Sustainability of seismic-resisting structures made with UHP-FRCC

An experimental campaign on different types of UHP-FRCC, made with four replacement rates (0%, 20%, 50%, and 70%) of cement with fly ash, is described in this paper. In addition to the material characterization analysis, moment-curvature diagrams were obtained by testing 12 beams in four point bending. The best UHP-FRCC was selected through the eco-mechanical analysis, capable of combining the mechanical performances with the environmental impact of concrete. When the ultimate load of a simply supported beam is the functional unit of this analysis, the higher the replacement rate of cement, the better the beam performance. Nevertheless, when the bending moment needs to be redistributed in statically indeterminate structures, the eco-mechanical analysis referred to the cross-sectional ductility reveals that only low replacement rates of cement can be acceptable. As a matter of fact, the moment-curvature relationship of a high-volume fly ash concrete systems is remarkably more brittle than that of traditional UHP-FRCC.