Sustainability Requirements of Concrete Structures

Abstract

The objective of this research paper is to discuss the main requirements which may affect the sustainability of concrete structures and develop the relative weights of these requirements. A questionnaire survey was conducted among construction experts, such as college staff, contractors and construction engineers. The survey was conducted to identify the relative weights of the concrete sustainability requirements. After reviewing literature, fifty nine factors which affect the concrete sustainability were prepared and divided them into 12 categories. A pilot study was conducted by 19% of sample size to enhance the questionnaire design. The pilot study was filled out by 10 college professors and 9 engineers with experience more than 10 years. This study helped us to modify the requirements which were directly connected with the concrete sustainability. Researchers found that the most important factors were related to "Aggregate" category. Aggregate category has the weight of 17.64% and waste category has the weight of 13.04%. These two categories have about 30% of concrete sustainability weight. The Green Pyramid Rating System (GPRS) was used in the present research to know what could be added.