Influence of Limestone Fillers on the Properties of Concrete

Concrete Sustainability

 

Why Reduce Cement in Concrete?

Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is the most costly component of concrete mixtures, and its production creates significant amounts of green house gases. To reduce costs and environmental impacts, Portland cement is substituted with supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) such as:

• coal fly ash,
   

• Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slags (GGBS),
   

• silica fume and
   

• limestone powder.
   

SCM are mostly by-products obtained from industrial processes.

 

The partial substitution of Portland cement using SCM is mainly done during its production phase and also during the mixing of concrete. This research assessed the influence of incorporating limestone powder in concrete mixes on the properties of concrete.

 

Benefits of Reducing Cement in Concrete

The potential benefits in terms of economic costs and environmental impacts are quite significant. The bar chart on the right illustrates how the CO2 equivalent emissions are decreased when incorporating SCM in cement.

 

 

The Problems Associated with the Reduction of Cement

Decreasing the cementitious materials content of a mixture too drastically can reduce the strength and durability. It can also reduce the workability, or the ease with which a mixture can be compacted and placed during construction.

 

However, in order to get the required strength without compromising the workability of the concrete, the theory of particle packing was applied during the research.