Abstract:
With the effects of climate change, natural
disasters are becoming more severe and frequent. Disaster
resistant structures play a vital role in preventing loss of lives
and damage to the belongings. A suitable material that could
resist the forces of nature needs to be selected to ensure safety
while reducing the adverse effects on the environment. Turning
waste material into raw material is welcomed as the scarcity of
natural resources and disposal of waste are becoming major
issues nowadays. Such a method of replacing coarse aggregate
with 100% recycled Expanded-polystyrene (EPS) is the
production of lightweight concrete wall panels. A new trend of
lightweight panels can be widely seen as partitions in reinforced
concrete frame buildings. Incorporating these panels as a loadbearing
element would lead to a drastic change in the industry.
Hence a detailed study has been carried out to find out the
properties of EPS panels with respect to embodied energy and
carbon footprint. A comparative study has been conducted
between two-storied refuge space with lightweight load-bearing
panels and conventional materials such as cement blocks and
fired clay bricks, through which the potential of lightweight wall
panels as load-bearing walls for a two-storied refuge space is
assessed.
Citation:
B. E. Thevarajah, M. T. R. Jayasinghe, C. S. Lewangamage and T. J. Ibell, "Embodied Energy and Carbon Footprint of Two Storied Refuge Space with Lightweight Load Bearing Panels," 2020 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2020, pp. 19-24, doi: 10.1109/MERCon50084.2020.9185324.