Development of sustainable ultra-high performance concrete

To design Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) in a sustainable way, this paper investigates the properties of UHPC containing supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as fly ash (FA) and silica fume (SF). The flexural strength, compressive strength, and microstructure of the UHPC are examined. Results indicate that it is possible to design UHPC with very low cement amount. On the basis of 30% FA replacement, the incorporation of 10% and 20% SF shows equivalent or higher mechanical properties compared to the reference samples. The microstructure and pore volume of developed UHPC indicated a high correlation with its compressive strength. Efficiency factor (k-value) is calculated as an indicator to predict the flexural and compressive strength of UHPC with SCMs in terms of their synergistic effects.