Natalia Alderete- Doctor of Civil Engineering
- Senior PostDoc Position at Ghent University
Natalia Alderete
- Doctor of Civil Engineering
- Senior PostDoc Position at Ghent University
Environmentally friendly and curious researcher, FWO postdoctoral fellow at the Magnel-Vandepitte Laboratory of UGent
About
68
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Introduction
Natalia Alderete is a postdoctoral research fellow currently working at the Magnel-Vandepitte Laboratory for Building Materials and Structures. Natalia does research in Materials Engineering, specially cementitious materials.
Her focused is on using sustainable materials and to evaluate their durability to achieve environmentally friendly concrete structures.
Current institution
Publications
Publications (68)
Water uptake by capillarity is widely used for characterising the durability properties of building materials. However, cementitious materials are generally reported with an anomalous behaviour in relation to other construction materials: during capillary water uptake they show a non-linear evolution with the square root of time. Several hypotheses...
Replacement of Portland cement is a practical strategy to reduce concrete manufacturing CO2 emissions. However, this approach typically results in a diminished portlandite content in the hardened mix, elevating the risk of carbonation-induced corrosion in steel-reinforced concrete. Carbonation is frequently studied by exposing the samples to elevat...
During capillary imbibition, there are changes in the pore structure that reduce the water ingress rate, leading to anomalous behaviour. However, the relation of those deformations with the C-S-H content is still unclear. We performed simultaneous measurements of external deformations and water ingress through neutron radiography. Cement pastes of...
An effective approach to reduce the enormous volume of non-hazardous non-recyclable waste (namely municipal solid waste, or MSW) is incineration. The incineration can be a viable solution given that landfilling of MSW is both expensive and polluting. The obtained bottom ash is a material with great potential to be used in cementitious products as p...
The traditional approach for evaluating capillary imbibition, which describes the phenomena as a linear relationship between mass gain and the square root of time, considers a rigid pore structure. The common deviation from the linearity when using the square-root law (manifested in a downward curvature, i.e., slower water ingress) can be explained...
Numerous (inter)national standards are in place for assessing the resistance to carbonation of mortar and concrete. Within the framework of RILEM TC 281-CCC ‘Carbonation of Concrete with SCMs,’ an extensive interlaboratory test campaign (ILT) involving twenty-two participating laboratories worldwide was initiated to compare natural carbonation of c...
Replacement of Portland cement is a practical strategy to reduce concrete manufacturing CO 2 emissions. However, this approach typically results in a diminished portlandite content in the hardened mix, elevating the risk of carbonation-induced corrosion in steel-reinforced concrete. Carbonation is frequently studied by exposing the samples to eleva...
Capillary water absorption tests are widely used in uncracked cementitious materials to assess the quality and durability. Due to the easy execution of the test, it is also frequently used to assess the self-healing efficiency of self-healing concrete and mortar. It is established that the presence of a crack significantly increases the water uptak...
In capillary imbibition (or absorption) experiments performed on cementitious materials, a non-linear evolution of water uptake with the square root of time is frequently reported. This anomaly is derived from analytical methods that assume that the pore structure remains invariable during water ingress. A more comprehensive understanding of the tr...
Concrete with self-healing systems, such as vascular networks, results in promoted sustainability and reduced maintenance costs for a structure compared to traditional concrete. 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, allows for complex network topologies to be fabricated, however, the challenge lies in a lack of standards in both self-healing and...
Sorptivity is a transport index to address the durability performance of concrete. Cementitious materials generally demonstrate anomalous capillary absorption (or imbibition) reflected by a non-linear evolution with t^0.5. A more accurate description of the transport process and a best fitting with experimental results are achieved with the novel a...
RILEM TC 267-TRM is studying tests for the reactivity supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). In the first phase, the lime reactivity (LR) test, which is standardised in Indian standard (IS)-1727, gave promising correlations with 90-days cement mortar strength. In Phase 2, working group 1 has looked at further optimisation and robustness study...
Many (inter)national standards exist to evaluate the resistance of mortar and concrete to carbonation. When a carbonation coefficient is used for performance comparison of mixtures or service life prediction, the applied boundary conditions during curing, preconditioning and carbonation play a crucial role, specifically when using latent hydraulic...
Concrete structures are often exposed to harsh environmental conditions during their service life. Therefore, the investigation of transport properties and deterioration of concrete in different environments is an important topic. This paper reports the influence of salts (NaCl and Na2SO4) and exposure conditions (ideal laboratory (20 °C, 95% RH),...
Invited speaker to the webinar series ‘Neutrons in science’ of the Argentinean Laboratory for Neutron Beams. Title of
the lecture: How can neutron radiography help in concrete Structures durability? (in Spanish).
After proper pre-treatment procedures, Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) bottom ashes show all needed characteristics to substitute part of the Portland clinker in concrete. The use of these ashes greatly contributes to the establishment of a circular economy. As a by-product of waste-to-energy plants, they are abundantly and locally availa...
Short-term capillary imbibition (or absorption) tests are practical and provide useful information about the performance of cementitious materials. Most of these tests are performed for a short period (<1 week), however, if the test continues for a longer period there is still liquid ingress. This further ingress of liquid is believed to be related...
Sorptivity is a transport parameter widely used for assessing the durable performance of concrete. However, anomalous capillary absorption (or imbibition) is normally reported for cementitious materials, i.e. capillary water uptake evolves non-linearly with t0.5. For decades, different methods of dealing with the anomaly have been adopted in differ...
Eco-friendly concrete mixtures make efficient use of constituents with reduced environmental impact to secure durable structures. Ternary mixes containing Portland cement, ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) and limestone powder (LP) have demonstrated a good balance between environmental impact, economic cost and technical performance. The...
A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-020-01558-w
Dr. Isabel Martins was missing from the RILEM membership list that was published in the original article. The original article has been corrected.
Wastes can be valorized and used as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in new concrete production. This application is a potentially convenient procedure for recycling and reducing the carbon footprint of cementitious products. The impact of using these nontraditional constituents is reflected on changes in the pore structure due to a diff...
Long-term capillary imbibition in cementitious materials is relevant to describe their durable behaviour. Many structures are exposed to long-term contact with moisture, such as foundations or wastewater installations. After several weeks, when capillary rise is no longer progressing, a distinguished change in the slope (from the mass gain - fourth...
Blended cements, where Portland cement clinker is partially replaced by supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), provide the most feasible route for reducing carbon dioxide emissions associated with concrete production. However, lowering the clinker content can lead to an increasing risk of neutralisation of the concrete pore solution and poten...
Capillary imbibition is a transport phenomenon occurring in concrete structures exposed to weathering, frequently in direct connection with the resistance against different deterioration processes. This property depends on the volume and connectivity of pores. For ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) and fly ash blended concrete mixes, the...
The tortuosity of the pore structure is an important factor affecting transport of species in cement-based materials; hence it constitutes a valuable tool for predicting their durability performance. A textural analysis of the pore structure of GGBFS and limestone powder blended concrete is assessed by multi-cycle mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP...
Sorptivity is a transport parameter widely used for assessing the durable performance of concrete. However, anomalous capillary absorption (or imbibition) is normally reported for cementitious materials, i.e. capillary water uptake evolves non-linearly with t 0.5. For decades, different methods of dealing with the anomaly have been adopted in diffe...
Short-term capillary imbibition (or absorption) tests are practical and provide useful information about the performance of cementitious materials. Most of these tests are performed for a short period (< 1 week), however, if the test continues for a longer period there is still liquid ingress. This further ingress of liquid is believed to be relate...
ABSTRACT
Capillary imbibition or water uptake tests are practical and they satisfactorily describe the performance of cementitious materials. Most of these tests are performed for a short period (<1 week), however, additional water uptake has been documented after the water front has covered the total height of samples. This process occurs at a ver...
Pore structure description is a fundamental when studying the durability of cement-based materials. A more complex microstructural system is found when supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are used, and additional information about the relative physical and chemical changes measured with the bulk resistivity is still required. To evaluate th...
Current societal waste production has reached an alarming peak. The incineration of non-hazardous non-recyclable waste (namely municipal solid waste) can be a viable solution. The generated bottom ash is a potential material to be used in concrete as partial cement replacement. This has the double advantage of reducing landfill and at the same time...
The description of the capillary imbibition phenomenon can help to understand and enhance the durability of cementitious materials containing supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). We studied the effect of slag, natural pozzolan and limestone powder on mortars by means of gravimetric analysis, electrical conductivity and neutron radiography d...
The Lucas-Washburn equation is still being applied by a significant number of researchers for the modelling of water absorption in cementitious materials. A modern approach considers the extended Darcy’s law leading to the Richards equation instead. Three main assumptions are implied by the application of the Lucas-Washburn equation: the flow occur...
En este trabajo se estudia la utilización potencial del polvo reciclado calcinado, obtenido a partir de la molienda de agregado fino reciclado de un hormigón de desecho, como sustituto parcial del cemento. Se evaluaron propiedades de un polvo reciclado sin tratamiento más que la molienda mecánica, y otros luego de procesos de calcinación a 550º y 8...
La literatura, incluyendo IRAM 1871, define al coeficiente de succión capilar como un factor de proporcionalidad entre la ganancia de peso por succión capilar y tiempo 0,5. Pero para los materiales cementíceos esta linealidad no es tal y existen dificultades para su aplicación. El comportamiento real evoluciona con una curva que disminuye progresiv...
Pore structure characterization is a key aspect when studying the durability of cementitious materials. When supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are used changes in pore structure are expected, and the complexity of its analysis is increased. The purpose of this paper is to describe the pore structure variation of mortars with two types of...
A primary aim of RILEM TC 267-TRM: “Tests for Reactivity of Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs)” is to compare and evaluate the performance of conventional and novel SCM reactivity test methods across a wide range of SCMs. To this purpose, a round robin campaign was organized to investigate 10 different tests for reactivity and 11 SCMs cove...
Water vapour permeability (WVP) is a key parameter for the sustainable thermal conditioning of buildings. The study of the WVP in concrete with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) allows for the design of structures with improved durability and sustainability. To our knowledge, there is insufficient experimental data in the literature regar...
This chapter is dedicated to several kinds of natural pozzolans that occur around the globe and describes their specific characteristics, origin and use in concrete. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of their use in concrete mixes are highlighted in terms of concrete properties. In particular, the referenced properties in this chapter are...
Sorptivity is broadly used for characterising the pore connectivity of cementitious materials, with applications in design for durability. A water sorptivity coefficient (WSC) is typically obtained from the ratio between the amount of absorbed water and t0.5. This relationship is however not linear for cementitious materials, and conventions are ne...
Polymeric healing agents have proven their efficiency to heal cracks in concrete in an autonomous way. However, the bottleneck for valorisation of self-healing concrete with polymeric healing agents is their encapsulation. In the present work, the suitability of polymeric materials such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polystyrene (PS) and poly...
Scanning electron microscopy with backscattered electrons (SEM/BSE) is a powerful
technique that allows the visualization of polished cross sections with good reproducibility and level of detail. It is widely used to study the microstructure of cement-based materials and identify different phases in the cement paste. However, in some cases it is di...
The description of the pore structure is a key aspect when studying the durability of cement-based materials. Many techniques have been developed over the years in order to describe the actual complex microstructure of these materials. These techniques can be useful to determine the change in pore structure when supplementary cementitious materials...
Autogenous shrinkage is a problem in cementitious materials with a low water-to-binder ratio. When the internal relative humidity decreases due to the ongoing hydration reaction and self-desiccation, autogenous shrinkage takes place if no external or internal water source is present. This may lead to cracking and eventually cause durability problem...
The water sorption phenomenon in a cementitious matrix is responsible for the ingress of several deleterious agents, and it is directly related to pore connectivity and pore volume. One of the most common tests used to describe this mechanism is the capillary sorption test. Furthermore, the drying rate is a process that strongly depends on the tran...
Existen varias técnicas para conocer la composición mineralógica de los cementos, como las fórmulas de Bogue o el conteo con microscopía. En los últimos años la técnica que ha ganado mayor aceptación es la cuantificación mediante el método Rietveld para difracción de rayos X, por sus ventajas comparativas a los demás métodos (velocidad, precisión y...
Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) enhance early hydration of cement through the provision of nucleation sites for the precipitation of hydration products. This effect contrasts with the dilution effect of the mineral addition to the cementitious system. In fact, the net effect on heat release during the first hours of hydration is the red...
Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are mainly used to produce a green concrete. To reach that goal effectively, it is highly important to adequately characterize the SCMs. It is well known that particle size distribution (PSD) and fineness of SCMs have a great influence on concrete properties. Traditionally, cement fineness has been assess...
In concrete production, aggregate represents almost 75% of the materials used. The exploitation of natural sources for this purpose also causes an environmental impact, while deposition of wastes from construction industry pollutes soil and water. The feasibility of recycled coarse aggregate used as component of concrete has been amply proved. Fine...
Given their low tensile strength, cement-based materials are very susceptible to cracking. These cracks serve as preferential pathways for corrosion inducing substances. For large concrete infrastructure works, currently available time-consuming manual repair techniques are not always an option. Often, one simply cannot reach the damaged areas and...
Los tratamientos superficiales sobre vías no pavimentadas tienen menor costo que la pavimentación para la supresión de polvo en suspensión por la circulación vehicular. Entre estos sobresalen los paliativos de polvo, que actúan sobre las partículas de polvo generando su adhesión entre sí cambiando la tensión superficial con sales o, en el caso de l...
One of the main causes of accidents on secondary unpaved roads is the inadequate visibility originatedby the dust particles suspended in the air because of the vehicles. This brings along a significantenvironmental damage to people, animals and plants of the area, a permanent deterioration because ofthe loss of material and therefore a need for mor...
RESUMEN Uno de los empleos de un Deflectómetro Liviano de Impacto es establecer espesores de sobrecapas asfálticas mediante la aplicación de retrocálculo según la Guía AASHTO 93, de uso difundido. Esto se logra generando deflexiones por impacto sobre la capa asfáltica a ser reforzada, permitiéndose el empleo posterior de espesores diferentes en cad...
Uno de los empleos del Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) es el de establecer espesores de refuerzo con mezcla asfáltica en vías a ser rehabilitadas, mediante la aplicación de la técnica de retrocálculo de la Guía AASHTO93, de uso difundido en nuestra región. Esto se logra generando las deflexiones por impacto sobre la capa asfáltica a ser reforzad...
Introducción La completa caracterización de los materiales componentes del pavimento es un requisito fundamental en el diseño de los mismos. En los últimos años se han desarrollado varios equipos y métodos con el objetivo de lograr un mayor acercamiento en laboratorio al comportamiento en campo de estos materiales. Esto marca una clara tendencia ha...
En el diseño de paquetes estructurales flexibles, en pavimentación de vías de bajo tránsito que ya cuentan con capas de aporte de materiales granulares, intervienen una serie de factores como el tránsito, los materiales y la subrasante. En función del grado de conocimiento que se tenga sobre éstos el proyectista podrá determinar con mayor o menor e...
La pavimentación asfáltica urbana generalmente contempla un paquete estructural multicapas tipo. Dicha estructura se materializa sobre subrasantes de diversa aptitud vial. Además, según sea la cota de rasante, existen secciones con apertura de caja, reconformación de la superficie o terraplenamiento. Como a su vez existe un rango de aporte estructu...
En los últimos años han tomado relevante importancia las consideraciones ambientales en todos los aspectos que hacen al desarrollo de una comunidad, y la ingeniería vial no permanece ajena a estas cuestiones. La problemática de la escasez de recursos se pone en evidencia constantemente, razón por la cual es importante desarrollar métodos sustentabl...
