Huang et al. (2020) — High-strength seawater sea-sand Engineered Cementitious...

Citation

Bo-Tao Huang, Jia-Qi Wu, Jing Yu, Jian-Guo Dai, Christopher KY Leung (2020). High-strength seawater sea-sand Engineered Cementitious Composites (SS-ECC): Mechanical performance and probabilistic modeling. Cement and Concrete Composites, Vol. 114, Article 103740.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103740
Atlas layer: extension
Related Victor Li book chapter: Chapter 4: Sustainable/Marine ECC; Chapter 5: High-Strength ECC
Source PDF: huang-2020-high-strength-seawater-sea-sand-engineered-cementitious.pdf
Extracted text: atlas/full_text/huang-2020-high-strength-seawater-sea-sand-engineered-cementitious_full_text.md
Source note: atlas/source_notes/huang-2020-high-strength-seawater-sea-sand-engineered-cementitious_source_note.md

Why this paper matters

Pioneering paper developing High-Strength Seawater Sea-Sand ECC (SS-ECC) directly using raw seawater and unwashed sea-sand (particles up to 4.75 mm), achieving compressive strength $>136\text{ MPa}$, direct tensile strength $>8\text{ MPa}$, and tensile ductility $\sim 5\%$, proving complete equivalency with freshwater-mixed counterparts.

Main contribution

Developed the first ultra-high strength SS-ECC ($f_c = 136.8\text{ MPa}$, $\sigma_{tu} > 8\text{ MPa}$, $\varepsilon_{tu} \approx 5\%$) eliminating the need for freshwater or washed river sand.
Proved that increasing maximum sea-sand particle size from 1.18 mm to 4.75 mm does not compromise tensile strain-hardening.
Measured single PE fiber interfacial frictional bond ($\tau_0 = 1.68\text{ MPa}$) and matrix toughness ($K_m = 0.611\text{--}0.656\text{ MPa}\cdot\text{m}^{1/2}$), validating PSH criteria and developing a probabilistic reliability model.

Evidence summary

Compressive strength: Seawater SS-ECC = $136.8 \pm 3.5\text{ MPa}$ vs Freshwater control = $137.1 \pm 3.1\text{ MPa}$ (Fig. 3, page 4).
Direct tensile properties: $\sigma_{tu} > 8\text{ MPa}$, $\varepsilon_{tu} \approx 4.8\text{--}5.2\%$ in 2.0% PE mixes; $1.5\%$ PE mix achieved optimal cost-effective performance ($\sigma_{tu} = 8.2\text{ MPa}$, $\varepsilon_{tu} \approx 4.6\%$) (Figs. 4, 5).
Micromechanical parameters: $\tau_0 = 1.68 \pm 0.26\text{ MPa}$, $K_m = 0.611\text{--}0.656\text{ MPa}\cdot\text{m}^{1/2}$.

Linked Atlas nodes

04_material_systems/green_ecc.md
02_concepts/extreme_ductility_ecc.md
02_concepts/strain_hardening_criteria.md
05_experiments/direct_tensile_test.md

Claim-evidence rows to add

Atlas node	Claim	Evidence summary	Page/Figure/Table	Status
`04_material_systems/green_ecc.md`	High-strength SS-ECC made with raw seawater and unwashed sea-sand achieves compressive strength >136 MPa and tensile strain capacity ~5.0% without performance loss.	Measured 28d compressive strength was 136.8 MPa (vs 137.1 MPa freshwater control) and tensile strain was ~5.0%.	Pages 1, 3-5, Section 3.1 & 3.2, Figs. 3, 5	verified_from_pdf
`02_concepts/strain_hardening_criteria.md`	Single PE fiber pullout in high-strength seawater matrix yields frictional bond strength of 1.68 ± 0.26 MPa, satisfying PSH criteria.	Single-fiber testing confirmed hydrophobic PE fiber maintains 1.68 MPa frictional bond strength in dense seawater matrix.	Page 5, Section 3.3.2, Eq. (2), Table 6	verified_from_pdf

Verification status

PDF preserved: yes (huang-2020-high-strength-seawater-sea-sand-engineered-cementitious.pdf)
Text extracted: yes (atlas/full_text/huang-2020-high-strength-seawater-sea-sand-engineered-cementitious_full_text.md)
DOI verified: yes (10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103740)
Page/figure/table verified: yes
Claim-evidence matrix ready: yes

Cautions

Internal chlorides require pairing with non-metallic FRP reinforcement or use in unreinforced applications.