Weinhold, Karl

Diploma Thesis:
1909

Topic:
Life cycle based life cycle assessment of carbon concrete)

Editor:
Karl Weinhold

University Professor Responsible:
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Jens Otto

Supervisor:
University Supervisor: Dipl.-Ing. Romy Wiel

Editing Period:
25.10.2022 until 29.03.2023

Abstract:
Large quantities of concrete are required for steel-reinforced building components. Due to the high CO2 emissions during cement production, the production of concrete as a building material is considered to be one of the biggest contributors to climate change in the construction industry. The use of the high-performance composite material carbon concrete promises to make a positive contribution to the climate in the following ways: the significantly higher tensile strength of carbon fibers compared to reinforcing steel and their resistance to corrosion enable a reduction in the concrete mass, which should save resources and release fewer greenhouse gases compared to reinforced concrete components. This work aims to take a holistic view of the environmental dimension of carbon concrete sustainability. To this end, a life cycle-based life cycle assessment of a ceiling and a wall system made of carbon concrete was carried out in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14040 for all core indicators. Equivalent reinforced concrete components were used as comparative components. In addition to the initial scenario, 4 further scenarios were investigated. These served to demonstrate the optimization potential as well as the limits of the manufacturing process of carbon concrete with regard to environmental sustainability. It could be shown that the environmental impact of carbon concrete is lower than that of reinforced concrete, due to the high material savings in the concrete used and in the reinforcement material compared to reinforced concrete. The work has shown that most of the environmental impacts are caused in the production phase. It was also found that the recycling of the carbon reinforcement has a decisive influence on the level of environmental impact over the complete life cycle.