Portland cement concrete has shown great potential for recycling different waste materials. Solid waste incorporated concrete (SWC) is considered to have positive environmental advantages. However, the utilization of solid wastes may negatively impact the mechanical performance and durability of concrete. Therefore, any change in the performance metrics of SWC should be accounted for in the comparative life cycle assessment (LCA). This article will review the functional equivalency with respect to the mechanical performance and durability metrics for SWC incorporating four main streams of solid wastes; recycled concrete aggregate, municipal solid waste incineration ashes, scrap tire rubber, and polyethylene terephthalate. It will be shown that while in most cases, SWC may have an inferior compressive strength and/or durability pre-treatment, sorting, and appropriate replacement rate of the solid wastes may solve the problem and make SWC functionally equal to the conventional concrete. Moreover, some types of SWC such as those incorporating scrap tire rubber and polyethylene terephthalate may be more advantageous if used in specific applications where dynamic loads are prevalent given their superior impact resistance. Finally, the article will discuss new insights into defining the functional unit based on the performance and application of SWC to conduct a reliable LCA.

Worldwide, the need for additional and improved infrastructure is critical. The deterioration of infrastructure has become an increasing challenge and burden on the world's economy, environment, and society. Historically, most structures worldwide have been built without durability and service-life consideration, and their premature failure reflects an acute crisis within the construction industry and the environment. Including synthetic polypropylene macrofiber in concrete structures ensures the maximizing of durability and service life extension and offers potential reductions in the binder content and reinforcing steel materials that contribute to resource depletion, environmental impacts, and increased economic burden. These material reductions and service life improvements present housing and infrastructure construction opportunities that protect the environment and ensure public safety, health, security, serviceability, and life cycle cost-effectiveness.

To support a rapid integration of sustainability principles into paving concrete practice, this study provides a closer look into readily implementable cement and concrete decarbonization strategies. To do so, this study relies on combined stakeholder involvement, quantitative analysis using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and the state-of-the-practice in the US paving concrete industry to understand merits of each solution. The results indicate that concrete mix design optimization is a promising, yet not widely applied solution that can reduce costs, enhance durability, and provide average carbon emissions savings of 14 percent. Use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) is another solution with multiple benefits, however, the use of SCM is already widely implemented across the USA. Industry-wide improvement in cement carbon footprint due to energy efficiency can provide additional savings of up to 10 percent. Quantifying the environmental footprint of concrete is critical to inform decision-making and enable more sustainable outcomes.

Developments in the prestressed concrete industry evolved to incorporate innovative design materials and strategies driven towards a more sustainable and durable infrastructure. With steel corrosion being the biggest durability issue for concrete bridges, FRP tendons have been gaining acceptance in modern prestressed technologies, as bonded or unbonded reinforcement, or as part of a “hybrid” system that combines unbonded CFRP tendons and bonded steel strands. Assessments of the efficacy of hybrid-steel beams, combining bonded and unbonded steel tendons. in the construction of segmental bridges and in retrofitting damaged members has been established by several researchers. However, limited research has been conducted on comparable hybrid prestressed beams combining CFRP and steel tendons (hybrid steel-cfrp beams). This paper provides an insight on the flexural behaviour of eighteen prestressed beams tested under third-point loading until failure with the emphasis on the tendon materials (i.e., CFRP and steel) and bonding condition (i.e., bonded, unbonded). In addition, a comprehensive finite element analysis of the beams’ overall behaviour following the trussed-beam methodology is conducted and compared with the experimental results. Results show that hybrid beams, utilizing CFRP as the unbonded element maintained comparable performance when compared to hybrid steel beams. The results presented in this paper aim to expand the use of hybrid tendons and facilitate their incorporation into standard design provisions and guidelines.

Due to a dynamic development of infrastructure, engineers around the world are looking for new materials and structural solutions, which could be more durable, cheaper in the life cycle management, and built quickly. One of prospective solutions for building small-span bridges can be precast lightweight concrete reinforced with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebars. Thanks to prefabrication, it is possible to shorten the construction time. Using lightweight concrete affects structure weight as well as transportation costs. GFRP rebars can make the structure more durable and also cheaper in terms of life cycle management costs. The paper focuses on the fatigue performance of a real-scale arch (10.0 m (33 ft) long, 1.0 m (3.3 ft) wide, and 2.4 m (7.9 ft) high) made of lightweight concrete and GFRP rebars (LWC/GFRP) in comparison with an arch made of normal weight concrete and typical steel reinforcement (NWC/steel). The fatigue loads ranging from 12 to 120 kN (2.7 to 27 kip) were applied in a sinusoidal variable manner with a frequency of 1.5 Hz. This research revealed that the NWC/steel arch exhibited significantly better fatigue resistance when compared to the LWC/GFRP arch. Differences in the behavior of the NWC/steel and LWC/GFRP models under fatigue load were visible from the beginning of the research. The LWC/GFRP model was exposed to fatigue loads, resulting in gradual deterioration at an early stage. This degradation was evident through stiffness being progressively reduced, leading to increased displacements and strains as the number of load cycles increased. The model did not withstand the fatigue load and was destroyed after approximately 390 thousand load cycles, in contrast to the NWC/steel model, which withstood all 2 million load cycles without significant damages or the stiffness being decreased. However, the prefabricated lightweight concrete arches with composite reinforcement seem to be an interesting alternative of load-bearing elements in infrastructure construction.