Abigail Kienzle, a junior from Albany, NY majoring in Civil Engineering, and a member of the Honors Program, presented her research this week at the Spring 2022 American Concrete Institute (ACI) Concrete Convention in Orlando, FL. This is an international forum attended by leading scholars and practitioners in the global concrete community. Abby was invited to attend the conference as a sponsored guest of ACI.
Abby is an undergraduate research assistant in Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Robert Thomas’s laboratory. Her work focuses on the early-age solidification behavior of belitic calcium sulfoaluminate (BCSA) cement. BCSA cement is an emerging cement that has a significantly lower carbon footprint and embodied energy than traditional portland cements. BCSA sets much more rapidly than traditional cements, meaning it can also be used to accelerate construction.
“Abby is studying how to control the early-age solidification behavior using citric acid retarders. As of now, we are just using BCSA as a repair material because it sets within 15-20 minutes of mixing. By extending the setting time to a few hours to allow for mixing, transportation, and placement of the concrete, Abby’s work will allow us to use BCSA cement in general construction,” Professor Thomas said.