Optimal Cement Mixtures Containing Mineral Admixtures under Multiple and Conflicting Criteria

Abstract

In modern construction industry, fabrication of sustainable concrete has turned the decision-making process into a challenging endeavor. One alternative is using fly ash and nanostructured silica as cement replacements. In these modern mixtures, proper concrete bulk density, percentage of voids, and compressive strength normally cannot be optimized individually. Hereby, a decision-making strategy on the replacement of those components is presented while taking into account those three performance measurements. The relationships among those components upon concrete fabrication required a design of experiments of mixtures to characterize those mineral admixtures. This approach integrates different objective functions that are in conflict and obtains the best compromise mixtures for the performance measures being considered. This optimization strategy permitted to recommend the combined use of fly ash and nanosilica to improve the concrete properties at its early age.