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Resource Utilization of Solid Waste in Cement-Based Materials

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 December 2023) | Viewed by 5830

Special Issue Editors

College of Civil Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Interests: design; properties and applications of alkali-activated materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Interests: solid waste; cement; concrete; low carbon; positron annihilation

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Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Interests: concrete; cold-formed steel; composite structures
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Interests: cold-formed steel; buckling behavior; ultimate failure load; numerical simulation; design method
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce a new Special Issue of Sustainability, entitled “Resource Utilization of Solid Waste in Cement-Based Materials”.

The development of society simultaneously produces a great deal of solid waste. As a result, there is an urgent need to utilize resources. There are various kinds of solid waste, such as industrial solid waste, agricultural solid waste, mining solid waste, etc. Modified solid waste can be used in aggregates and mineral admixtures to apply in cement-based materials, reducing the production cost of cement-based materials and alleviating the environmental pollution caused by solid waste. Solid waste can prepare various types of concrete such as ultra-high-performance concrete, self-compacting concrete, special mortar and so on. The technology of using solid waste in cement-based materials is becoming more and more mature, achieving rich and promising results. This technology is also an important measure of lowering carbon emissions, a goal worthy of promoting.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • All kinds of solid waste modification;
  • Utilization of solid waste in cement-based materials;
  • Effect of solid waste on properties of cement-based materials;
  • Environmental effect of cement-based materials with solid waste;
  • We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Zhihai He
Prof. Hongyu Tao
Prof. Dr. Weibin Yuan
Dr. Nanting Yu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • solid waste
  • property
  • cement
  • concrete
  • mortar
  • utilization
  • environment

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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30 pages, 11170 KiB  
Article
Vision-Based Reinforcement Learning Approach to Optimize Bucket Elevator Process for Solid Waste Utilization
by Akshay Chavan, Tobias Rosenhövel, Alexander Elbel, Benedikt Schmidt, Alfons Noe and Dominik Aufderheide
Sustainability 2024, 16(8), 3452; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16083452 - 20 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1480
Abstract
An energy-intensive industry such as cement manufacturing requires a constant supply of high amounts of traditional fossil fuels, such as coal or gas, for the calcination process. A way to overcome this fuel need is the usage of solid waste or Alternative Fuel [...] Read more.
An energy-intensive industry such as cement manufacturing requires a constant supply of high amounts of traditional fossil fuels, such as coal or gas, for the calcination process. A way to overcome this fuel need is the usage of solid waste or Alternative Fuel Resources (AFRs), such as wood or paper. An advantage of using such waste is that their combustion byproduct, “ash”, can be used as a raw material alternative in the cement manufacturing process. However, for structural reasons, only bucket elevator technology is feasible to convey the fuel vertically for feeding the calciner in most cement plants. During the fuel feeding process, the inhomogeneous characteristics of AFRs lead to discharge parabolas of these materials varying over the infeed sample. Hence, a need arises to observe these trajectories and estimate a method for their optimal discharge. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop an intelligent high-performance bucket elevator system. As such, a vision-based reinforcement learning algorithm is proposed in this study to monitor and control the speed of the elevator depending on the material properties observed at the inlet. These inlet materials properties include the type of material used in the simulation, and the particle size distribution within the infeed sample. A relationship is established between the inlet material properties and the speed of the bucket elevator. The best possible scenario is then deduced using a reward function. Here, the reward function is formulated via the deep learning image segmentation algorithm, a novel approach. After observing the test simulation conducted with a random-parameters setup, it was noted that the optimum speed for a given infeed sample was predicted correctly. As such, it can be concluded that the goal of developing an intelligent bucket elevator system was achieved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Utilization of Solid Waste in Cement-Based Materials)
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17 pages, 7748 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Chloride Diffusion Coefficient in Concrete Based on Machine Learning and Virtual Sample Algorithm
by Fei-Yu Zhou, Ning-Jing Tao, Yu-Rong Zhang and Wei-Bin Yuan
Sustainability 2023, 15(24), 16896; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152416896 - 15 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1004
Abstract
The durability degradation of reinforced concrete was mainly caused by chloride ingress. Former studies have used component parameters of concrete to predict chloride diffusion by machine learning (ML), but the relationship between microstructure and macroparameter of concrete need to be further clarified. In [...] Read more.
The durability degradation of reinforced concrete was mainly caused by chloride ingress. Former studies have used component parameters of concrete to predict chloride diffusion by machine learning (ML), but the relationship between microstructure and macroparameter of concrete need to be further clarified. In this study, multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and support vector machine (SVM) were used to establish the prediction model for chloride diffusion coefficient in concrete, especially for the solid waste concrete. A database of concrete pore parameters and chloride diffusion coefficients was generated by the algorithm based on the Gaussian mixture model (GMM-VSG). It is shown that both MLP and SVM could make good predictions, in which the data using the normalization preprocessing method was more suitable for the MLP model, and the data using the standardization preprocessing method was more adapted to the SVM model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Utilization of Solid Waste in Cement-Based Materials)
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20 pages, 18302 KiB  
Article
The Transient Unloading Response of a Deep-Buried Single Fracture Tunnel Based on the Particle Flow Method
by Xiqi Liu, Gang Wang, Zhijie Wen, Dongxing Wang, Leibo Song, Manqing Lin and Hao Chen
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6840; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086840 - 18 Apr 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1143
Abstract
Particle flow numerical simulation was used to reproduce the transient unloading process of a deep-buried single fracture tunnel. The influence of fracture characteristics on the transient unloading effect was analyzed from the aspects of stress state, deformation characteristics, fracture propagation, and energy conversion. [...] Read more.
Particle flow numerical simulation was used to reproduce the transient unloading process of a deep-buried single fracture tunnel. The influence of fracture characteristics on the transient unloading effect was analyzed from the aspects of stress state, deformation characteristics, fracture propagation, and energy conversion. The results shows that the surrounding rock stress field of the deep-buried tunnel is divided into four areas: weak stress area I, strong stress area II, stress adjustment area III, and initial stress area IV. The fracture has an important impact on the stress adjustment process of transient unloading of the deep-buried tunnel, and the stress concentration area will be transferred from the bottom corner of the chamber and the vault to the fracture tip. With the increase in the fracture length, the distance from the stress concentration area at the fracture tip to the free surface gradually increases, and the damage area of the surrounding rock gradually migrates to the deep area of the rock mass. At this time, the release amount of strain energy gradually decreases and tends to be stable, while the dissipation energy shows a near ‘U’ shape change trend of decreasing first and then increasing. Under different fracture angles, the number of mesocracks is significantly different. Among them, the number of mesocracks in the 60° and 30° fractured surrounding rocks is greater followed by the 0° fractured surrounding rock, and the number of mesocracks in the 45° and 90° fractured surrounding rocks is relatively less. In addition, the proportion of compression-shear cracks shows a change trend of increasing first and then decreasing with the increase in the fracture angle, and it reaches the maximum value in the 45° fractured surrounding rock. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Utilization of Solid Waste in Cement-Based Materials)
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Review

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17 pages, 2100 KiB  
Review
A Review of Effect of Mineral Admixtures on Appearance Quality of Fair-Faced Concrete and Techniques for Their Measurement
by Jiabing Mao, Zhihai He, Yifeng He, Jun Lu and Jing Li
Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14623; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914623 - 9 Oct 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1589
Abstract
The appearance of fair-faced concrete is crucial, and it can be enhanced by incorporating an appropriate amount of mineral admixture. Different mineral admixtures have varying effects on the appearance quality of fair-faced concrete. For instance, the addition of fly ash helps control color [...] Read more.
The appearance of fair-faced concrete is crucial, and it can be enhanced by incorporating an appropriate amount of mineral admixture. Different mineral admixtures have varying effects on the appearance quality of fair-faced concrete. For instance, the addition of fly ash helps control color differences and bubble formation on the concrete surface, while slag powder effectively controls its color and finish. In this review, the impact of using various mineral admixtures, such as silica fume, rice husk ash, limestone powder, and seashell powder, in fair-faced concrete on its appearance quality is examined. The effective combination of mineral admixtures made from industrial by-products or solid waste with fair-faced concrete can pave the way for new directions in the green and sustainable development of construction materials. This review also discusses the difficulties in objectively measuring the appearance quality of concrete and the various methods for the acquisition and evaluation of appearance images. New techniques for acquiring and evaluating information about concrete surfaces have been developed with advancements in image acquisition and processing technology. These techniques complement traditional manual inspection methods. The 3D Alicona system is advantageous for identifying air bubbles on concrete surfaces, the atomic-force microscope detects surface roughness, and the Orbital large-format scanner is ideal for use in large-scale engineering applications. Also, evaluation methods for different image processing software are presented in this article. This information offers a useful reference for future research and practical application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Utilization of Solid Waste in Cement-Based Materials)
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