Expansion properties of concrete containing circulating fluidised bed fly ash for use in concrete-filled steel tubes

In the context of green and low-carbon materials development, the influence of replacing cement with circulating fluidised bed fly ash (CFBFA) on the expansion properties of paste under different curing conditions was first systematically investigated. Then, self-compacting concretes (SCCs) with recycled aggregate (RA) and CFBFA were prepared for filling steel tubes. The experimental results showed that, because of its unique physicochemical properties, the incorporation of CFBFA significantly increased the water requirement needed to achieve standard consistency of the paste and the pore structure was optimised by a reduction in the number of large pores due to the formation of more expansion components (ettringite, gypsum and portlandite are the main expansive products of CFBFA–cement paste). The influence of factors such as curing condition, age and CFBFA on the expansion effect was notable. With a 40% CFBFA content, the RA SCC in the steel tube showed an expansion of 41 μm/m, while the 28-day compressive strength reached 48.9 MPa.