But is it cheaper? (or could it be) Wood, stone, pretty much everything is stronger than concrete. We use concrete because it's strong enough and cheap (and doesn't rot like wood, but a lot of things don't rot so that's not too novel).
>Wood, stone, pretty much everything is stronger than concrete. Hang on, compressive strength is very, very high. Tensile strength is much lower so that’s why we add rebar and mesh.
Typical compressive strengths in concrete mixes for construction applications is often around 3000psi, which is actually about the same as HDPE. “Flowable fill” might be closer to 800-1000psi, which is close to end-grain compressive strength of some common lumber products. Special concrete mixes can be used to get almost 20,000psi, which is a bit less than steel (which has much higher tensile strength).
The real value proposition of concrete is that it’s made out of very common materials and can be produced in enormous quantities in most places in the world at low cost.