Use of Innovative Sustainable and Durable Materials in Concrete Pavements

Principal Investigator(s):

Manik Barman, Associate Professor, UMD-Civil Engineering

Project summary:

Concrete is the most widely used manufactured material in existence. The key ingredient of concrete is the cement that binds various concrete ingredients together to form hardened concrete. The manufacturing of Portland cement, the most commonly used cementitious material worldwide, is responsible for emitting 5 to 8% of global anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide (CO2) every year (Cheng et al., 2023). CO2 is emitted in the production process of clinker, where it is released from the process of combustion of fuels for heating and the decomposition of limestone. By 2050, global cement demand is estimated to grow by 12 to 23% compared to 2020 levels due to the rising population and urbanization patterns (Pales and Leung, 2018). To address this concern, the concrete industry is exploring opportunities to use innovative, low-carbon cementitious materials in concrete to reduce embodied (cradle-to-gate) CO2 emissions and move toward net-zero carbon emission construction. In 2022, the National Road Research Alliance (NRRA) constructed 16 lower carbon content concrete pavement test cells at the MnROAD facility to evaluate the large-scale constructability, sustainability, and resiliency of various alternative cementitious and pozzolanic materials. In continuation of the lower carbon and sustainable pavement construction pursuit, the NRRA decided to construct eight more test cells in September 2024 to expand on the existing research effort. Construction in 2024 included seven test cells with additional innovative materials, such as blended cements with increased contents of limestone and supplementary cementitious materials, alternative non-Portland cements, supplementary cementitious materials such as calcined clay and slag cement, and microspheres for air entrainment. One control test cell was constructed with regular MnDOT Paving Mixture following AASHTO PP 84. Table 1 shows the description of the eight mixes along with the cell lengths, paving date, and length of the cells. The thickness of the slab was 7.5 inches for all the cells.

Project details:

  • Project number: 2025035
  • Start date: 12/2024
  • Project status: Active
  • Research area: Infrastructure
  • Topics: Concrete, Environment