Optimum concrete mix design with Secondary Cementitious Materials (OicSeM) (RDF17-R/MCE/CHEUNG)

The concrete industry faces challenges to create concrete mix designs that reduce negative environmental impacts but also maintain high performance. This has led to ‘greener’ cementitious materials being developed which can decrease the use of traditional Portland Cement. Tait and Cheung (2016) [1] developed a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) approach which demonstrated that ‘greener’ concrete can be produced by significantly reduces the overall CO2 emissions. However optimising the mix design also heavily relies on cost and performance implications, which is one of the current disadvantages of the approach. The second shortcoming of the current method has been the exclusion of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. This proposed study intends to carry out a LCA on concrete mix designs containing different cementitious blends. The objectives of the programme are:
• To develop a detailed tool to be used by the industry for making decisions regarding Secondary Cementitious Materials (SCM) for optimum concrete mix design. In order to achieve this, it is recommended that further work should carry out an in depth cost analysis in order to find a compromise between environmental reduction and cost effectiveness;
• Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis are important in conducting LCA. Therefore, further work should include the adaptation of different methods such as Monte Carlo or Exploratory Modelling;
• The work will carry out LCA to find potential benefits of other mix design materials other than SCM’s, for example, the inclusion of recycled aggregates, alkali activated binders, and the incorporation of water recycling at concrete plants.

The overall advantages of this work can be used for key sustainability decisions when it comes to concrete mix designs accurately.

Eligibility and How to Apply
Please note eligibility requirement:
• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.

For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/

Please ensure you quote the advert reference above on your application form.

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