Tuesday, March 31, 2026 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM, Grand G
Field demonstrations are essential for evaluating the performance of pozzolans in concrete under real-world conditions, providing valuable insights into both constructability and long-term durability. As we explore the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) beyond traditional coal fly ash and slag—such as natural pozzolans, calcined clays, and biomass ashes—it becomes especially important to recognize that these materials have different properties and behaviors that must be understood in the field. While laboratory tests offer controlled data, field trials reveal how these alternative SCMs interact with local aggregates, water, climate, and construction practices, making them a critical step in validating lab findings. These demonstrations allow stakeholders to monitor workability, setting time, finishing characteristics, and curing behavior, while also tracking durability indicators such as cracking, permeability, and strength development over time. Ultimately, field demonstrations build confidence in the use of alternative SCMs by demonstrating their practical viability and ensuring that sustainability goals are met without compromising performance.
Learning Objectives:
Proportioning with Natural Pozzolans
Presented By: Julien Hubert
Affiliation: Oregon Sate University
Description: Natural Pozzolans (NPs) are used to reduce the global warming potential (GWP) of concrete as cement replacements. NPs has been encouraged to mitigate alkali silica reaction in concrete nearly a century ago and recently gained attention to response the decreasing traditional SCMs availability. However, NPs can alter mixture workability due to their variable specific gravity and water absorption. This presentation describes the rheology and set time of selected NPs, accounting for their specific gravity and internal porosity. It will be shown that after adjusting for these factors, the results indicate that the workability of NPs mixtures is comparable to that of baseline cement system.
Production of LC3: From Pilot Trials to Commercial Production
Presented By: Anuj Parashar
Affiliation:
Description: This presentation will discuss the key learnings from trial studies on calcination of clay, production of limestone calcined clay pozzolan (LC2) and production of limestone calcined clay cement (LC3). The recommendation for conducting trial calcination and production by the RILEM Technical Committee 282 on Calcined Clay as supplementary cementitious materials will be summarized. The presentation will also focus on quality control criteria for clay, LC2 and LC3 production based on raw material composition and calcination process.
Lessons Learned from Field Demonstration of Natural Pozzolans in UC Davis’s Lab2Slab2Practice Program
Presented By: Somayeh Nassiri
Affiliation: University of California Davis
Description: Field performance data from five constructed test tracks will be presented, featuring mixtures containing zeolites, ternary cement blends with natural pozzolans, vaterite, metakaolin, and other pozzolans with a focus on constructability, finishability, and placement. Performance metrics—including strength development, durability indicators, and early-age behavior—will be discussed alongside lessons learned from full-scale construction.
Industry Implementation of New Binders: Challenges and Opportunities
Presented By: Patrick Frawley
Affiliation: Vulcan Materials
Description: This presentation will address the practical considerations, challenges, and opportunities faced by the industry when testing and implementing new SCMs, including natural pozzolans. Topics will include quality control, supply chain considerations, performance verification, and pathways to specification acceptance.
Scaling Up Limestone Calcined Clay Production
Presented By: Eric Koehler
Affiliation: Titan America
Description: This presentation will describe the importance of scaling up new cementitious materials to meet the growing demand for resilient materials. It will describe challenges and opportunities for moving to industrial scale production of calcined clay and limestone calcined clay cement (LC3).