Dr Vahid Afroughsabet

Research Interests

Vahid’s research in the past 10 years has focused on concrete technology with a particular focus on fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) and sustainable construction materials, beginning with development and characterization of FRC but with a current primary focus on development of smart low carbon materials. Vahid research interests are including but not limited to smart infrastructure materials, low carbon concrete, fibre-reinforced concrete, concrete durability, innovative binders, sustainability, and reuse of waste in construction materials. .

Strategic Themes

Sustainability

Development of low carbon concretes via innovative binders and reuse of waste.

Resilient and smart materials

Development of resilient and smart materials with the ability to self-diagnose damages and self-repair themselves when damages occur.

Research Project

Concrete is the most widely used human made material on the planet. Most concrete currently used is based on Portland cement that subsequently resulted in about 5-8% of total CO2 emission into the environment. The objective of this project is to introduce low carbon concrete into everyday concrete construction by optimising existing technology as well as adopting new technology for a path to net zero by 2050. Moreover, the road infrastructure sector remains largely traditional in its deployment of materials, design processes, and maintenance procedures. The road closures for repair and maintenance alone costing the UK £26.2 m/year. Therefore, this project aims to revolutionise road infrastructure materials by development of effective self-healing systems for concrete pavements, and transit form traditional roads to more efficient, sustainable, and smart roads.

Project Title: Low Carbon Self-healing Concrete Pavements

Abstract: The objective of this work is to introduce low carbon concrete into everyday concrete construction in UK. Portland cement production accounts for 5-8% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. This research addresses directly research priorities on low carbon concrete as established by the Low Carbon Concrete Routemap, for a path to net zero by 2050. Within the context of UK concrete construction, very little attention has been paid to exploit the current-generation alkali-activated concretes that make use of slag and fly ash and meet necessary requirements of standards and specifications. The proposed research will address this gap. This project also offers a value-added solution to convert local excavated waste shale and readily available clays into calcined clay supplementary cementitious materials that can partially replace Portland cement in concrete. Moreover, the road infrastructure sector remains largely traditional in its deployment of materials and design processes as well as in maintenance procedures. The road closures for repair and maintenance alone costing the UK £26.2 m/year. Therefore, the proposed research aims to revolutionise road infrastructure materials by development of effective self-healing systems for concrete pavements, and transit form traditional roads to more efficient, sustainable, and smart roads. This research explores the properties of concrete with superabsorbent polymers for the prevention of freeze-thaw damage, and expansive minerals and fibres for the prevention of early-age thermal shrinkage. Low carbon self-healing concretes will be developed, and laboratory material characterisation and performance will be assessed with a range of state-of-the-art facilities at University of Cambridge.

Biography

Dr Vahid Afroughsabet was a MSCA Future Roads Fellow at the Geotechnical and Environmental Laboratory at the Division of Civil Engineering of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining the DRF initiative, he worked as a Research Associate in the Resilient Materials 4 Life (RM4L) project at the University of Cambridge, where he was leading on the development of low carbon and resilient advanced materials for intelligent cement-based infrastructure as well as field trials activities. He completed his PhD in Civil Engineering at Politecnico di Milano in 2018 on the topic of high performance calcium sulfoaluminate cement-based concrete reinforced with different type of fibres. He stablished a strong internal and external research collaboration during his PhD study and worked as a Research Scholar at Prof. Paulo Monteiro’s research group at the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the University of Cambridge, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto, where he worked on several projects. He has also worked as a Research Associate in the project of Underwater Infrastructures & Underwater Cities of the Future at Nanyang Technological University. He has closely collaborated with industry partners on several major R&D projects in Canada (Shawcor Ltd), UK (National Highways and Costain), and Italy (Italcementi). He has authored/co-authored over 20 papers which have been published in peer-reviewed journals. His research interests are including but not limited to smart infrastructure materials, low carbon concrete, fibre-reinforced concrete, concrete durability, innovative binders, sustainability, and reuse of waste in construction materials.