Page 5 - ICJ Jan 2026

TECHNICAL PAPER

generalization. Technology refers to machinery, arrangement 2050
and procedures used by human The development of concrete ?
materials science in the last 100 years is depicted in the
IOT
Figure 2. The progress in concrete technology during the same AI-Vision
based
High speed
period is shown in Figure 3. Through this process, concrete computation
has developed into a versatile modern concrete composite. 3-D printing
Modern concrete composites have three major components: Progress of technology 3-D modular
Top down
Smart-intelligent,
(i) binder system, (ii) aggregates, and (iii) fibre inclusions. The Health
monitoring
binder system may comprise of either geo polymer (GP) binders HSC, RPC
SCC, Hollow core
- formed from silica-alumina rich pozzolana activated with water planner system
Long span
alkalis and silicates, along with chemical and mineral admixtures Tall structure
Pumping Tube in Tube
or ordinary Portland cement-based systems incorporating Pre-stressed
HRWRA
supplementary cementitious materials such as silica fume and FRC, Precast
hyper plasticizer (OPC+SF+VHRWR), or LC etc. The second 1920 - 1930 - 1940 - 1950 - 1960 - 1970 - 1980 - 1990 - 2000 - 2010 - 2020 -
3
component is aggregates. The various choices may be with 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2000 10 20 ---
m.s.a varying from 600 mm for reactive powder concrete (RPC) Figure 3: Evolution of concrete technology during last 100 years
to 150 mm for roller compacted concrete (RCC). The nature
of aggregate might vary from crushed rock to manufactured- rollers were developed during 1980-85 and is called roller
vertical shaft impacted (MA-VSI) aggregate for normal concrete compacted concrete (RCC). RCC is expected to support road
with 20/40 mm m.s.a., or river gravel and river sand etc. Similarly, roller load and is hence required to be stiff and capable of
there can be large number of choices of fibres, from high maintaining cohesiveness at the same time. As it is designed
modulus fibres with various aspect ratio and shape to polymeric to exhibit a very high-yield shear stress in the green state, it is
fibres and hybrid fibres. Thus, the concrete composites can conventionally called a zero-slump concrete. Self-compacting
be represented in a 3-D space with infinite points, as shown concrete (SCC), on the other hand, is expected to exhibit slump
in Figure 4, majority of which are technically feasible. Finally, flow providing sufficient fluidity while retaining cohesiveness.
bacterial concrete as a self-healing proposition for crack repair Concrete developed for three-dimensional (3D) printing requires
is also a possibility and current research may bring in some special rheological characteristics; such concretes are self-
[1]
impactful results . consolidating but must additionally satisfy shape retention and
buildability requirements. Thus, a wide range of performance
As concrete elements are cast in moulds, concrete’s fresh state can be exhibited by concrete composites in the plastic/green
mouldability is important. On one end concrete composites state.
are pumped and even compacted without vibration, while at
the other end, such as in gravity dams and pavements, a variety Performance in terms of mechanical strength has a large
of concrete that can be handled like soil and compacted with bandwidth from approximately 5 MPa compressive strength in
mass concrete to 200 MPa class RPC or even 800 MPa class RPC
for special usages and ultra-high strength structural concrete.
2050
Engineered cement composite (ECC) is also a similar material [1,4] .
Service life
modelling
Sustainability

Packingconcept
Lowcarbonbinder
Nano science
Progress of understanding
Rheology
High strength -
deterioration
Pozzolana
inclusion
Microstructure
Rheology
Strength- Stress-strain
W/C, Slump Deterioration
1920 - 1930 - 1940 - 1950 - 1960 - 1970 - 1980 - 1990 - 2000 - 2010 - 2020 -
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2000 10 20 ---
Figure 4: 3D representation of modern concrete as a composite material
Figure 2: Evolution of concrete science during last 100 years system

10 THE INDIAN CONCRETE JOURNAL | JANUARY 2026