Digital threads for sustainable concrete: A prototype traceability system

Abstract

Achieving traceability of concrete materials is a crucial step towards promoting sustainable concrete use. This includes creating accurate Environmental Product Declarations, minimising mistakes during concrete placement, and improving understanding of the relationship between concrete constituents and performance. Despite these benefits, effective traceability for concrete materials has not yet been achieved in the laboratory environment or within wider practice. This work sets out a digital thread for concrete use and the functional requirements for a traceability framework for adoption in a laboratory environment. Traceable Resource Units (TRUs) are identified, and the primary Critical Tracking Events for each TRU are described. A prototype traceability system is developed to link the necessary properties, constituent material data, production information and performance results for concrete materials. The prototype system incorporates a novel inkjet printer QR code fingerprinting solution that is demonstrated to be highly effective for concrete specimens and for various media, including paper and metal, used to transport and store raw concrete constituent materials. A laboratory test series demonstrated a 100% readability rate with the proposed QR fingerprinting solution according to standard measures. This work advances knowledge of the appropriate Traceable Resource Units and Critical Tracking Events within concrete practice, develops effective marking procedures and forms a prototype constituent-to-product traceability system.