Global production of concrete drives huge flows of material between natural and human systems.The shear magnitude of this material flow, which exceeds 12 billion tons each year, causes significant societal impacts. For example, concrete-based infrastructure projects require major investments of public capital, trigger enormous greenhouse gas emissions from cement production, and lead to construction-related traffic congestion resulting in pollution and lost productivity. These broad economic, environmental, and social consequences have largely been ignored in materials R&D. Development and application of new materials has focused almost exclusively on the interplay between material microstructure, physical properties, processing, and performance. This is a considerable shortcoming, particularly as new materials are sought to supplement or replace concrete given its inherent brittleness and limited durability.
Intellectual Merit: The proposed research will address this shortcoming by developing a novel framework for sustainable design that integrates microstructure tailoring with life cycle analysis based on environmental, social, and economic indicators. This work encompasses multi-scale boundaries ranging from nanometers to kilometers, and multi-disciplinary perspectives including civil and materials engineering, geology, environmental health sciences, industrial ecology, environmental economics, and public policy. The research will consider the development and application of a new class of materials known as engineered cementitious composites (ECC). Its aim is to enhance the sustainability of bridge, road and pipe infrastructure using ECC. Among the issues to be explored are the impacts on sustainability performance of concrete replacement with ECC, material sourcing alternatives (e.g., superquarries vs. smaller mines), and location of infrastructure projects (e.g., urban vs. rural, and U.S. vs. China). Researchers will use results to recommend policy measures that facilitate the acceptance of new, more sustainable infrastructure materials. Given the inherent design complexity, they will incorporate uncertainty and sensitivity analysis to ensure that results are sufficiently robust to support effective decision-making.
Broader Impacts: The integrated framework developed around ECC will be applicable to the design of many other emergent materials. Interdisciplinary education and training will be fostered by including a number of student positions on the research team (2 postdoctoral, 3-5 doctoral, 2 undergraduate and 2 minority high school summer interns). In addition, educational outreach will be facilitated through a web-based educational resource compendium, a MUSES seminar series, and regular team workshops. The University of Michigan (UM) team will leverage results of the proposed research through three collaborations: the Fracture Research Institute, Tohoku University (Japan) will investigate the use of a CO2 hardening process on our new ECC mixes; Stanford University will conduct mechanical testing of these mixes for building applications; and the Building Material Research Laboratory, Tsinghua University will apply our life cycle models to assess sustainability performance of infrastructure systems in China. This research draws upon the diverse expertise and resources of a core network of seven UM faculty. Participating units include the Advanced Civil Engineering Material Research Lab, the Center for Sustainable Systems, College of Engineering, School of Public Health, School of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Department of Geological Sciences. An external advisory group of industry, government and other key stakeholders will provide guidance on the direction of research to help identify opportunities for improvement over the five-year duration.
- A Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Comparing Bridge Deck Designs
- An Integrated LCA-LCC Model for Evaluating Concrete Infrastructure Sustainability
- An Integrated Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Analysis Model for Pavement Overlay Systems
- An Integrated Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Cost Analysis Model for Concrete Bridge Deck Applications
- Concrete Infrastructure Sustainability: Life-Cycle Metrics Material Design and Optimized Distribution of Cement Production
- Design of Green Engineered Cementitious Composites for Improved Sustainability
- Design of Green Engineered Cementitious Composites for Pavement Overlay Applications
- Development of Green Engineered Cementitious Composites for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems
- Discovering Institutional Drivers and Barriers to Sustainable Concrete Construction
- Durable and Sustainable Overlay with ECC
- Dynamic Life Cycle Modeling of Pavement Overlay System: Capturing the Impacts of Users, Construction, and Roadway Deterioration
- Dynamic Life Cycle Modeling of Pavement Overlay Systems: Capturing the Impacts of Users, Construction, and Roadway Deterioration
- Dynamic Modeling of Cement In-Use Stocks in United States
- Dynamic Modeling of In-Use Cement Stocks in the United States
- Dynamic Modeling of Material Stocks - Case Study of Cement Flows in United States
- Economic and Environmental Evaluations of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis Practices: A Case Study of Michigan DOT Pavement Projects
- Evaluation of Life Cycle Assessment Recycling Allocation Methods
- Evaluation of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis Practices Used by the Michigan Department of Transportation
- Geologic vs. Geographic Constraints on Cement Resources
- Guiding the Design and Application of New Materials for Enhancing Sustainability Performance: Framework and Infrastructure Application
- Integrated Structure and Materials Design for Sustainable Concrete Transportation Infrastructure
- Large-Scale Processing of Engineered Cementitious Composites
- Life Cycle Model for Evaluating the Sustainability of Concrete Infrastructure Systems
- Life Cycle Modeling of Concrete Bridge Design: Comparison of Engineered Cementitious Composite Link Slabs and Conventional steel Expansion Joints
- Life Cycle Optimization of Pavement Overlay Systems
- Life-Cycle Cost Model for Evaluating the Sustainability of Bridge Decks
- Life-Cycle Cost Model for Evaluating the Sustainability of Bridge Decks: A Comparison of Conventional Concrete Joints and Engineered Cementitious Composite Link Slabs
- Materials Design for Sustainability through Life Cycle Modeling of Engineered Cementitious Composites
- Megaquarry vs. Decentralized Mineral Production: Network Analysis of Cement Production in the Great Lakes Region, USA
- Network-Level Pavement Asset Management System Integrated with Life-Cycle Analysis and Life-Cycle Optimization
- Pavement Asset Management and Optimization Model: Informing Policy and Enhancing Sustainability
- Sustainable Infrastructure Material Design
- Sustainable infrastructure with durable fibre concrete material
- Sustainable Pavement Asset Management Based on Life Cycle Models and Optimization Methods
- The Contemporary Cement Cycle of the United States
- The Future of the Red Metal - A Developing Country Perspective from India
- The Role of Concrete Industry Standards as Institutional Barriers to More Sustainable Concrete Bridge Infrastructure