Sustainable Development of Concrete through Aggregates and Innovative Materials: A Review

Abstract

The use of concrete in civil infrastructure is highly demanded in structural and nonstructural elements. However, the high production of concrete could lead to severe pollution in the world. This pollution can be decreased using sustainable materials mixed with cement to obtain sustainable concrete. These sustainable materials include reinforcing fibers (e.g., steel, polypropylene, carbon fibers), recycled materials (e.g., tire rubber, crushed glass, plastic, industrial waste) as well as organic and inorganic elements as concrete aggregates and reinforcement elements. The sustainable construction materials can reduce the amount constitutive elements of concrete required for civil constructions. In addition, some sustainable materials added to cement could improve some properties of the concrete, like the compressive and flexural strength of concrete structural elements. Thus, the maintenance requirements or early replacement of these structural elements could be decreased. This review presents recent investigations about the performance of different sustainable concrete types. In addition, we include the effects on the mechanical properties of the concrete caused by the incorporation of several sustainable materials. In addition, recommendations for the use and testing of sustainable concrete are reported. These materials have potential applications in the sustainable concrete infrastructure in future smart cities.