Browsing by Author "Ibell, TJ"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

item: Conference-Full-text
Embodied energy and carbon footprint of two storied refuge space with lightweight load bearing panels
(IEEE, 2020-07) Thevarajah, BE; Jayasinghe, MTR; Lewangamage, CS; Ibell, TJ; Weeraddana, C; Edussooriya, CUS; Abeysooriya, RP
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.
item: Conference-Full-text
The role of structural fabrics in a sustainable concrete Infrastructure
(2013-11-14) Ibell, TJ; Darby, AP; Orr, JJ; Evernden, M
Concrete is the second-most used substance on Earth after water, and the production of cement accounts for at least 5% of the planet’s carbon emissions. Concrete has all sorts of excellent properties, which should not be overlooked, but it seems clear that we should be exploiting these fine properties against a backdrop of needing to look carefully at how we manage our concrete infrastructure sustainably. We need to use realistic approaches to understand structural integrity of our existing concrete infrastructure if we are not to needlessly condemn adequate structures. We need to understand how to prolong the life of existing concrete structures in a robust, proven and cost-effective manner, again so that additional carbon- and energy-related costs associated with rebuild are avoided. And we need to design our future concrete structures with the most important property of concrete at the forefront, namely its moudability, something which is seldom exploited, such that efficient use of concrete is ensured. This paper outlines research conducted in the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials at the University of Bath in these areas of structural strengthening and future innovative design of concrete structures. The paper focuses on the role that structural fabric can play in contributing to these aims.