An overview on the potential of geopolymers for concrete infrastructure rehabilitation

Abstract

Infrastructure rehabilitation represents a multitrillion dollar opportunity for the construction industry. In USA alone the rehabilitation needs are estimated to exceed 1.6 trillion dollars over the next 5 years. Since the majority of the existent infrastructures are concrete based this means that concrete infrastructure rehabilitation is a hot issue to be dealt with. Besides the sooner concrete deterioration is tackled the lower are the rehabilitation costs. This paper provides a literature review on concrete repair materials, highlighting the current problems face by them. It covers concrete surface treatments, patch repair and FRP strengthening. The case of trenchless rehabilitation of concrete sewage pipelines is also discussed. The potential of geopolymers to overcome those limitations is analyzed.