Novel Surge Barriers for Coastal Protection

The production and curing of concrete utilizes billions of tons of freshwater every year. This is a major concern, especially in regions with water shortfalls. We have previously explored seawater-mixed concretes, and shown promising performance of such concrete, as long as steel reinforcement is not used. The objective of this research project is to show a proof-of-concept of using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and seawater. Specifically: 

• Cement pastes will be designed with 60% PLC, 20% limestone, and 20% fly ash as binder. Freshwater and seawater will be compared. Cement paste hydration will be studied using isothermal calorimetry (7 days), thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (up to 91 days). 
• Cement mortars will be made and the flow measured in fresh state; and strength and bulk resistivity will be measured up to 91 days. 
• Concretes will be made and their slump, air content, and density measured in fresh state, and strength, and bulk resistivity will be measured up to 91 days.
• In total four mixtures with varying water types will be tested to develop concrete utilizing SCMs and seawater that maintains performance with respect to control concrete mixtures.