Durable and sustainable concrete by particle packing optimization and use of secondary raw materials

The practice of durability design of concrete based on deemed-to-satisfy rules hinders innovation and leads to uneconomic and far from ecological concrete mixtures. In the current project, the deemed-to-satisfy approach is abandoned and a performance-based concept to design concrete mixes based on particle packing modelling is elaborated. Besides a reduction of the paste content, also further incorporation of secondary raw materials as cement and aggregate replacement increases the sustainability of the ECO-concrete. A thorough investigation towards the microstructure development and durability performance is planned and practical tools to bring the design of this ECO-concrete in the future to the industry will be developed.