Improving environmental sustainability of concrete products: Investigation on MWC thermal and mechanical properties

This research focuses on the possibility of constituting a more sustainable lightweight concrete, Mineralized Wood Concrete (MWC), substituting natural aggregates with wastes from woodworking activities. Exploiting this type of aggregates, a triple purpose has been achieved: preservation of natural raw materials, reuse of wastes and energy saving. Furthermore, the use of wood aggregates is a way to try to develop a sustainable concrete characterized by high thermal inertia, high thermal resistance and low weight. In this paper, effects of the addition of wood aggregates on mechanical and thermal properties of concrete are studied. Mechanical performances have been investigated with compressive strength tests, while a one-dimensional heat flow model has been used to predict the thermal conductivity of MWC. The use of MWC can be associated with the idea of a different typology of relatively heavy building envelope: this union could competitively answer to the demand of well-insulated building envelope and concurrently characterized by high thermal mass. From this union, a series of other values can be derived: low weight, environmentally friendly, easily industrialized and easy on-site casting. Consequently, applications of wood concrete in building constructions may be an interesting solution in order to improve sustainability and building energy efficiency.

[1]  Vivian W. Y Tam,et al.  Evaluations of existing waste recycling methods: A Hong Kong study , 2006 .

[2]  Ramazan Demirboga,et al.  Thermal conductivity and compressive strength of concrete incorporation with mineral admixtures , 2007 .

[3]  V. Corinaldesi,et al.  Reuse of ground waste glass as aggregate for mortars. , 2005, Waste management.

[4]  R. Dheilly,et al.  Influence of the proportion of wood on the thermal and mechanical performances of clay-cement-wood composites , 1999 .

[5]  M. Karakoç,et al.  Thermo-mechanical properties of concrete containing high-volume mineral admixtures , 2007 .

[6]  L. Gustavsson,et al.  Variability in energy and carbon dioxide balances of wood and concrete building materials , 2006 .

[7]  R. Dheilly,et al.  Effect of microstructure on the mechanical and thermal properties of lightweight concrete prepared from clay, cement, and wood aggregates , 1998 .

[8]  Haifeng Zhang,et al.  Randomly mixed model for predicting the effective thermal conductivity of moist porous media , 2006 .

[9]  Yixin Shao,et al.  Studies on concrete containing ground waste glass , 2000 .

[10]  Peter Walker,et al.  Building houses with local materials: means to drastically reduce the environmental impact of construction , 2001 .

[11]  R. Siddique,et al.  Use of recycled plastic in concrete: a review. , 2008, Waste management.

[12]  Seung-Bum Park,et al.  Studies on mechanical properties of concrete containing waste glass aggregate , 2004 .

[13]  Michael Galetakis,et al.  Utilization of limestone dust for artificial stone production: an experimental approach , 2004 .

[14]  B. Ahmadi,et al.  Utilization of paper waste sludge in the building construction industry , 2001 .

[15]  D. Campbell-Allen,et al.  The thermal conductivity of concrete , 1963 .

[16]  Jagjiwanram,et al.  Effective thermal conductivity of highly porous two-phase systems ☆ , 2004 .

[17]  Ismail H. Tavman,et al.  Effective thermal conductivity of granular porous materials , 1996 .

[18]  Ahmad Shayan,et al.  Value-added Utilisation of Waste Glass in Concrete , 2002 .

[19]  P. Soroushian,et al.  Assessment of Reinforcing Effects of Recycled Plastic and Paper in Concrete , 2003 .

[20]  Robert W. Zimmerman,et al.  Thermal conductivity of fluid-saturated rocks , 1989 .

[21]  Raymond J. Cole,et al.  Energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the construction of alternative structural systems , 1998 .

[22]  A. Elinwa,et al.  Ash from timber waste as cement replacement material , 2002 .

[23]  R. Dheilly,et al.  PROPERTIES OF WOOD-BASED COMPOSITES FORMULATED WITH AGGREGATE INDUSTRY WASTE , 2000 .

[24]  Jin-keun Kim,et al.  An experimental study on thermal conductivity of concrete , 2003 .

[25]  Mohammad Iqbal Khan,et al.  Factors affecting the thermal properties of concrete and applicability of its prediction models , 2002 .

[26]  Mohammed S. Imbabi,et al.  Evaluation of thermal conductivity in air permeable concrete for dynamic breathing wall construction , 2007 .

[27]  T Z Harmathy,et al.  THERMAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES , 1970 .

[28]  İlker Bekir Topçu,et al.  Properties of concrete containing waste glass , 2004 .

[29]  prediction and measurement of effective thermal conductivity of three-phase systems , 1991 .

[30]  B. González-Fonteboa,et al.  Concretes with aggregates from demolition waste and silica fume. Materials and mechanical properties , 2008 .

[31]  Paki Turgut,et al.  Cement composites with limestone dust and different grades of wood sawdust , 2007 .

[32]  M. Bederina,et al.  Effect of the addition of wood shavings on thermal conductivity of sand concretes: Experimental study and modelling , 2007 .