Document Type
Extended Abstract
Abstract
The paper presents, as the summary of a more than a decade long research performed by the author’s research group, an approach which combines, in a holistic life cycle thinking framework, higher and longer lasting material performance with enhanced structural functionality. The signature high resilience material concept also features the possibility of engineering the structural performance over time through its self-healing capacity, i.e. the ability of the material to self-repair cracks without external intervention but thanks to its suitably designed composition. Concretes are no longer regarded as providers of passive protection, whose degradation over time has to be delayed as much as possible, but become active players in shaping their own performance as a function of the requirement in the operating scenario. The conceptual design approach, suitably "nestled" into a life cycle thinking framework, represents a key driver for advanced materials innovation uptake in concrete construction industry. The overall performance assessment does no longer rely on the merely misleading concepts of material unit volume cost and environmental impact at its time of generation but is framed appropriately into a structural functional unit context all along its service life. The research results have demonstrated that up to 70% less amount of material can be used to achieve the same or higher structural and durability performance, with maintenance from five to ten times less frequent all along the reference service life period. This represents a breakthrough innovation in the approach of concrete construction industry to the use of advanced cement based materials, overcoming the current situation where Advanced Cement Based Materials are very often promoted only through their extremely high compressive strength, whereas their higher durability is simply accepted as a bonus but has hardly been quantified as true benefit in design, construction, maintenance and use stage of buildings and structures.
Keywords
Advanced Cement Based Materials, Self-Healing, Conceptual design, Durability, Sustainability, Life Cycle Thinking
DOI
10.5703/1288284318047
Building better, for longer, with less: a “holistic” approach to material and structural concept and design with Advanced Cement Based Materials
The paper presents, as the summary of a more than a decade long research performed by the author’s research group, an approach which combines, in a holistic life cycle thinking framework, higher and longer lasting material performance with enhanced structural functionality. The signature high resilience material concept also features the possibility of engineering the structural performance over time through its self-healing capacity, i.e. the ability of the material to self-repair cracks without external intervention but thanks to its suitably designed composition. Concretes are no longer regarded as providers of passive protection, whose degradation over time has to be delayed as much as possible, but become active players in shaping their own performance as a function of the requirement in the operating scenario. The conceptual design approach, suitably "nestled" into a life cycle thinking framework, represents a key driver for advanced materials innovation uptake in concrete construction industry. The overall performance assessment does no longer rely on the merely misleading concepts of material unit volume cost and environmental impact at its time of generation but is framed appropriately into a structural functional unit context all along its service life. The research results have demonstrated that up to 70% less amount of material can be used to achieve the same or higher structural and durability performance, with maintenance from five to ten times less frequent all along the reference service life period. This represents a breakthrough innovation in the approach of concrete construction industry to the use of advanced cement based materials, overcoming the current situation where Advanced Cement Based Materials are very often promoted only through their extremely high compressive strength, whereas their higher durability is simply accepted as a bonus but has hardly been quantified as true benefit in design, construction, maintenance and use stage of buildings and structures.