Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

The annual production of Portland cement, estimated at 3.4 billion tons in 2011, is responsible for about 7 % of the total worldwide CO2-emission. To reduce this environmental impact it is important to use innovative technologies for the design of both concrete mixtures and concrete structures. In this paper, it is shown how particle packing optimization can support the design of ecological concrete. Relations between packing density, water demand and strength are described. As a demonstration of the results that can be achieved by using particle packing optimization techniques, three ecological concrete mixtures were designed and tested on compressive strength. By using particle packing technology in concrete mixture optimization, it is possible to design ecological concrete in which the cement content is reduced by more than 50 %.