A Comparative Assessment of Advanced Construction Systems Incorporating Green Concrete

Abstract

Recent increases in sustainability requirements demand expeditious delivery of construction projects coupled with cost-effective and sustainable systems. In recent years, green lightweight plastic aggregate concrete (LWPAC) has been developed as a sustainable material for construction, highlighting financial, time, and quality attributes rather than material properties. However, most studies in this area are directed toward material properties or lifecycle costs in traditional use. Using lifecycle cost analysis, this research comprehensively examines incorporating LWPAC in different building systems to identify the optimal construction system in terms of cost, time, and quality (LCCA). The analyzed building systems extend to include traditional construction method (TM), insulated concrete forms (ICF), tunnel forms (TF), and insulated precast systems (IPS) using green LWPAC. To this end, we conducted a building case study with multiple scenarios related to the selected construction systems. For each scenario, assessments were conducted on the following aspects: (1) structural design of building elements; (2) construction cost and time assessment; (3) LCCA and sensitivity; and (4) quality. Results revealed that LWPAC using TM saves around 10% and 19% in concrete volume and steel quantities, respectively, compared with conventional concrete. The cost estimation results showed that TM using LWPAC is 2.6% higher than conventional concrete, although the LCC was almost the same value, amounting to 75.8 USD/m2. Simultaneously, IPSs maintain the highest savings, at 22%, compared with TM using conventional concrete, with an LCC equal to 64.48 USD/m2. Regarding completion time, there were decreases by 34%, 44%, and 52% for the ICF, TF, and the IPSs, respectively, compared with TM using conventional concrete. IPSs’ quality management systems showed the highest mean value of 51.8, followed by ICF, TF, and TM, of 49.9, 49.7, and 48.4, respectively. The findings of this research shed light on the benefits of using LWPAC as an alternative to conventional concrete in different structural systems, which plays a significant role in the overall sustainability of concrete structures.