Sustainable Concrete Construction

in the 21 Century:
st

Challenges & Opportunities

Dr. Mohamed Lachemi, P.Eng.

Department of Civil Engineering
Ryerson University

Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Construction

Outline

Introduction
Current Situation
Challenges
Opportunities
Research Activities

Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Construction

Construction Industry Today

In Canada, the construction industry

generates annually $110 billions and
creates almost 1 million jobs.

Worldwide, this sector generates around

US$3.5 trillion.
Construction Industry Today

Issues facing the industry:

Little emphasis on R&D;

Poor image;

Mobile workforce;

Poor productivity.
 What is Sustainable Development?

"Sustainable development meets the

needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."

United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development

Sustainability & Construction

Sustainable development in construction

should translate into:
Improved quality of life;
Protection of the environment;
Energy conservation;
Waste reduction & recycling;
Efficient use of natural resources;
Better operational performance.
Concrete in our lives

Concrete is the most widely used

construction material in the world.
Worldwide, the yearly production of
concrete is of the order of 13 billion tonnes.
Humankind consumes only water in larger
quantities.
Concrete in our lives

Concrete
(concretus)
is the key
material for
Mankind to
create the
built
environment
Concrete in our lives

What would
modern
civilization
be without
concrete?
What is Concrete?

Cement Water

Aggregate (Additives)

Concrete
Properties of Concrete

Concrete is relatively inexpensive, strong,

versatile, and resistant to fire, impact,
water, and weather.
It has also a longer service life than most
construction products and requires little
maintenance.
How Good is Good Enough?

Concrete
can be
made to
last as long
as we want
it to.
How Good is Good Enough?

Concrete
can be
made to
last as long
as we want
it to.
How Good is Good Enough?

Concrete
can be
made to
last as long
as we want
it to.
How Good is Good Enough?
Why do
Modern
reinforced
concrete
structures
begin to
deteriorate
in 20 years
or less?
The Problem

Because we use so much concrete, and

because concrete has competing
materials for many applications, the
tendency is to provide the concrete at
the lowest possible cost.
 The Current Situation

In the US, it will cost US$2 to US$3

trillion over the next 20 years to repair

all the concrete structures which are

now deteriorating from corrosion and

are poorly made and maintained.

National Research Council Report, 1990.
The Current Situation

In Canada, it is estimated that the cost

of repair all concrete structures is in

the range of $75 billion.

New Perspectives

High-performance and durability should

be given high priority in the selection of

materials and construction practices.

High Performance & Durability

The Confederation Bridge

Expected life cycle : 100 years
The ice shields are exposed to salt water,
freezing and thawing and ice abrasion.
PEI Girder

Eiffel Tower

7800 t 7200 t
Is the Confederation Bridge Safe?
Another Challenge

We need to learn how to better realize

the potential of concrete as construction
material by producing it with the use of
less energy and smaller emissions of
greenhouse gases.
CO2 Gases & Energy Consumption

The production of one ton of cement

releases about one ton of CO2 into the
atmosphere. This contributes to what
is now commonly called global
warming.
 Million Tonnes
Eu
ro
pe

0
200
400
600
800
1000
an
Un
Ot i on
Fo h er
rm E ur
er op
So e
v iet
Un
No ion
r th
Am
eri
C/ ca
SA
me
ric
a
Af
ric
Mi a
dd
le
Ea
st
Ea
st
A sia
S/S
EA
Cement Production

sia
Oc
e an
ia
2010
2005
2000
1995
 Life Cycle Analysis
Emissions SCM & Additives
Natural
& Energy Water and Aggregates
Resources
Cement
Production
Resource
extraction Recycling Life
Lime Pit

Use of waste Cycle

Re-use

materials
Classifying Demolition
Landfill Design

Adapted from Lambros & Androus

Opportunities

The construction industry is by far the

most promising sink for recycling
industrial, mining, and household wastes
because of the large volume of materials
used and its tolerance for variability in
their properties.
Vision

This Canada Research Chair in Sustainable

Construction is driven by a vision that large
volumes of waste products can be
transformed into useful construction
materials, providing economic gains,
health benefits, and environmental relief.
Waste & By-product Materials

Slag;
Fly ash;
Silica fume;
Cement kiln dust;
Industrial sludges;
Limestone screening & quarry dust;
Incinerator ash.
Fly Ash in the Construction Industry

Canada
road
construction,
0.8% other, 6.7%
mining
applications, cement, 39.9%
13.8%

concrete/grout,
38.8%
Fly Ash in the construction Industry

waste U.S.A.
stabilization,
9.9% other, 3.5%
cement raw
materials, 5.7%
structural &
flowable fills,
16.5%

road
mining concrete/grout,
construction,
applications, 52.7%
6.0%
5.8%
Coal-Ash Production & Utilization
100

80
Million Tonnes

Production
(Million
60 tonnes)
Utilization
40 (Million
tonnes)

20

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New Generation of Products

High performance concrete (HPC);

Self consolidating concrete (SCC);
Reactive powder concrete (RPC);
Flowable fill;
Structural fill;
Roller compacted concrete (RCC).
Our Focus

Self Compacting/Consolidating Concrete

(SCC) is among the new materials that
can be used for some of our pressing
needs for high performance and more
durable materials, and innovative
construction methods in the 21st century.
New Generation of Concrete

The problem of the durability of concrete

structures due, among other things, to a
significant reduction in the number of
skilled workers in Japan's construction
industry has led to the development of
SCC in the beginning of 1990s.
What is SCC?

SCC must:
Have a fluidity that allows
self-consolidation without
vibration,
Remain homogeneous
during and after the
placing process, and
Flow easily through
reinforcement.
 How to Achieve Self-Consolidation?

Limiting the coarse aggregate

content;
Increasing the paste content;
Using a superplasticizer and lowering
the water-to-powder ratio (W/P).

Okamura and Ouchi, RILEM Symposium on SCC, Stockholm 1999

Benefits of SCC

Substantial reduction in construction time

and labour cost;
Substantialreduction in the exposure to
compaction and vibration noise;
Proper filling of restricted access areas
and heavily reinforced members;
Facilitatingconstructibility with superior
surface quality and finishing.
Benefits of SCC (Our Approach)

Optimization of cement use;

Safe disposal of waste products;

Increased life-span of structures;

Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Use of SCC

SCC has already been used in several

countries. In Japan, major construction
projects included the use of SCC in the late
90s. Today, in Japan, efforts are being
made to free SCC of the special concrete
label and integrate it into day-to-day
concrete industry production.
Use of SCC in Japan

The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge:

the worlds longest suspension bridge
Use of SCC in Japan

The use of SCC shortened the anchorage

construction period by 20%, from 2.5 to 2 years.
 Use of SCC in Japan

Osaka Gas
Terminal:
the Worlds
Largest PC
LNG
Storage
Tanks
Use of SCC in Japan

In addition to enlarging the capacity of

the new tanks, the use of SCC
technology resulted in:
A decrease in the number of concrete
workers from 150 to 50; and
A decrease of construction time from 22
to 18 months.
Osaka Gas Terminal
Use of SCC in Japan
Osaka Gas has conducted a number of studies over the
years that eventually led to the development of a safe
and reliable world-record capacity 180,000-m3 PC LNG
storage tank. In addition to the advantage of the scale
brought about by increasing the tank capacity,
construction costs were significantly reduced by more
than 10% by aggressively introducing various new
technologies that reduced construction cost and period.
In terms of the land use, the 180,000-m3 PC LNG storage
tank can be installed in the same space used for a
75,000-m3 double-walled metal tank, which is an
improvement in land use efficiency of 2.5 times.

Osaka Gas Co. Website

Our Research Activities

Novel Material Environmental &

concrete mix characterization other benefits
design
Sensors & NDE
Structural (actual
Structural performance structures)
evaluation models
Smart
Lab studies
monitorin
Long-term g&
Durability behaviour & testing
Field studies
evaluation durability
models
 Will SCC Become the Standard for
Designing Concrete Structures?

One cannot design and work with a

material which one does not know
and understand thoroughly.
Therefore, design quality starts with
education.

Prof. Jorg Schlaich

Our Mission

Our mission is to educate the future

leaders of the profession and to provide
skills and foundations for life-long
learning and growth.
Attracting the Best and Brightest
Research Associates and PDFs
Dr. K.M.A. Hossain, Dr. H. Kada (Faculty, France), Dr. H. Mesbah
(Faculty, France), Dr. H. Farhat (Lecturer, Amer. Uni. Beirut)
PhD Students
R. Elimov (ExxonMobil), M. Benzerzour
Masters Students
B. Lambros, R. Patel, C. Anagnostopoulos, M. Ramcharitar, G.
Walters, M. Itashi, S.A. Kashif, P. MacAteer (Yolles), M. Lemieux
(St-Lawrence Cement)
Undergraduate Students
L. Wagner, S. Sutherland, A. Hassen, W. Thaha, B. Majok
 Team of Truly Outstanding HQP

History would have it that the chiefs

win the battles when, in actually, the

braves do the fighting.

Paraphrase of an American Indian saying

 Why Sustainable development?

We do not inherit the earth

(environment) from our parents, we

borrow it from our children.

Lets honor our debt!

Old African saying

Thank you