Evaluation of the Structural Performance of Low Carbon Concrete

Abstract

Evaluation of the effect of embodied carbon reduction using an optimized design section for a ground beam, use of supplementary cementitious materials, and replacement of normal aggregate with light weight aggregate on the mechanical properties of low-carbon concrete was carried out. A creep coefficient of 0.019 was estimated for a 365-day period on a change in section from 1 to 0.6 m2 on a proposed trapezoidal section for ground beam, which showed a negligible difference when compared to the normal rectangular section owing to a reduction in embodied carbon due to the associated reduction in concrete volume and reinforcement. Training of 81 low-carbon concrete data sets in MATLAB using artificial neural network for 100% cement replacement with ground granular base slag indicates good performance with a mean square error of 0.856. From the study, it was observed that the extent of carbonation depth in concrete evidenced the measure of compressive strength formation based on the specific surface area of the binder and the water absorption rate of the aggregate, while enhancing the flexural strength of the low-carbon concrete required a cement-to-supplementary-cementitious-material ratio of 0.8.