Eco-Friendly Building Materials: Recycled Waste and Sustainable Design

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2024) | Viewed by 2626

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Sport, Health and Engineering, Institute of Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 3011, Australia
Interests: concrete creep; infrastructrue sustainability; non-linear analysis; structural stability; sustainable materials
College of Sport, Health and Engineering, Institute of Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 3011, Australia
Interests: sustainability and built environment; construction materials; risk assessment and management; construction management; civil & structural engineering

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Guest Editor
College of Sport, Health and Engineering, Institute of Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 3011, Australia
Interests: geotechnical engineering; sustainable construction; reactive soils; rock mechanics; tunneling
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Conventional construction depends on the extraction of huge quantities of natural resources and the utilization of high-carbon-emitting materials, which adversely impact the natural environment. Another challenge facing the health of our planet is the production of vast volumes of waste which are discarded in landfill sites, several of which stem from the building and construction industry. Hence, it is critical that the building and construction sector adopts environmentally sustainable practices to mitigate these environmental impacts and the harmful effects of climate change.

Increasingly, waste streams are being viewed as a valuable resource that can be utilized for the development of novel and sustainable building materials. Additionally, there is a growing demand for low-carbon materials resulting in great innovations in concrete and steel technology. We are pleased to announce this Special Issue of Buildings, titled "Eco-Friendly Building Materials: Recycled Waste and Sustainable Design", which aims to further enrich the body of knowledge on environmentally sustainable building materials and highlight innovative approaches to material development. This Special Issue will focus on the performance and production of materials that incorporate recycled waste content and/or achieve substantial emission reductions.

Dr. Yanni Bouras
Dr. Le Li
Dr. Wasantha Liyanage
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • building materials
  • embodied energy
  • environmental impacts
  • recycled waste
  • sustainable construction

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 11999 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Eco-Friendly Consolidating Treatments in Pugliese Tuff (Gravina Calcarenite) Used in Italian Heritage Buildings
by Jose Antonio Huesca-Tortosa, Yolanda Spairani-Berrio, Cristiano Giuseppe Coviello, Maria Francesca Sabbà, Fabio Rizzo and Dora Foti
Buildings 2024, 14(4), 940; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040940 - 29 Mar 2024
Viewed by 538
Abstract
This work evaluates the effectiveness of various consolidating treatments applied to Pugliese tuff (Gravina Calcarenite). This type of stone has been used in numerous historic buildings in the Puglia area (southeast of Italy), which presents durability problems due to high porosity, low cohesion [...] Read more.
This work evaluates the effectiveness of various consolidating treatments applied to Pugliese tuff (Gravina Calcarenite). This type of stone has been used in numerous historic buildings in the Puglia area (southeast of Italy), which presents durability problems due to high porosity, low cohesion between clasts, and low mechanical resistance. Eco-friendly treatments that generate CaCO3 have been selected, specifically bioconsolidant KBYO biological and lime water, which a priori are capable of consolidating without occluding the pores or reducing them excessively, thereby creating compounds similar to those contained in the stone and being respectful of the environment. Nano-sized treatments have also been tested, including nanosilica and nanolime, to compare results with eco-friendly treatments. The bioconsolidating treatment has been applied in two different ways, the usual way consisting of two applications a day for 7 days, as well as a double treatment that is applied in two batches of 7 days with a rest of 7 days between applications. Double treatment has shown a great improvement in consolidation compared to the usual 7-day application; this treatment has obtained the best results in both mechanical and petrophysical properties. This study not only demonstrates the effectiveness of the bioconsolidant but also expands eco-friendly conservation strategies to improve the preservation of historical structures built in calcarenite. Full article
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24 pages, 7046 KiB  
Article
Utilisation of Machine Learning Techniques to Model Creep Behaviour of Low-Carbon Concretes
by Yanni Bouras and Le Li
Buildings 2023, 13(9), 2252; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092252 - 05 Sep 2023
Viewed by 843
Abstract
Low-carbon concrete mixes that incorporate high volumes of fly ash and slag as cement replacements are becoming increasingly more common as part of efforts to decarbonise the construction industry. Though environmental benefits are offered, concretes containing supplementary cementitious materials exhibit different creep behaviour [...] Read more.
Low-carbon concrete mixes that incorporate high volumes of fly ash and slag as cement replacements are becoming increasingly more common as part of efforts to decarbonise the construction industry. Though environmental benefits are offered, concretes containing supplementary cementitious materials exhibit different creep behaviour when compared to conventional concrete. Creep can significantly impact long-term structural behaviour and influence the overall serviceability and durability of concrete structures. This paper develops a creep compliance prediction model using supervised machine learning techniques for concretes containing fly ash and slag as cement substitutes. Gaussian process regression (GPR), artificial neural networks (ANN), random forest regression (RFR) and decision tree regression (DTR) models were all considered. The dataset for model training was developed by mining relevant data from the Infrastructure Technology Institute of Northwestern University’s comprehensive creep dataset in addition to extracting data from the literature. Holdout validation was adopted with the data partitioned into training (70%) and validation (30%) sets. Based on statistical indicators, all machine learning models can accurately model creep compliance with the RFR and GPR found to be the best-performing models. The sensitivity of the GPR model’s performance to training repetitions, input variable selection and validation methodology was assessed, with the results indicating small variability. The importance of the selected input variables was analysed using the Shapley additive explanation. It was found that time was the most significant parameter, with loading age, compressive strength, elastic modulus, volume-to-surface ratio and relative humidity also showing high importance. Fly ash and silica fume content featured the least influence on creep prediction. Furthermore, the predictions of the trained models were compared to experimental data, which showed that the GPR, RFR and ANN models can accurately reflect creep behaviour and that the DTR model does not give accurate predictions. Full article
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17 pages, 5482 KiB  
Article
A Preliminary Study Was Conducted on the Compressive Strength and Flow Performance of Environmentally Friendly UHPC-SCA
by Shuwei Wang, Min Zhang, Yaoyang Shi, Lixin Chen and Yingming Zhou
Buildings 2023, 13(9), 2226; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092226 - 31 Aug 2023
Viewed by 689
Abstract
This research paper explores using marine shells as coarse aggregates in producing seawater sea sand UHPC-CA. The study examined factors such as coarse aggregates (granite, oyster shell, and cone shell), fine aggregates (sea sand and river sand), fiber types, and content. The research [...] Read more.
This research paper explores using marine shells as coarse aggregates in producing seawater sea sand UHPC-CA. The study examined factors such as coarse aggregates (granite, oyster shell, and cone shell), fine aggregates (sea sand and river sand), fiber types, and content. The research findings indicate that different coarse aggregates and fibers influence the flow performance of UHPC-SCA. The study identified the cone shell as the best coarse shell aggregate and 1.5% steel fiber as the optimal fiber and inclusion amount. The compressive strength of this combination reached 106 MPa, which is comparable to the granite stone UHPC-CA of the same particle size. Full article
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