Evaluación combinada de los impactos ambientales, económicos y sociales de soluciones estructurales para la construcción de viviendas

Sustainable development in construction is based on three fundamental pillars: economic, environmental and social. This type of approach aims to identify the best possible solutions for sustainably developing structures by conducting a joint evaluation of the impact on those three pillars. The proposed methodology incorporates metadata on the Spanish construction sector. First, a discrete database is generated with 360 alternatives covering a range of common solutions in residential building. A Pareto algorithm is utilized to select the optimal choices and the wide range of solutions is reduced to the 5 % of the initial group. The project manager is therefore provided with an objective assessment of suitable structural alternatives including the overall joint economic, social, and environmental impact. The results obtained demonstrate the importance and utility of the proposed methodology for sustainable construction.El desarrollo sostenible aplicado a la construcción se basa en tres pilares fundamentales: económico, medioambiental y social. El objetivo principal es identificar las mejores soluciones en términos de desarrollo sostenible de alternativas estructurales a partir de la evaluación conjunta de los impactos en dichos pilares. La metodología propuesta incorpora metadatos con información del sector de la construcción en España. Primero se genera una base de datos discreta de 360 alternativas estructurales que cubren el rango de soluciones habituales en edificación residencial. La selección de alternativas óptimas se realiza mediante el algoritmo de Pareto. El abanico de soluciones se reduce al 5 % de las iniciales. Se aporta una valoración objetiva que orienta al proyectista en la selección de alternativas estructurales idóneas, visualizando de forma conjunta el impacto económico, social y ambiental. Los resultados obtenidos muestran la importancia y utilidad de la metodología propuesta en el campo de la construcción sostenible

Evaluation of crumb rubber as aggregate for automated manufacturing of rubberized long hollow blocks and bricks

Waste tire rubber is a promising lightweight aggregate for building products that enhances their thermal and acoustic properties. Even the environmental benefits of its use are evident, higher cost and significant changes in compressive strength and workability hinder its widespread adoption. This article examines the use of crumb rubber (CR) as aggregate in dry-mix mortars to produce rubberized long hollow blocks and bricks using automated brick machines. CR was incorporated over a range of 10-40% with water/ cement ratio varying from 0.7 to 0.9. The production of rubberized bricks exhibited better performance than long hollow blocks in factory trials. Tests showed important deformations and drastic reduction in compressive strength, especially for crumb rubber percentages greater than 20%. Due to this and the high cost of CR, caution must be taken with the design of new rubberized building products to make sure they are profitable. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe