Development of volcanic ash based self-stressing engineered cementitious composites (ECC)
Journal
Cement and Concrete Composites
Journal Volume
168
Start Page
106468
ISSN
09589465
Date Issued
2026-04
Author(s)
Zhu, He
An, Yonghui
Bhutta, Aamer
Zapsas, Georgios
Nasser, Waleed
Ellis, Brian R.
Li, Victor C.
Abstract
The unavailability of fly ash (FA), high embodied carbon, and drying shrinkage present challenges in developing engineered cementitious composites (ECC) for pavement applications. This study aims to develop FA-free high-performance ECC to address these concerns. Firstly, locally available volcanic ash (VA) was utilized to fully replace the FA in ECC. Then, calcium sulphoaluminate cement (CSA) was incorporated to compensate for the high shrinkage of VA ECC. By deliberately designing the curing regime with wet-curing (at least 24 h), VA-ECC can achieve intrinsic self-stressing capacity with a relatively low content of CSA (100 kg/m3 herein), which shows advantages for thinner pavements with a sufficient construction time window during the summer season. The shrinkage, working time window, mechanical performance, and sustainability evaluations of this VA-ECC were investigated. Results suggested that the self-stressing VA-ECC possesses a maximum expansion of 5275 με, an average compressive strength of 40.9 MPa, and a tensile strength of 9.03 MPa. Working time window was defined by the time duration between the casting and time that spread diameter drops to 130 mm per ASTM C1437. The working time window of the designed ECC was extended to 120 min due to the low CSA content combining with wet curing method. Benefiting from the high flexural strength, VA-ECC reduced the pavement thickness by up to 66 %, resulting in a 48 % reduction of CO2 footprint compared to traditional concrete pavement. This developed VA-ECC demonstrates potential as a candidate material for ultra-thin low-carbon pavements, for which the design method warrants future studies.
Subjects
Carbon footprint
Engineered cementitious composites (ECC)
Pavement
Shrinkage
Volcanic ash
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Type
journal article