Author(s)

A. Puskas & L. M. Moga

Abstract

Reinforced concrete structures are not generally known as sustainable ones due to the excessive use of limited limestone resources and due to the possible negative impact on the environment of using large quantities of energy for producing the rebar and the structural concrete. Unfortunately, understanding the shortcomings of these structures is not equivalent to finding alternative structural solutions with much lower environmental impact, which could respond to the same design theme. If a multi-storey, multi-bay reinforced concrete frame building is given, choice of proper concrete and reinforcing steel quality can lead to substantial savings, but how can the savings be related to the environmental impacts? In order to study the relationship between the economy and the environmental impact for the same given frame structure the structural design has been carried out for two versions of material use, where the first version is based on concrete class C16/20 and reinforcing steel class PC52 while the second version uses concrete class C30/37 and reinforcing steel class S500. The next step is the comparison of the structural solutions by means of the material lists and the realization costs of the structures, but the final conclusions could not be deducted without taking into account the estimated required energy for realizing both structures. Based on the calculated structure the paper concludes by providing the relationship between the economy and the sustainability of the used structural materials. Keywords: sustainability of concrete structures, economy and sustainability, material quality impact, cost and energy.

Keywords

Keywords: sustainability of concrete structures, economy and sustainability,material quality impact, cost and energy.