Featured in Technology Today (Volume 35, Issue 2), a quarterly publication of the Louisiana Transportation Research Center.
A new concrete U.S. patent has been secured for a group of Louisiana researchers. Using sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) as a main ingredient, the team created a specially engineered cementitious composite or “bendable concrete.”
Spearheaded by Marwa Hassan, LSU Construction Management professor, the team included Hassan Noorvand, LSU Construction Management research associate; Tyson Rupnow, LTRC associate director of research; Michele Barbato, University of California-Davis Civil and Environmental Engineering professor; and Gabriel Arce, research scientist at the Virginia Transportation Research Council.
Funded by Tran-SET, researchers sought to find the right balance of SCBA and utilized LTRC’s laboratory space for mixing, curing, and testing samples.
“From our findings, the use of raw SCBA as sand replacement offers great promise, as it produces significant enhancements in the material properties and reduces the cost of ECC. Furthermore, raw SCBA is readily accessible. Regarding the use of post-processed SCBA as cement replacement, we have found that this is not as promising since it does not produce dramatic improvements in material properties, and post-processing of SCBA is a challenge in practical application,” Arce explained in an LSU interview.
Tran-SET is a collaborative partnership between nine major institutions and two community colleges, led by LSU, and established to address the accelerated deterioration of transportation infrastructure through “cutting-edge technologies, novel materials, and innovative construction management processes.” Its members are LSU, Arkansas State University, Baton Rouge Community College, Navajo Technical University, New Mexico State University, Oklahoma State University, Prairie View A&M University, Texas A&M University, University of New Mexico, University of Texas at Arlington, and University of Texas at San Antonio.
Thank you to The Lemoine Company, Quality Concrete, IKON, and the Concrete & Aggregates Association of Louisiana (CAAL) for donated materials, equipment, and labor to the project.