Siliceous Concrete Materials Management for Sustainability Using Fuzzy-TOPSIS Approach

Concrete manufacturing, a high energy and natural resources demanding process, can play a vital role in sustainable development by offering solutions to environmental and socio-economic issues. Concrete manufactured with siliceous materials can extend concrete life and reduce costs, and judicious management of siliceous utilization can make concrete manufacturing sustainable. A number of industrial and agro-based by-products, waste products, and new engineered materials are being use as siliceous material in concrete. The present research aims to implement the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approach, a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique, for the orderly management of siliceous materials based on sustainable criteria, namely, technical, environmental, social, and economic aspects. The present research adopts twenty indicators of sustainability to evolve a comprehensive model for a sustainability ranking of concrete siliceous materials and to provide siliceous materials management. The present research also provides a methodology for the systematic ranking of sustainable criteria and indicators along with a siliceous materials sustainability order for enhanced sustainable development and management. It can be concluded that the proper material management of siliceous concrete materials, especially nano-engineered materials in construction industry, will help in the conservation of basic concrete materials and environmental protection without direct impact on social development.