Sustainable Concrete: Innovations in Eco-Friendly Materials and Construction Methods

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 962

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK
Interests: construction materials; finite element modelling; mechanical caracterization; machine learning

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Guest Editor
School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Interests: building materials
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Interests: 3D concrete printing; self-healing concrete; machine learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, Sustainable Concrete: Innovations in Eco-Friendly Materials and Construction Methods, highlights recent progress in sustainable concrete through material and process innovation.

We welcome original research and reviews on low-carbon and functional binders (e.g., geopolymers, alkali-activated materials), recycled or waste-based aggregates, and bio-based or performance-enhancing additives. Priority is given to materials that not only reduce environmental impact but also improve durability, crack resistance, thermal performance, or self-healing behavior.

We also invite studies on innovative construction methods, including prefabrication, modular systems, 3D printing, and robotic or AI-assisted technologies, aimed at enabling efficient, low-carbon concrete structures.

This issue provides a platform for showcasing advances that drive sustainable, high-performance concrete solutions. We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Minfei Liang
Dr. Yidong Gan
Dr. Zhi Wan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable construction materials
  • low-carbon construction
  • advanced testing and modelling
  • artificial intelligence
  • life cycle assessment
  • 3D concrete printing
  • prefabrication and modular building

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 14313 KB  
Article
Experimental Study and Practical Application of Existing Crack Repair in Concrete Dam Tunnels Using MICP and EICP
by Xu Zhang, Yu Zhang, Huiheng Luo, Bo Peng, Yongzhi Zhang, Jiahui Yao and Mateusz Jan Jedrzejko
Buildings 2025, 15(18), 3275; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15183275 - 10 Sep 2025
Viewed by 642
Abstract
Cracks in concrete dam tunnels compromise structural safety, watertightness, and durability, while conventional repair materials such as epoxy and cement impose environmental burdens. This study investigates biomineralization methods, namely Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) and Enzyme-Induced Carbonate Precipitation (EICP), for repairing fine [...] Read more.
Cracks in concrete dam tunnels compromise structural safety, watertightness, and durability, while conventional repair materials such as epoxy and cement impose environmental burdens. This study investigates biomineralization methods, namely Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) and Enzyme-Induced Carbonate Precipitation (EICP), for repairing fine cracks in a large hydropower dam tunnel. Laboratory tests and field applications were conducted by injecting urea–calcium solutions with Sporosarcina pasteurii for MICP and soybean-derived urease for EICP, applied twice daily over three days. Both techniques achieved effective sealing, with precipitation efficiencies of 93.75% for MICP and 84.17% for EICP. XRD analysis revealed that MICP produced a mixture of vaterite and calcite, reflecting biologically influenced crystallization, whereas EICP yielded predominantly calcite, the thermodynamically stable phase. SEM confirmed that MICP generated irregular layered clusters shaped by microbial activity, while EICP formed smoother spherical and more uniform deposits under enzyme-driven conditions. The results demonstrate that MICP provides higher efficiency and localized nucleation control, while EICP offers faster kinetics and more uniform deposition. Both methods present eco-friendly and field-applicable alternatives to conventional repair, combining technical performance with environmental sustainability for hydraulic infrastructure maintenance. Full article
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