Appraisal on mechanical, durability and ecological performance of sustainable cementitious mortar by using Taguchi optimization technique

Abstract

This research investigated the performance of ternary blended cement mortars containing recycle brick powder, ground granulated blast furnace slag and nano-silica experimentally and statistically. The Taguchi method was employed to create a design of experiment with L16 Taguchi array for blended mixes. Analysis of the experimental results was evaluated by analysis of variance and used to determine the statistical effect of parameters. In the construction industry, the major portion of demolition contains brick waste that requires a huge area for disposal and also causes environmental pollution. In this study, various blended mortar samples with different levels of recycled brick clay (0%, 5%, 10% and 15%), ground granulated blast furnace slag (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%) and nano silica (0%, 2%, 4% and 6%) were produced and their compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, dynamic young modulus, water absorption and permeable pores were determined. Recorded parameters revealed that mixtures blended with 10% RBP, 20% GGBFS and 6% NS (MR10G20NS6) give maximum compressive strength; whereas, mixtures blended with 15% RBP, 60% GGBFS and 0% NS (MR15G60NS0) exhibit minimum embodied energy, carbon emission and cost involved in production. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Taguchi optimization analysis approach could be employed efficiently in such research.