Mitigation of Alkali–Silica Reactivity of Greywacke Aggregate in Concrete for Sustainable Pavements

Kinga Dziedzic, Aneta Brachaczek, Dominik Nowicki and Michał A. Glinicki ()
Additional contact information
Kinga Dziedzic: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego St. 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
Aneta Brachaczek: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego St. 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
Dominik Nowicki: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego St. 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
Michał A. Glinicki: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego St. 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Quality requirements for mineral aggregate for concrete used to construct pavement for busy highways are high because of the fatigue traffic loads and environmental exposure. The use of local aggregate for infrastructure projects could result in important sustainability improvements, provided that the concrete’s durability is assured. The objective of this study was to identify the potential alkaline reactivity of local greywacke aggregate and select appropriate mitigation measures against the alkali–silica reaction. Experimental tests on concrete specimens were performed using the miniature concrete prism test at 60 °C. Mixtures of coarse greywacke aggregate up to 12.5 mm with natural fine aggregate of different potential reactivity were evaluated in respect to the expansion, compressive strength, and elastic modulus of the concrete. Two preventive measures were studied—the use of metakaolin and slag-blended cement. A moderate reactivity potential of the greywacke aggregate was found, and the influence of reactive quartz sand on the expansion and instability of the mechanical properties of concrete was evaluated. Both crystalline and amorphous alkali–silica reaction products were detected in the cracks of the greywacke aggregate. Efficient expansion mitigation was obtained for the replacement of 15% of Portland cement by metakaolin or the use of CEM III/A cement with the slag content of 52%, even if greywacke aggregate was blended with moderately reactive quartz sand. It resulted in a relative reduction in expansion by 85–96%. The elastic modulus deterioration was less than 10%, confirming an increased stability of the elastic properties of concrete.

Keywords: alkali-silica reaction; aggregate; concrete; metakaolin; highway pavement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6825/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6825/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6825-:d:1711146

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().