Environment-Friendly, Self-Sensing Concrete Blended with Byproduct Wastes

Abstract

Smart structures have attracted significant research attention in the last decade, mainly due to the capabilities of advanced concrete in electrical resistance-enabled self-sensing. In this study, we present a type of environment-friendly, self-sensing concrete enabled by electrical resistance. Environment-friendly, self-sensing concrete was casted with the additions of byproduct wastes (i.e., coal fly ash (FA), blast furnace slag (BOF) and red mud (RM)) at various volume fractions and cured using the conditions of 3, 7 and 28 days. The self-sensing concrete samples were experimentally tested to investigate the effects of the byproduct wastes on the mechanical and electrical properties (i.e., compressive strength and electrical resistance). In the end, parametric studies were experimentally conducted to investigate the influences of the byproduct wastes on the mechanical and electrical properties of the reported environment-friendly, self-sensing concrete.