Congratulations to the winners of our 2021 grants.
Three submissions were awarded grants:
Dr Wendel Sebastian of University College London – Incrementally pretensioned stone for low-carbon structures
The overall aim of this project is to experimentally demonstrate the fabrication and structural viability of stone beams, with variable prestressing moment along the span, achieved by incrementally pretensioning and bonding the strands at constant eccentricity within the stone block segments.
Julian Allwood of University of Cambridge – Maintaining large historic buildings with no cement
The Church of England has committed to having zero emissions by 2030. The single greatest challenge this poses is to maintain their buildings with no cement – there are currently no zero emissions options to make cement. This project aims to reveal options to address this challenge.
Xuemei Liu of University of Melbourne – Mitigation of carbon dioxide by further enhanced sequestration in concrete
Today, due to the high carbon footprint associated with cement production, there is a growing drive to find alternatives to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) that compensate for its high carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, concrete’s low tensile strength and reduced durability in harsh environments incentivise the use of reinforcing materials. This project aims to develop a durable concrete with greater capacity to sequeste carbon dioxide.