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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2021.
Special Issue Editor
Interests: sustainable cementitious materials; durability of cementitious materials; self-healing; innovative cementitious materials; fiber-reinforced cementitious materials for structural applications
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainability is a topic of crucial importance to be considered in all human activities, as a matter of fact, society is responsible to guarantee a more sustainable world. To this purpose, the interest provided by the scientific community on sustainability is continuously growing and special attention is given to all the phases of the built environment such as: design, production, construction, maintenance, repair and demolition of any building or civil engineering structure from an environmental, social and economic point of view.
A high amount of the annual budget of construction industry is spent in the repair and in the maintenance of existing damage structures, as a matter of fact, the objective should be to extend the service life of structures reducing maintenance costs. Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world, as a consequence it has a high impact. For this reason, it is of utmost interest to build with highly durable and low-maintenance materials, such as self-healing cementitious materials.
The main scope of this Special Issue will be to provide a through overview of the research in sustainable and innovative cementitious building materials. Current topics of interest include:
- Self-healing cementitious materials
- Reduction of CO2 emissions due to concrete production
- Use of recycled materials, including recycled concrete
- Durability studies
- Use of nano-additions in sustainable constructions
- Innovative building materials
- Use of waste materials and industrial by-products in concrete
Dr. Estefania Cuenca, Assistant Professor
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 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
- Sustainability
- Durability
- Innovative cementitious materials
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Sustainable compacted soil blocks prepared with blast furnace slag (BFS) activated with olive-stone biomass ash (OBA)
Authors: J. Payá, J. Roselló, L. Soriano, M.V. Borrachero, A. Font, J. Monzó
Abstract: The soil stabilization by compaction, using cementing materials, is a well-known procedure for the earth-based building blocks preparation. Related to the selected binding materials, the innovation is usually focused on low carbon systems, many of them based on alkaline activation. In the present paper, blast furnace slag (BFS) is used as mineral precursor, and the innovative alkali activator was the olive-stone biomass ash (OBA). This means that the most important component in terms of CO2 emission, that is the alkali activator, has been replaced by a greener alternative, the OBA. The BFS/OBA mixture was used for preparing compacted dolomitic soil blocks. These specimens were mechanically characterized by compression and their water resistance and water absorption were assessed. The microstructure of the blocks and the formation of cementing hydrates was monitored. Compared to a compacted soil using ordinary Portland cement, the new alkali activated stabilized soil based on BFS/OBA showed a lower strength development rate, even though strength values tend to be similar for long curing time (90 days). It was concluded that OBA is a sustainable alternative as alkali activator for producing BFS stabilized compacted soil blocks.
Title: Use of Iron and Steel Slags in Concrete: State of the Art and Future Perspectives
Authors: Alan Piemonti, Antonio Conforti, Luca Cominoli, Sabrina Sorlini and Giovanni Plizzari
Abstract: In the two last decades, the world production of cast iron and steel has undergone a significant increase. In 2019, 1,252,868 and 1,816,611 thousand tons of cast iron and steel were produced as compared to the 575,000 and 850,020 thousand tons of 2000. Consequently, the amount of the different types of slags deriving from these production processes has also increased considerably. In relation to the principles of sustainability and circular economy, the available literature suggests several possible reuses for these slags (bituminous conglomerates, hydraulic engineering, metallurgy, fertilizers, etc.). This paper aims to provide an overview of the iron and steel slags production and their reuse in concrete (for example as replacement of cement, fine or coarse aggregates). The characteristics of slags are analyzed in terms of chemical, physical and mechanical properties. Mechanical and durability tests (both from material and structures point of view) carried out in the different studies and researches are shown as well. Finally, based on this deep literature review, the gaps that still require further studies have been identified and discussed.
Keywords: concrete; iron; slag; steel; sustainability
Title: Autogenous Self-Healing Capacity of Early-Age Ultra-High Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete
Author: Estefania Cuenca and Pedro Serna
Abstract: This paper analyzes the autogenous self-healing capacity of early-age Ultra-High Performance Fiber Reinforced concretes (UHPFRCs) by measuring the crack closure and the possible mechanical recovery on healed specimens. The main parameters of this research were: healing exposure conditions (moist room, immersion in tap water, immersion in seawater and hot curing) and precracking level (microcrack and macrocrack level). For the microcrack level, 4-point bending tests were performed on prismatic specimens (100x100x500mm) obtaining a multiple cracking pattern with crack widths smaller than 100µm, whereas for the macrocrack level, splitting tests were carried out on notched cubic specimens (100x100x100mm) obtaining crack widths up to 0.4 mm. For both precracking levels, specimens were precracked at 2 days and were cured for 1 month in the mentioned exposure conditions. Healing products were analyzed on the specimens’ surface and also inside the cracks, to this purpose their microstructure was analyzed by means of SEM and EDS analysis. The results have shown that the highest crack closure values were obtained for the hot cured specimens and for the specimens immersed in water (tap water and seawater) whereas the less efficient condition was the moist room.
Keywords: autogenous healing; early-age concrete; self-healing concrete