International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Geopolymer International (GPI) specializes in the research, development, and production of geopolymer-based sustainable construction materials. Through the collaborative efforts of GPI, Sustainable Concrete Solutions, and Constructions-3D, universities, artists, hardscape producers, and constructors now have access to cutting edge, recyclable materials and sophisticated 3-D printers.

The 2024 ACI Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards overall winner is the TSX Broadway – Palace Theater Development. This 48-story redevelopment project in Times Square involved the transformation of the existing Palace Theater and the integration of advanced concrete methods to support its elevated structure and historic elements while maintaining sustainable practices.

As the concrete, cement, and wider construction industries around the world move toward net-zero emissions, many alternative concrete and cement technologies have emerged with the intention of reducing the embodied carbon (EC) of concrete. Concretes have been labeled as “sustainable” and “low carbon,” and such terms have been used inconsistently. This article introduces an EC classification system.

The American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Civil Engineering Student Championships took place on June 20-24, 2024 at Brigham Young Univeristy, Provo, UT, USA. The competition featured teams from 48 universities across the United States and Canada and included three events: the ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition, the Sustainable Solutions Competition: Waterfront Revitalization, and the ASCE Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute Surveying Competition.

In July of 1983, the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology of Natural Resources Canada (CANMET), in association with the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, sponsored a 5-day international conference in Montebello, Quebec, Canada, on the use of fly ash, silica fume, slag, and other mineral by-products in concrete. The conference brought together representatives from industry, academia, and government agencies to present the latest information on these materials and to explore new areas of needed research. Since then, eight other such conferences have been held around the world (Madrid, Trondheim, Istanbul, Milwaukee, Bangkok, Madras, Las Vegas, and Warsaw). The 2007 Warsaw Conference was the last in this series. In 2017, due to the renewed interest in alternative and sustainable binders and supplementary cementitious materials, a new series was launched by Sherbrooke University (Professor Arezki Tagnit-Hamou), American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM)—in association with a number of other organizations in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean—sponsored the 10th ACI/RILEM International Conference on Cementitious Materials and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete (ICCM2017). The conference was held October 2-4, 2017, in Montréal, Canada. The conference proceedings, containing 50 reviewed papers from more than 33 countries, were published as ACI SP-320. In 2021, UdeS, ACI, and RILEM, in association with Université de Toulouse and a number of other organizations in Canada, the United States, and Europe, sponsored the 11th ACI/RILEM International Conference on Cementitious Materials and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete (ICCM2021). The conference was scheduled to take place in Toulouse, but due to COVID, it was held online June 7-10, 2021. The conference proceedings, containing 53 reviewed papers from more than 21 countries, were published as ACI SP-349. In 2024, the conference was finally held in-person in Toulouse from June 23 to 26, 2024, with the support of UdeS, ACI, and RILEM in association with Université de Toulouse (Martin Cyr) and a number of other organizations in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The purpose of this international conference was to present the latest scientific and technical information in the field of supplementary cementitious materials and novel binders for use in concrete. The new aspect of this conference is to highlight advances in the field of alternative and sustainable binders and supplementary cementitious materials for the transition to low carbon concrete. The conference proceedings, containing 78 reviewed papers from more than 25 countries, have been published as ACI SP-362. Thanks are extended to the members of the International Scientific Committee who reviewed the papers. The cooperation of the authors in accepting the reviewers’ suggestions and revising their manuscripts accordingly is greatly appreciated. The involvement of the steering committee and the organizing committee is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks go to Chantal Brien (Université de Sherbrooke) for the administrative work associated with the conference and for processing the manuscripts for both the ACI proceedings and the supplementary volume. Arezki Tagnit Hamou, Editor Chairman, 12th ACI/RILEM International Conference on Cementitious Materials and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete (ICCM2024). Sherbrooke, Canada, 2024