ECO-MECHANICAL PERFORMANCES OF UHP-FRCC: MATERIAL VS. STRUCTURAL SCALE ANALYSIS

One of the big challenges of the construction industry is to reduce the use of cement in new concrete structures for environmental purposes. Ultra-High Performance Fiber- Reinforced Cementitious Composites (UHP-FRCC) can reduce such impact, although the cement content per unit volume is higher than conventional concrete. Due to the high strength and high energy absorption capacity of UHP-FRCC, a reduction of the total amount of structural concrete, and consequently a reduction of cement, can be achieved. However, the results of the sustainability analysis depend on the scale of observation. For this reason, a more effective procedure to evaluate the ecomechanical performance is herein introduced with the aim of tailoring eco-friendly cement-based composites. The proposed approach has been applied to some UHPFRCCs containing wollastonite microfibers, which remarkably improve the mechanical performances at structural scale level, without increasing the environmental impact of the materials.