Efectos del diseño y la construcción sobre la huella de carbono en columnas de hormigón armado para edificios residenciales

Constructing structural elements requires high performance materials. Important decisions about geometry and materials are made during the design and execution phases. This study analyzes and evaluates the relevant factors for reinforced concrete columns made in situ for residential buildings. This article identifies and highlights the most sensitive aspects in column design: geometry, type of cement, and concrete strength performance. Using C-40 concrete mixed with CEM-II proved to cut costs (up to 17.83%) and emissions (up to 13.59%). The ideal combination of rebar and concrete is between 1.47 and 1.73: this is the percentage of the ratio between the area of rebar and the area of the concrete section. The means used during the execution phase affect resource optimization. The location of a building has only a minor impact, wherein the wind zone exercises more influence than topographic altitude.La construcción de elementos estructurales requiere materiales de alto rendimiento. Las decisiones sobre la geometría y materiales se toman durante las fases de diseño y ejecución. Este estudio analiza y evalúa factores relevantes para columnas de hormigón armado en edificios residenciales. El trabajo identifica y resalta los aspectos más sensibles en el diseño de columnas: geometría, tipo de cemento y rendimiento de resistencia del concreto. El uso de hormigón C-40 mezclado con CEM-II demostró reducir costes (hasta 17.83%) y emisiones (hasta 13.59%). La combinación ideal de barras de refuerzo y concreto está entre 1.47 y 1.73: este es el porcentaje de la relación entre área de barras de refuerzo y área de la sección de hormigón. Los medios utilizados durante la fase de ejecución afectan la viabilidad de optimizar los recursos. La ubicación del edificio tiene un impacto menor, la zona eólica ejerce más influencia que la altitud topográfica

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

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

Acoustic behavior of hollow blocks and bricks made of concrete doped withwaste-tire rubber

In this paper, we investigate the acoustic behaviour of building elements made of concrete doped with waste-tire rubber. Three different mixtures were created, with 0%, 10%, and 20% rubber in their composition. Bricks, lattice joists, and hollow blocks were manufactured with each mixture, and three different cells were built and tested against aerial and impact noise. The values of the global acoustic isolation and the reduction of the sound pressure level of impacts were measured. Results proved that highly doped elements are an excellent option to isolate low frequency sounds, whereas intermediate and standard elements constitute a most interesting option to block middle and high frequency sounds. In both cases, the considerable amount of waste-tire rubber recycled could justify the employment of the doped materials for the sake of the environment. © 2016 by the author

Building structure models. Impact on cumulative energy demand and carbon footprint

This paper assesses the impact of the arrangement of pillars and building height and its effect on the environmental impacts for the structural solution. Impacts are analyzed in the elements of the structure: Foundations, pillars, and slabs. By embodied energy and carbon footprint, both, the manufacturing process of materials and the process of implementation of the proposed structure are measured. The results are obtained per executed square meter. The analysis provides the optimal arrangement for the pillars and the height of the building; the increase in separation of the pillars causes greater impacts, and the design of tall buildings also drives to an important increase of resource consumption

Study of the technical feasibility of increasing the amount of recycled concrete waste used in ready-mix concrete production

The construction industry generates a considerable amount of waste. Faced with this undesirable situation, the ready-mix concrete sector, in particular, has invested energy and resources into reusing its own waste in its production process as it works towards the goal of more sustainable construction. This study examines the feasibility of incorporating two types of concrete waste, which currently end up in landfill, into the production process of ready-mix concrete: the waste generated during the initial production stage (ready-mix concrete waste), and waste created when demolition waste is treated to obtain artificial aggregate. The first phase of the study's methodology corroborates the suitability of the recycled aggregate through characterization tests. After this phase, the impact of incorporating different percentages of recycled coarse aggregate is evaluated by examining the performance of the produced concrete. The replacement rate varied between 15% and 50%. The results indicate that recycled aggregates are, indeed, suitable to be incorporated into ready-mix concrete production. The impact on the final product's performance is different for the two cases examined herein. Incorporating aggregates from generic concrete blocks led to a 20% decrease in the produced concrete's strength performance. On the other hand, using recycled aggregates made from the demolition waste led to a smaller decrease in the concrete's performance: about 8%. The results indicate that with adequate management and prior treatment, the waste from these plants can be re-incorporated into their production processes. If concrete waste is re-used, concrete production, in general, becomes more sustainable for two reasons: less waste ends up as landfill and the consumption of natural aggregates is also reduced. © 2017 by the authors

Multi-minicore disease--searching for boundaries: phenotype analysis of 38 cases

Multi-minicore disease (MmD) is a congenital myopathy morphologically defined by the presence of multiple small zones of sarcomeric disorganization and lack of oxidative activity ("minicores") in muscle fibers. The dinical expression of MmD is considered to be greatly variable, and the morphological lesions are nonspecific; therefore, its boundaries are poorly defined, and its molecular bases are not known. To better define the phenotypic characteristics of MmD, we analyzed a large series of 38 patients with multiple minicores in muscle fibers in the absence of any other potential cause. According to clinical features, 4 subgroups were identified. Most patients (30 cases) shared a common highly consistent phenotype marked by the axial predominance of muscle weakness and a high occurrence of severe respiratory insufficiency and scoliosis ("classical" form). Other forms were characterized by pharyngolaryngeal involvement and total lack of head control (2 cases), antenatal onset with arthrogryposis (3 cases), and slowly progressive weakness with marked hand amyotrophy (3 cases). Type 1 fiber predominance and hypotrophy as well as centrally located nuclei were found in every subgroup. MmD is thus phenotypically heterogeneous, but a typical recognizable phenotype does exist. This phenotype classification should be helpful when undertaking research into the molecular defects that cause MmD