Environmental impact of concrete

Abstract

Sustainable concrete production demands satisfaction of the two most important criteria such as optimization of resources and minimization of end-of-life wastes. As discussed in the previous chapters, one of the important ways in which this can be achieved is by using coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) as an alternative to natural coarse aggregates and other industrial wastes as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). In this regard, the role of a suitable mix design method for obtaining an optimum combination of concrete constituents is also significant. In this chapter, sustainability of 100% recycled coarse aggregate concrete (RAC) along with SCMs in concrete is explored through performing life-cycle assessment, especially focusing on concrete with coarse RCA and low-volume fly ash as cement substitute (denoted as FARAC) in concrete. The effect of particle packing method (PPM) of mix proportioning on the environmental impact of FARAC is assessed for a case study of India.