National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

In recent years, geopolymer cement (GPC) have received much attention as an alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) for soil stabilization, pavements, bridges, and other transportation structures, because they show good mechanical properties when compared to OPCs. More importantly, GPC provides sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to OPCs as GPC can be processed at room temperatures from aqueous solutions of waste materials (e.g. fly ash) or abounded natural sources (e.g. clay) and thus reduce significant CO2 production associated with the processing of OPC. Although significant progress has been achieved over the last couple of decades on developing GPCs with desired properties, their durability in real service conditions, especially when they are exposed to significant water uptake during flooding or extensive rainfalls, is still not well understood. Hence, this project aims to investigate the long-term durability of GPC concrete and stabilized base and subgrade materials for transportation infrastructure. Specifically, the objective of this study is to develop an innovative, sustainable, eco-friendly and durable GPC for transportation infrastructure in Region 6, more specifically for GPC concrete structures (pavements, bridges, etc.) and stabilization base and subgrade foundation support for pavements, using natural and waste materials that abound in the region.