Development of environment-friendly seismic-resilient precast beam-column modules

The inordinate carbon footprint of the precast concrete industry mainly originates from its raw material supply, predominantly cement. Besides, deficient design and detailing of the joints in precast structures result in their inherent poor seismic performance. Thus, it is crucial to investigate greener alternatives to raw materials along with innovative structural design in precast concrete structures to obtain a wholesome sustainable solution for the precast concrete industry. Thus, the proposed study focusses on utilizing wood ash, recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and recycled crumb rubber (CR) as partial replacements of cement, natural coarse and fine aggregates,
respectively, in precast structural concrete. Concrete incorporating these recycled waste materials will be used to develop novel structural designs of precast beam-column elements with improved connection and excellent seismic performance. Such an initiative will not only improve the environmental performance of precast concrete
but also render high-performance seismic-resilient precast structures.

Faculty Supervisor:

Shahria Alam

Student:

Partner:

Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Sustainability & the Environment; Construction; Other

University:

The University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Program: