Assessment of CO2 Emissions by Replacing an Ordinary Reinforced Concrete Slab with the Void Slab System in a High-Rise Commercial Residential Complex Building in South Korea

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to verify the environmental performance of the novel Void Deck Slab (VDS) system developed by the authors. The proposed VDS is a void slab system with enhanced design features that improve the constructability of the system through the elimination of additional works required to connect the void formers with the anchoring devices. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique was adopted to assess the carbon dioxide emissions of the void slab system with reference to the ordinary reinforced concrete slab. The system boundary of this study ranged from raw materials to pre-operation phase, in accordance with ISO 14044. The total CO2 emissions of the ordinary reinforced concrete slab and the void slab system were 204,433.06 and 151,754.75 kg CO2-eq, respectively, which equated to about 34% less emissions for the void slab system. In the case of the ordinary reinforced concrete slab, moulds accounted for approximately 62% of CO2 emission, followed by concrete (~34%). The main source of CO2 emissions for the void slab system was concrete that accounted for ~50%, followed by moulds and deck plates that accounted for roughly 27% and 19%, respectively. In the case of the void slab system, void formers would enable a lower amount of concrete, as well as the self-weight of the slab. Besides, although the void formers filled a significant volume of the slab, the contribution to CO2 emissions was less than 1%.

Study on the Carbon Emissions in the Whole Construction Process of Prefabricated Floor Slab

“…It should be noted that the building construction engineering includes three main parts: foundation engineering, structural engineering, and decoration engineering [29][30][31], which together constitute the carbon emission system of the whole building. This paper only studies the carbon emission system of PFS in structural engineering.…”

Shear Reinforcement Effectiveness of One-Way Void Slab with the Hollow Core Ratio and Shear Reinforcement

“…Solid slab systems, an early innovation aimed at expediting construction and reducing costs by eliminating intermediate beams, remain one of the earliest methods introduced for such purposes [1,11,14]. Nevertheless, the substantial weight associated with this system renders it unsuitable for application in long spans and high-rise structures [10,[15][16][17][18]. Additionally, its increased weight contributes to heightened seismic loads, rendering its utilization in regions prone to high seismic activity economically unfeasible [4,19,20].…”

“…Additionally, its increased weight contributes to heightened seismic loads, rendering its utilization in regions prone to high seismic activity economically unfeasible [4,19,20]. Alongside the structural shortcomings, it is reported that the manufacturing processes of cement and rebars, which are the main components of concrete, entail substantial energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [15,16,21,22].…”

Equivalent CO2 Emission and Cost Analysis of Green Self-Compacting Rubberized Concrete

“…They reported that an increase in strength of the concrete resulted in an increase in the cost of CO 2 emission and concrete materials. Paik et al [13] evaluated the CO 2 emission of voided slab systems in comparison to conventional reinforced concrete slabs. They considered the raw materials and operation for the CO 2 calculations.…”