Project Overview

BWWA became Australia’s first greenfield public airport to be built in 48 years when it opened in November 2014. The opening also marked a world first – the largest modern geopolymer concrete project containing absolutely NO Portland cement.

Wagners “Earth Friendly Concrete” (EFC) was used for the construction of all heavy duty pavements in the aircraft turning areas as well as a range of other building and civil works on the project. Using EFC instead of conventional concrete reduced CO₂ emissions by 6,600 tonne across the project. The aerial image shows the completed pavement works. The EFC turning node pavement is located at the Northern end of the runway and the EFC apron pavement is located on the Western side of the runway in front of the terminal and carpark.

The EFC heavy duty aircraft pavements were constructed using a slip form paver machine during the 2^nd half of 2014.

EFC Geopolymer Concrete

Wagners’ proprietary EFC mix used in this project follows many years of developing a commercial geopolymer concrete product that can be produced and handled in a similar manner to normal concrete. EFC has a binder made from the chemical activation of GGBS and fly ash. Purpose made plasticizing admixtures give it the necessary workability and slump retention for production, delivery and placement using standard industry practice.

EFC was produced in a twin mobile wet mix batch plant established on the BWWA project site. A maximum supply capacity of 120 m3/hr was required to provide a continuous feed of concrete to the slip form paving machine which was successfully achieved using several tipper trucks for delivery.

Pavement Construction

Aircraft pavements in Australia have traditionally been constructed using side forms and vibrating beams. Using EFC it was found that the necessary high level of compaction could be achieved with a slip form road paver machine. A 30% improvement in schedule resulted from this method and the EFC pavement compaction was validated by excellent in situ density test results.

This landmark project was judged best “Engineering Project” in the 2015 QLD State Branch of the Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA) “Awards for Excellence”. Every two years the Institute recognises excellence in concrete in the categories of International Projects, Technology Projects, Building Projects, and Engineering Projects. The project also received a Highly Commended award in the sustainability category in the National finals of this award series.

For a full technical description of this world leading innovative application of geopolymer concrete please follow the link to the downloads section.