Environmental Optimization of Precast Concrete Beams Using Fibre Reinforced Polymers

R. R. L. (Rick) van Loon, Ester Pujadas-Gispert, S. P. G. (Faas) Moonen and Rijk Blok
Additional contact information
R. R. L. (Rick) van Loon: Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Ester Pujadas-Gispert: Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
S. P. G. (Faas) Moonen: Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Rijk Blok: Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Increasing importance is being attached to materials in the life-cycle of a building. In the Netherlands, material life-cycle assessments (LCA) are now mandatory for almost all new buildings, on which basis the building is then awarded a building environmental performance or MPG [Milieuprestatie Gebouwen] score. The objective of this study is to reduce the environmental–economic (shadow) costs of precast reinforced concrete (RC) beams in a conventional Dutch office building, thereby improving its MPG score. Two main optimizations are introduced: first, the amount of concrete is reduced, designing a cavity in the cross-section of the beam; second, part of the reinforcement is replaced with a fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) tube. The structural calculations draw from a combination of several codes and FRP recommendations. Hollow FRP-RC beams (with an elongated oval cavity), and flax, glass, and kenaf fibre tubes yielded the lowest shadow costs. In particular, the flax tube obtained shadow costs that were 39% lower than those of the hollow RC beam (with an elongated oval cavity); which also contributed to decreasing the shadow costs of other building components (e.g., facade), thereby reducing the MPG score of the building. However, this study also shows that it is important to select the right type of FRP as hemp fibre tubes resulted in a 98% increase in shadow costs.

Keywords: prefabricated precast concrete beams; cross-sectional design; fibre reinforced polymer; MPG score; shadow cost; carbon; glass; flax fibres; kenaf; FRP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2174/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2174/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2174-:d:221937

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().