The American Concrete Institute (ACI) presented a computational programme to design fly ash-blended concrete considering carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, strength and carbonation under different climate-change scenarios.
The paper, Impact of Climate Change on Proportional Design of Fly? Ash-Blended Low-CO2 Concrete, CO2 emission is calculated from concrete mixtures.
“Compressive strength and carbonation depth are evaluated using an integrated hydration–strength–durability model. Regarding the carbonation durability issue, two exposure conditions combined with three climate-change scenarios are considered,” ACI adds.
Secondly, a genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find the optional concrete mixture. CO2 emission is set as the fitness function, and compressive strength and carbonation depth are set as the constraint conditions of the GA. The optimal mixture has the minimum CO2 emission and can meet various constraints.
According to ACI, the effect of climate change on the proportional design of the fly ash-blended concrete is clarified when based on case studies of concrete mixtures under different exposure conditions and climate change scenarios.
“To meet the challenges of climate change, a richer mixture of fly ash-blended concrete is necessary. As the compressive strength of fly ash-blended concrete increases, the CO2 emissions also increase,” ACI concludes.
The paper was written by Xiao-Yong Wang.