Researchers have turned to an ancient Roman concrete recipe to develop more durable concrete that lasts for centuries and can potentially reduce the carbon impact of the built environment.
To construct architectural marvels that still stand today, ancient Romans combined lime, volcanic ash, and aggregates with water to create concrete. A key difference from how modern concrete is processed is temperature.
Today, we use cold mixing—a process conducted under ambient temperatures—but Romans used hot mixing, heating the mixture to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. This resulted in a key change in the lime that provides concrete with the ability to self-heal.
“Due to hot mixing and creation of these tiny granules of lime due to hot mixing, eventually you create a mechanism that just naturally goes and fills the crack with the material and prevents water to flow and propagation of the crack,” an MIT professor told National Public Radio. If modern manufacturers can emulate the ancient method, the result would be longer lasting structures that in the long run will result in using less concrete which will correspond to less emissions.
Listen to the NPR Weekend Edition segment:
Related Stories
| Jan 19, 2012
Odebrecht and Braskem bring sustainable award to U.S. university students
The Odebrecht Award for sustainable development rewards future leaders in engineering and chemistry.
| Jan 8, 2012
TCA releases The Construction of Tilt-Up
The newest publication from the TCA is the second in a planned trilogy of resources covering the architecture, engineering and construction of Tilt-Up
| Jan 4, 2012
HDR to design North America’s first fully digital hospital
Humber River is the first hospital in North America to fully integrate and automate all of its processes; everything is done digitally.
| Jan 3, 2012
VDK Architects merges with Harley Ellis Devereaux
Harley Ellis Devereaux will relocate the employees in its current Berkeley, Calif., office to the new Oakland office location effective January 3, 2012.
| Jan 3, 2012
New Chicago hospital prepared for pandemic, CBR terror threat
At a cost of $654 million, the 14-story, 830,000-sf medical center, designed by a Perkins+Will team led by design principal Ralph Johnson, FAIA, LEED AP, is distinguished in its ability to handle disasters.
| Jan 3, 2012
AIA Course: New Developments in Concrete Construction
Earn 1.0 AIA/CES learning units by studying this article and successfully completing the online exam.
| Dec 20, 2011
BCA’s Best Practices in New Construction available online
This publicly available document is applicable to most building types and distills the long list of guidelines, and longer list of tasks, into easy-to-navigate activities that represent the ideal commissioning process.
| Dec 19, 2011
Chicago’s Aqua Tower wins international design award
Aqua was named both regional and international winner of the International Property Award as Best Residential High-Rise Development.
| Dec 19, 2011
Summit Design+Build selected as GC for Chicago recon project
The 130,000 square foot building is being completely renovated.
| Dec 16, 2011
Stalco Construction converts Babylon, N.Y. Town Hall into history museum
The project converted the landmark structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places into the Town of Babylon History Museum at Old Town Hall.
