Advanced Research Progress of Concrete

Dear Colleagues,

Concrete is the most widely used construction material. It is characterised by a high compressive strength, availability, durability, as well as a compatible behaviour with reinforcement bars, low price, simple preparation, and possibility of casting into desired shapes and sizes. However, concrete occurs in a brittle state characterised by a relatively low tensile strength, weak resistance to crack formation, and strain properties. Since the construction engineering of modern structures demands components with a greater durability, specific properties and higher mechanical strength, recent studies in concrete development focused on improving concrete properties by integrating it with innovative solutions, e.g., the addition of nanomaterials to cement-based products, reinforcements with the addition of fibres, supplementary cementitious components, special admixtures, etc. These approaches resulted in the emergence of so-called smart concretes, self-healing and/or self-curing concretes, ultra-high-performance concretes, and sustainable concretes.

Smart concrete is a very broad category of materials that includes self-sensing concrete and self-adjusting concrete, which both have excellent mechanical properties and durability, a long service life, and easy installation and maintenance. Self-sensing and self-adjusting concretes have a wide application in civil infrastructures, such as high-rise buildings, highways, bridges, runways for airports, continuous slab-type sleepers for high-speed trains, dams, and nuclear power plants. In particular, they have great potential in the field of structural health monitoring, traffic detection, and border/military security.

Self-healing and/or self-curing concretes can be described as concrete elements that can achieve self-repair and return to their original condition by reducing cracks, and at the same time, reducing maintenance expenses and increasing strength and durability.

Ultra-high-performance concrete is a cementitious Portland cement-based concrete with supplementary cementitious materials. It has a superb strength, durability, ductility and toughness.

Sustainable concretes include reinforcing fibres (e.g., steel, polypropylene, carbon fibres), recycled materials (e.g., tire rubber, crushed glass, plastic, industrial waste), as well as organic and inorganic elements, such as concrete aggregates and reinforcement elements. Sustainable construction materials can reduce the amount constitutive elements of concrete required for civil constructions. In addition, some sustainable materials added to cement can improve certain properties of the concrete, such as the compressive and flexural strength of concrete structural elements.

In addition to recent concrete developments, one has to also consider two supplementary aspects in concrete manufacturing and production. Namely, the possibility of 3D concrete printing, also known as the additive manufacturing and recycling of concrete. Numerous challenges are being faced by the construction industry in implementing the additive manufacturing of concrete on a large scale due to the scarcity of information available with reference to this technology, including concrete pumpability, extrudability, buildability and shape retentivity. Nevertheless, 3D concrete printing is an emerging technology in the construction industry with the potential to change the way cementitious materials are used to create infrastructure components. Finally, the recycling of concrete and other building materials during building processes and at the end of life cycles is usually inadequately arranged, despite the fact that crushed concrete is easily recycled into aggregates for new concrete.

Dr. Marjan Marinšek
Guest Editor

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• concrete
• smart concretes
• self-healing and/or self-curing concretes
• ultra-high-performance concretes
• sustainable concretes
• 3D concrete printing
• recycling of concrete