Sustainability implications of the use of hybrid polyvinyl alcohol fibre-reinforced ferrocement and fly ash in building construction

Abstract

Extensive research has been conducted on the use of fly ash as a partial replacement of cement in order to promote the sustainable use of cement. Most of these research has focused on the investigation of the cementitious properties of the blended cement and the engineering properties of the end products, such as fly ash concrete. The sustainability benefit of using fly ash is often qualitatively perceived without any quantitative assessment. A recent study on the performance of hybrid polyvinyl alcohol fibre-reinforced ferrocement (HPVAF) shows that adding moderate amounts of fly ash in the mixes could maintain the ultimate flexure and tensile strength of HPVAF. The increased service life/durability and the use of FA up to a 25% replacement for cement in HPVAF not only conserve virgin resources for producing energy intensive construction materials but also avoid associated environmental impacts due to the manufacturing of these materials. This certainly offers socio-economic benefits in terms of cost saving, enhance affordability and guaranteed material supply for the people both in current and future generations. Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) was conducted to determine these triple bottom line benefits associated with the use of HPVAF and FA in building construction.