New generations of green concretes are often consuming large amounts of industrial waste, as recycled or manufactured aggregates and alternative binders substituting ordinary Portland cement. Among the recycled materials that may be used in civil engineering works, construction and demolition waste (C&DW), fly ashes, slags and municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ashes (MSWI BA) are those most diffused, but at the same, they suffer due to a large variability of their properties. However, the market increasingly asks for new materials capable of adding some specific features to construction materials, and one of the most interesting is the pozzolanic activity. Hence, this work deals with an experimental study aimed at assessing the technical feasibility of using an industrial waste comprised largely of MSWI BA, with small quantities of C&DW and electric arc furnace slag (EAFS), in green cement-based mixtures (cement paste and mortars). The aim of the work is to achieve the goal of upcycling such waste and avoiding its disposal and landfilling. Particularly, the test methods for assessing the pozzolanic activity of this waste are discussed, analyzing the efficacy of indirect methods such as the strength activity index (SAI), the conductivity test and the efficiency factor (k), together with a direct method based on lime consumption.
The paper investigates the effect of high temperature exposure on the performance of concrete confined through textile/fabric‐reinforced composites. Small‐scale cylindrical specimens (150 × 300 mm) were confined using two types of carbon fibers (dry and epoxy‐resin coated). For the sake of comparison, two confining layers were applied to all specimens. After curing, cylinders were exposed to four ranges of increasing temperatures—being 20°C (ambient), 80°C, 100°C, and 250°C and, after cooling down, were tested under compressive cyclic loading. The experimental results show that thermal stress significantly influences the confinement effectiveness of textile‐reinforced composites. Exposure to high temperatures reduces the ultimate confined strength and significantly influences the overall axial stress–strain behavior.