The role of concrete compressive strength on the service life and life cycle of a RC structure: Case study

Abstract This paper aims to investigate if the concrete compressive strength could be used as an environmental strategy to increase the sustainability potential of a given RC structure. The main goal is to evaluate if increasing design concrete compressive strength would result a better balance between the amounts of steel and concrete, leading to a decrease of environmental impacts and construction costs, followed by an increase in RC structure service life and/or durability. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been used to quantify environmental impacts and embodied energy of three four-pavement commercial office-building designed with C25, C50, and C75 concrete. Service life has been assessed based on design criteria for durability. Results show that for the studied functional unit RC50 presents better results from the environmental and economical point of view. Despite the positive effects regarding durability, the impacts during material production, construction, and demolition proved that, for this case study, the use of RC75 is not economically nor environmentally advantageous when compared to RC50. This study is an evidence that materials choice and structural design parameters are extremely relevant with regard to the environmental impact and service life of reinforced concrete buildings. Results highlight the importance of the inventory data collection on the life cycle analysis.

[1]  Robert Le Roy,et al.  Reducing environmental impact by increasing the strength of concrete: quantification of the improvement to concrete bridges , 2012 .

[2]  Claus Pade,et al.  The CO2 Uptake of Concrete in a 100 Year Perspective , 2007 .

[3]  O. Kayali,et al.  Corrosion performance of medium-strength and silica fume high-strength reinforced concrete in a chloride solution , 2005 .

[4]  P. Aitcin.  High Performance Concrete , 1998 .

[5]  Maristela Gomes da Silva,et al.  Influência da vida útil, resistência característica e tipo de cimento no desempenho ambiental do ciclo de vida do concreto , 2013 .

[6]  Hans-Jörg Althaus,et al.  Relevance of simplifications in LCA of building components , 2009 .

[7]  A comparative Life Cycle Assessment of two multi storey residential apartment buildings , 2015 .

[8]  Emilio Jiménez-Macías,et al.  Optimization based on life cycle analysis for reinforced concrete structures with one-way slabs , 2016 .

[9]  M. Shayanfar,et al.  Corrosion-induced reduction in compressive strength of self-compacting concretes containing mineral admixtures , 2016 .

[10]  Michael Haist,et al.  Assessment of the sustainability potential of concrete and concrete structures considering their environmental impact, performance and lifetime , 2014 .

[11]  Rahman Saidur,et al.  A review on emission analysis in cement industries , 2011 .

[12]  J. Labrincha,et al.  Life cycle assessment of the production of cement: A Brazilian case study , 2016 .

[13]  Jeroen B. Guinee,et al.  Handbook on life cycle assessment operational guide to the ISO standards , 2002 .

[14]  Attila Puskás,et al.  Sustainability of Masonry and Reinforced Concrete Frame Structures. Case Studies , 2016 .

[15]  Ana Carolina Parapinski dos Santos,et al.  CO2 uptake potential due to concrete carbonation: A case study , 2017 .

[16]  P. Helene,et al.  Previsão da vida útil de concreto armado de alta resistência com adição de metacaulim e sílica ativa em ambientes marinhos , 2013 .

[17]  Seungjun Roh,et al.  Assessment of the CO2 emission and cost reduction performance of a low-carbon-emission concrete mix design using an optimal mix design system , 2013 .

[18]  Phil Purnell,et al.  Material nature versus structural nurture: the embodied carbon of fundamental structural elements. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[19]  Arpad Horvath,et al.  Life-cycle inventory analysis of concrete production: A critical review , 2014 .

[20]  Hans-Jörg Althaus,et al.  The ecoinvent Database: Overview and Methodological Framework (7 pp) , 2005 .

[21]  Zhang Xu,et al.  Inventory analysis of LCA on steel- and concrete-construction office buildings , 2008 .

[22]  J. Tanesi,et al.  Guidelines for the development of concrete performance-based specifications in Brazil Diretrizes para o desenvolvimento de especificações por desempenho para concretos no Brasil , 2012 .

[23]  Teresa Gallego,et al.  Comparison of environmental impacts of building structures with in situ cast floors and with precast concrete floors , 2009 .

[24]  Danielle Maia de Souza,et al.  Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of ceramic versus concrete roof tiles in the Brazilian context , 2015 .

[25]  Hans-Jörg Althaus,et al.  Manufacturing and Disposal of Building Materials and Inventorying Infrastructure in ecoinvent (8 pp) , 2005 .

[26]  P. Van den Heede,et al.  Environmental impact and life cycle assessment (LCA) of traditional and ‘green’ concretes: Literature review and theoretical calculations , 2012 .

[27]  A. R. Ometto,et al.  Sensitivity analysis of the use of Life Cycle Impact Assessment methods: a case study on building materials , 2016 .

[28]  Luca Guardigli,et al.  Assessing Environmental Impact of Green Buildings through LCA Methods: Acomparison between Reinforced Concrete and Wood Structures in the European Context , 2011 .

[29]  Thomas Lützkendorf,et al.  Cumulative energy demand in LCA: the energy harvested approach , 2015, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[30]  Nicolas Roussel,et al.  Study of two concrete mix-design strategies to reach carbon mitigation objectives , 2009 .

[31]  Magdalena Svanström,et al.  A framework for energy use indicators and their reporting in life cycle assessment , 2016, Integrated environmental assessment and management.