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Contribution to sustainable seismic design of reinforced concrete members through embodied CO 2 emissions optimization
Author(s) -
Mergos Panagiotis E.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
structural concrete
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1751-7648
pISSN - 1464-4177
DOI - 10.1002/suco.201700064
Subject(s) - ductility (earth science) , structural engineering , footprint , seismic analysis , reinforced concrete , seismic hazard , embodied energy , engineering , greenhouse gas , environmental science , civil engineering , geology , materials science , composite material , paleontology , creep , physics , oceanography , thermodynamics
The embodied CO 2 emissions of reinforced concrete ( RC ) structures can be significantly reduced by structural optimization that maximizes structural efficiency. Previous studies dealing with design of RC structures for minimum CO 2 emissions do not address seismic design provisions. This is the case despite the fact that in many countries around the world, including most of the top 10 countries in CO 2 emissions from cement production, RC structures have to be designed against earthquake hazard. To fill a part of this gap, this study, using exhaustive search, examines optimum designs of RC beam and column members for minimum embodied CO 2 emissions according to Eurocode‐8 for all ductility classes and compares them with optimum designs based on material cost. It is shown that seismic designs for minimum CO 2 footprint lead to less CO 2 emissions but are more expensive than minimum cost designs. Their differences strongly depend on the assumed values of the environmental impact of reinforcing steel and concrete materials. Furthermore, it is concluded that seismic design for high ductility classes can drive to significant reductions in embodied CO 2 emissions.