businessweek.com, 11/8/2006) reports on the use of concrete formulated with photocatalytic agents in the construction of walls and slabs at the Italian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. In the presence of light, Italcementi Group's TX Active proprietary cement used in the concrete mix breaks down carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, benzene, and other pollutants into less harmful compounds such as water, nitrates, and carbon dioxide. The basic ingredient in TX Active, a blend of titanium dioxide, can be added to cement, mortar, paints, and plaster. Full-scale tests of the product in repaving projects in other locales have resulted in up to 60% reduction in measured pollutants.

The Vatican's Jubilee Church in Rome, 2003, (image above) was the first project to use TX-Active cement concrete.

Smog-Eating Concrete May Soon Cover US Buildings (ENR March 5, 2007) reports on the anticipated arrival TX-Active cement products in the United States via Italcementi Group's US subsidiary Essroc Cement Corp, though no specific projects are named. According to ENR, the titanium dioxide cement mix was first formulated to produce concrete with a brilliant white color, and it's pollution reducing properties were only appreciated later.

Superabsorber (transmaterial, March 8, 2007) describes the Superabsorber system designed by Douglas Hecker and Martha Skinner of fieldoffice that combines sound absorbing and photocatalytic air pollution reducing properties in sponge-like highway sound barrier walls. 

See also: Anti-Pollution Paint

Ultra-High Performance Concrete

Iowa Bridge Gives Glimpse Into the Future (Ascent, Designing With Precast, Summer 2006) describes the use of extraordinarily high-strength concrete in precast beams for the Mars Hill highway bridge in Wapello County, Iowa.

The "bulb tee" beams  (photo left) were cast with a proprietary concrete mix from Lafarge North America capable of producing concrete with compressive and tensile strengths as high as 30,000 psi and 7000 psi, respectively. (For comparison, conventional concrete is typically specified with compressive strength in the range of 2500 - 5000 psi, and taller buildings are being designed with concrete with compressive strengths as high as 10,000 - 20,000 psi.) Among the reported benefits are:

• A lighter, thinner structural member: The bulb tee beams used in the Mars Hill Bridge have webs 4-1/2 inches wide, compared to 6-1/2 inches for a conventional precast bulb tee, bottom flanges  5-1/2 inches deep, compared to 7-1/2 inches for a conventional tee, and top flanges 2-3/4 inches deep, compared to 3-3/4 inches for a conventional tee.
• The more dense concrete results in a structural member that is more resistant to the effects of weather and road salts, and that should be longer-laster.
• Reduction in the need for conventional steel reinforcing: Aside from the prestressing strands, the only other steel reinforcing in the Mars Hill Bridge beams are U-shaped bars used to develop bond between the precast beams and the cast-in-place concrete bridge deck. There are no stirrups or other conventional reinforcing steel.

More Info
For more about Lafarge Company's proprietary Ductal concrete, see Iano's Backfill Flexible Concrete.

Recycled Waste In Concrete Construction

Slab Alternatives From Recycled Waste (Architecture 04/2006) describes two proprietary Swiss systems from using recycled waste products in concrete to provide lighter-weight, better-performing concrete products.

Cobiax Technologies manufactures a system of hollow recycled polyethylene plastic spheres integrated with steel reinforcing cages that may be used to construct sitecast or "semi-precast" concrete floor slabs. This slab system can span from approximately 5 to 20 meters (15 to 65 feet) with thicknesses ranging from 230 to 580 mm (9 to 24 inches), capabilities roughly comparable with sitecast concrete one-way joist systems or precast concrete hollow core slabs.

In comparison to conventional concrete systems, the manufacturer claims weight savings of up to 35%, and additional potential savings through reduction in construction time and simplification of concrete forming requirements.

Geofil manufacturers glassy spheres from recycled waste, with sizes ranging from 2 to 25 mm (1/16 to 1 inch) in diameter. When added to concrete, the manufacturer claims a lighter-weight material with improved heat resistance and higher insulating values is produced. 

Concrete Residential Construction On The Rise

Concrete Homes Gain Significant Market Share (Portland Cement Association's Concete Homes Newsletter, November/December 2004) reports that 211,000 homes employing concrete wall systems were built in the year 2003. This amounts to 16% of all new single-family homes built in that year, an increase of 2% from 2002.

Types of construction included in these figures include insulating concrete formwork (ICF), autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC), concrete masonry, precast concrete, and others.

Flexible Concrete

Flexible concrete offers new solutions (Concrete Construction, December 2004) describes a highly ductile concrete produced under the trade name "Ductal". Flexible concrete differs from conventional reinforced concrete primarily in the absence of large aggregate in the concrete mix and the substitution of steel or organic fiber reinforcing for standard mild steel reinforcing.

The key to the behavior of the material is the creation of a highly regular matrix of fine aggregate interspersed with the reinforcing fiber in the concrete mix. The result is a material with greater strength and ductility than conventional reinforced concrete. Compressive strengths as high as 33,000 psi and flexural strengths as high as 7200 psi are claimed. Under extreme loading the material exhibits ductile behavior more similar to steel than conventional reinforced concrete. Ductile concrete also exhibits low porosity, reduced creep under sustained loading, and reduced drying shrinkage.

The high flexural strength of ductile concrete allows new possibilities for slender concrete elements. For example, curved concrete shell canopies for the a Calgary light rail transit station span 18 by 20 feet and are only 3/4 of an inch thick.

More Info:
Lafarge Ductal Home (click at top-right to view English version of site)
See also U-M researchers make bendable concrete (University of Michigan, May 4, 2005) press release for news of a similar developments at this university. Video links also included.