Multi criteria evaluation of a sustainable alkali-activated concrete

Abstract

The construction industry is one of the most polluting sectors worldwide. In order to reduce the environmental footprint, novel green materials and processes are being considered by valorising and reusing wastes. This work investigates the production of a novel and sustainable geopolymeric concrete reusing biomass fly ash from kraft paper-pulp industry. In particular, this paper aims to evaluate the best combination of the aggregate granulometry used in the material production. For this purpose, the multicriteria method TOPSIS has been implemented in order to obtain a rank of the concrete specimens. In this approach only mechanical aspects have been considered and future developments will include criteria related on the buildings environmental conditions. The environmental conditions during in site exposure could in fact vary the performance achieved by the materials in laboratory test and GIS software could be a useful tool to combine information about quality material components and environmental condition.