Pervious concrete is a stormwater management practice used in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, and many other countries. Yet the design of pervious concrete mixtures to balance strength and permeability requires more research. Sphere packing models of pervious concrete were used in compressive strength testing simulations using the discrete element method with a cohesive contact law. First, three mixtures with varied water-cement ratios (w/c) and porosities were used for model development and validation. Next, an extensive database of simulated compressive strength and tested permeability was created, including 21 porosities at three w/c. Analysis of the database showed that for pavement applications where high permeability and strength are required, the advised porosity is 0.26 to 0.30, producing average strengths of 14.4, 11.1, and 7.7 MPa for w/c of 0.25, 0.30, and 0.35. The model can guide the mixture design to meet target performance metrics, save materials and maintenance costs, and extend the pavement life.

Self-healing is a process by which concrete is able to recover its properties after the appearance of cracks, which can improve mechanical properties and durability and reduce the permeability of concrete. Self-healing materials can be incorporated into concrete to contribute to crack closure. This study aims to evaluate the influence of crystalline admixtures and silica fume on the self-healing of concrete cracks. The rapid chloride penetration test was performed on cracked and uncracked samples, from which it was possible to estimate the service life of concretes. The concretes were characterized by tests of compressive strength and water absorption by capillarity. The use of crystalline admixtures did not have a negative influence on concrete properties, but did not favor the chloride penetration resistance. The concrete with silica fume showed the lowest charge passed and highest values of estimated service life.

This paper is aimed at investigating the effects of different fiber inclusion on the mechanical properties of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) by adding mineral admixtures as cement replacement materials to reduce production costs and CO2 emissions of UHPC. Throughout this research, 21 mixture designs containing four cement substitution materials (silica fume, slag cement, limestone powder, and quartz powder) and three fibers (steel, synthetic macrofibers, and polypropylene) under wet and combined (autoclave, oven, and water) curing were developed. To investigate the mechanical properties in this research, a total of 336 specimens were cast to evaluate compressive strength, the modulus of rupture (MOR), and the toughness index. The findings revealed that at the combined curing, regarded as a new procedure, all levels of cement replacement recorded a compressive strength higher than 150 MPa (21.76 ksi). Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the mixture design containing microsilica and slag (up to 15%) were found to be higher than other cement substitutes. Also, it was shown that all levels of the fiber presented the MOR significantly close together, and samples made of synthetic macrofibers and steel fibers exhibited deflection-hardening behavior after cracking. The mixture design containing microsilica, slag, limestone powder, and quartzpowder, despite the significant replacement of cement (approximately 50%) by substitution materials, experienced a slight drop in strength. Therefore, the development of this mixture is optimal both economically and environmentally.

The creep and drying shrinkage of two alkali-activated concretes produced with low-calcium fly ash and rice husk ash (RHA) were investigated over a period of 1 year. The compressive strength of 100% low-calcium fly ash (100NFA) concrete and the concrete having 10% RHA replacement (10RHA) decreased from 49.8 to 37.7 MPa (7.22 to 5.47 ksi) and 30.2 to 18.3 MPa (4.38 to 2.65 ksi), respectively, between 28 and 365 days. The imbalance in the dissolution rate of the raw materials in the blended system (10RHA) could negatively influence the strength properties, which leads to poor matrix integrity and a highly porous structure when compared with 100NFA. The presence of the micro-aggregates due to the block polymerization provides the effect of increasing the aggregate content in the 100NFA concrete compared with the 10RHA concrete, which is hypothesized as one of the reasons creep and shrinkage properties deteriorated in 10RHA.

Coal gangue is one of the largest industrial solid wastes, and the application of coal gangue to cement-based materials is an effective way of resourcing the use of coal gangue. The optimum activation temperature of coal gangue was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric-differential (TG-DSC) analysis, and cement mortar strength testing, and then the optimal temperature-activated coal gangue powder (CGP) was mixed into coal gangue coarse aggregate concrete (CGC) as an admixture to form the double-admixture CGC. The compressive strength testing of CGC was carried out by selecting different CGP contents and coal gangue aggregate (CGA) replacement rates as variables. On the microscopic scale, the pore structure of the CGC could be analyzed by the physical adsorption analyzer technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that: 1) the optimal activation temperature of raw coal gangue in the Xuanhua Mine, Zhangjiakou, China, is 500°C; 2) with the increased replacement rate of CGA, the compressive strength of CGC indicates a decreased tendency. With the CGP content rise, the compressive strength of CGC increases first and then declines. In the case of total substitution of CGA, selecting 10% CGP to replace cement makes the compressive strength of CGC reach the maximum value; and 3) the chloride penetration resistance property of CGC could be significantly improved by mixing CGP (within 20%) into CGC.