Concrete in its Life Cycle

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Duration: 1.12.2016 to 31.7.2021

Life cycle engineering in structural concrete construction

Concrete is currently the most widely used building material in the construction industry, and there is no substitute for it in the construction of new civil engineering and infrastructure structures, or in the course of providing bodies of infrastructure. As public infrastructure represents an interface and we are all dependent on these infrastructural facilities, we are reliant on the reliability and durability of concrete. This is why the Competence Center for Building and Design is developing strategies for maintaining these considerable assets under the name "Smart Cities".

The field of life cycle engineering is currently being strongly promoted in the construction industry and has significant potential for optimisation. This involves taking a closer look at all aspects of energy consumption and emissions in order to maintain or optimise the quality of life for residents. One of the most important goals is to reduce CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases. In order to fulfil these requirements, an intact, well-functioning and modern building infrastructure for supply and disposal, energy and transport is a basic prerequisite. This infrastructure is also the basis for an efficient economy. The life cycle assessment of buildings is an essential basis for decision-making in order to define the resources required in the course of a completed building inspection. This is determined on the basis of the service life of individual components from previous projects as well as empirical values and the associated cost estimates of the economically best variant of refurbishment or new construction are used. As economic viability is a general concern, more and more owners of infrastructure facilities are requesting forecasts or calculations on the remaining service life of structures, with the main focus on resource conservation and CO2 balances. The experts in the Department of Building and Design are therefore working on the use of new environmentally friendly cements with low GWP (Global Warming Potential) figures as well as the process optimisation of new concrete formulations and forecasting models for life cycle assessment.