CIRCULAR STRUCTURAL MATERIALS

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Patrick TeuffelCIRCULAR STRUCTURAL DESIGN/ Eindhoven University of Technology/ TEUFFEL ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS

19.11.2021, 4th Advanced Materials in Construction Summit, Berlin

© Tom Veeger

Background and societal context

Paris Climate AgreementUN Sustainable Development Goals

European Green DealNew European Bauhaus

Dutch Circular 2050IPCC Report

Paris climate agreement 2015

Dutch government program „Circular economy in 2050“ wants to reduce primary material use by 50% in 2030 and be fully circular in 2050

Source: https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/english_paris_agreement.pdf

Source: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en#documents

A European Green Deal: Striving to be the first climate-neutral continent

Source: https://europa.eu/new-european-bauhaus/index_en

(c) Nederland circulair in 2050

Circular economy

Source: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf

Energy vs. material resources

Sustainability in construction: Main focus on energy the last 20 years

Photo by Andreas Gücklhorn on Unsplash

… but energy is not the problem

Photo by Luis Graterol on Unsplash

… but material resource are limited

South Kalimantan, Indonesia, Indonesia’s largest coal mining company, Photo by Dominik Vanyi on Unsplash

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/resource_efficiency/pdf/report_Resource_Sectoral_Maps.pdf

(c) John Orr, et. al.: Minimising Energy in Construction - Survey of Structural Engineering Practice, 2018

Operational vs. Embodied energy The operational energy is the energy, which is required during the service‐life of a building, which includes maintenance, replacement, energy requirements in the operating phase forheating, ventilation, and other services.

The grey (or embodied) energy covers the production (i.e. raw material processing, transport, and manufacturing of the building material) and disposal (waste management and disposal).

Even sand has limited resources …

Structural engineer‘s responsiblity ?

© The Institution of Structural Engineers: "How to calculate embodied carbon"

Outline of a circular economy

Copyright © Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2020), www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

Circular Structural Materials

Re-useRe-new

Re-use at material level: Waste is bad design …

Re-use at material level: Waste is bad design …

Re-use at component level: Eindhoven station roof

22

Re-use at component level: Re-use of precast concrete panels (Master thesis Bart van den Brink)

Evaluation of suitable elements

Source:https://recreate-project.eu/

23

Four Country-cluster• Finland• Sweden• Netherlands• Germanywith own pilot projects

Photo by Jan Schevers/ TU/e

Re-use at component level: re-use of precast concrete panels

25

Office A Office B Office C Office D

H S F n H S F n H S F n H S F n

HCS 430 1169 686 165

Walls 50 n.a. 34 n.a.

Beams 45 n.a. 138 84

Columns 72 n.a. 60 84

Façade elements

115 515 131 n.a.

Suitable with minor adaptations Suitable with major adaptations Not suitable

Re-use at component level: Re-use of precast concrete panels (Master thesis Bart van den Brink)

Evaluation of suitable elements

26

Assessment of 60 BuildingsOn 64 parametersTechnical building properties

Controll groupTest group

Re-use at building level: Demolition versus transformation (Master thesis Marijn Landman)

Re-use at building level: Demolition versus transformation (Master thesis Marijn Landman)

Evaluation matrix

Re-use at building level: Demolition versus transformation (Master thesis Marijn Landman)

Survival probablity of building with low and high flex score

Cradle to Cradle: Outline of a circular economy

Copyright © Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2020), www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

Fossil MaterialsStock Management

(Bio-) RenewablesManagement

Circular Structural Materials

Re-useRe-new

+60%

+53%

Timber 6%

Timber 5.8 %

-3%

Re-new: Timber structures

Re-new: Bio-composite bridge at TU/e campus

Fibres• Flax and/or Hemp• Locally grown, harvested, produced and commercial available in NL

Resin• Goal was to use 100% bio-based resin• Not available in larger commercial quantities • Sicomin Greenpoxy 56% bio-based content

Non-woven, Woven, Bi-directional or Uni- directional fibres

Re-new: Bio-composite bridge at TU/e campus

Core

• Bio-based PLA (Polyactide)

• Fully compostable when freely exposed to the environment

• PLA foam has a melting temperature of about 80 Celsius

Re-new: Bio-composite bridge at TU/e campus

Non-woven (Non directional) Samples

Woven Samples

Re-new: Bio-composite bridge at TU/e campus

1:1 Mock-up

Loading:7 x 950 kg in watertanks

FEM Abacus

Glass Fibre strainmeasurements

DeflectionMeasurementresults

Re-new: Bio-composite bridge at TU/e campus

Load test before installation

Re-new: Bio-composite bridge at TU/e campus

Bridge installation

© Tom Veeger

Current state: SMART CIRCULAR BRIDGE

(c) Fibrecore

MSc thesis R. Lelivelt

Re-new: Further research with Mycelium building blocks

Re-new: Building with ice (TU/e with HIT)

What‘s next?

CSD: WWW.CIRCULAR-STRUCTURAL-DESIGN.EU/DE/