Design, construction and assessment of FLO:RE – the prototype of a low-carbon building floor made of reused concrete elements and steel profiles

Célia Küpfer, Malena Bastien-Masse, Numa Bertola, Corentin Fivet
{"title":"Design, construction and assessment of FLO:RE – the prototype of a low-carbon building floor made of reused concrete elements and steel profiles","authors":"Célia Küpfer,&nbsp;Malena Bastien-Masse,&nbsp;Numa Bertola,&nbsp;Corentin Fivet","doi":"10.1007/s44150-025-00138-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Carefully extracting reinforced concrete (RC) elements from soon-to-be demolished structures and reusing them directly as load-bearing elements in new buildings is an emerging circular low-carbon resource-management strategy. As floor construction typically accounts for a large share of a building’s upfront carbon footprint, designing floors with reused RC elements is a promising, yet little explored, approach to lower a building’s embodied carbon. This paper presents the concept, design, construction and assessment of a new load-bearing floor system for an office building made with reused saw-cut RC pieces and reused steel profiles. The system reuses the existing properties of widely discarded construction materials – RC and steel – and is dismountable. To demonstrate the system’s technical feasibility and assess its structural and environmental performance, a 30-m<sup>2</sup> prototype – FLO:RE – is designed, built with elements reclaimed from local demolition sites, tested and finally dismantled. Reclaimed material property testing and prototype load testing confirm the structural-design safety. A Life-Cycle Assessment shows unprecedentedly low upfront embodied carbon, with results as low as 15 to 5 kgCO<sub>2</sub>e/m<sup>2</sup>, i.e., 80–94% reductions compared to conventional new RC flat slabs. This research demonstrates the untapped technical and environmental potential of reusing saw-cut RC elements in bending in structurally performant floor systems. Through this novel ultra-low-carbon solution, the study supports the efficient use of existing resources and calls for considering soon-to-be demolished RC and steel structures as potential mines of suitable quality materials ready to be reused locally.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100117,"journal":{"name":"Architecture, Structures and Construction","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44150-025-00138-2.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Architecture, Structures and Construction","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44150-025-00138-2","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Carefully extracting reinforced concrete (RC) elements from soon-to-be demolished structures and reusing them directly as load-bearing elements in new buildings is an emerging circular low-carbon resource-management strategy. As floor construction typically accounts for a large share of a building’s upfront carbon footprint, designing floors with reused RC elements is a promising, yet little explored, approach to lower a building’s embodied carbon. This paper presents the concept, design, construction and assessment of a new load-bearing floor system for an office building made with reused saw-cut RC pieces and reused steel profiles. The system reuses the existing properties of widely discarded construction materials – RC and steel – and is dismountable. To demonstrate the system’s technical feasibility and assess its structural and environmental performance, a 30-m2 prototype – FLO:RE – is designed, built with elements reclaimed from local demolition sites, tested and finally dismantled. Reclaimed material property testing and prototype load testing confirm the structural-design safety. A Life-Cycle Assessment shows unprecedentedly low upfront embodied carbon, with results as low as 15 to 5 kgCO2e/m2, i.e., 80–94% reductions compared to conventional new RC flat slabs. This research demonstrates the untapped technical and environmental potential of reusing saw-cut RC elements in bending in structurally performant floor systems. Through this novel ultra-low-carbon solution, the study supports the efficient use of existing resources and calls for considering soon-to-be demolished RC and steel structures as potential mines of suitable quality materials ready to be reused locally.

FLO:RE的设计、建造和评估——由重复使用的混凝土元素和钢型材制成的低碳建筑地板的原型
小心翼翼地从即将拆除的结构中提取钢筋混凝土(RC)构件,并将其直接用作新建筑的承重构件,这是一种新兴的循环低碳资源管理策略。由于地板结构通常占建筑物前期碳足迹的很大一部分,使用可重复使用的RC元素设计地板是一种很有前途的方法,但很少被探索,以降低建筑物的隐含碳。本文介绍了一种新的办公楼承重楼板系统的概念、设计、施工和评估,该系统采用了重复使用的锯切RC片和重复使用的钢型材。该系统重新利用了广泛废弃的建筑材料(RC和钢)的现有性能,并且是可拆卸的。为了证明该系统的技术可行性,并评估其结构和环境性能,设计了一个30平方米的原型- FLO:RE -用从当地拆迁现场回收的元素建造,进行了测试并最终拆除。回收材料性能试验和原型荷载试验验证了结构设计的安全性。生命周期评估显示出前所未有的低前期隐含碳,结果低至15至5公斤二氧化碳当量/平方米,即与传统的新型RC平板相比,减少了80-94%。这项研究表明,在结构性能优异的楼板系统中,在弯曲中重新使用锯切的RC元件具有未开发的技术和环境潜力。通过这种新颖的超低碳解决方案,该研究支持有效利用现有资源,并呼吁考虑将即将拆除的钢筋混凝土和钢结构作为潜在的矿山,准备在当地重复使用合适的优质材料。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信