Assessment of the embodied carbon performance of post-tensioned voided concrete plates as a sustainable floor solution in multi-story buildings

Abstract

With growing concerns for the building industry’s contribution to climate change, designers are considering the global warming potential and corresponding embodied carbon (EC) emissions of building structures. However, conventional reinforced concrete (RC) floors are one of the highest contributors to the EC in a multi-story building. A solution to reduce EC that combines proven construction technologies is post-tensioned (PT) voided plates, where void formers are placed in areas where less material is required, therefore increasing the effectiveness of the pre-stressing, and reducing substantial structural material. This paper assesses the EC of PT voided plates for three different tendon layouts and compares them to RC flat plates, RC voided plates, and PT flat plates. 3280 different design conditions are assessed to replicate the range of common applications of each concrete floor system. The minimum required material quantities were determined for each design condition, which were used to calculate and compare the corresponding EC. The EC results for the floor systems were also compared to other sustainable floor designs. This paper found that PT voided plates have an EC savings up to 51 % compared to conventional floors and are a sustainable floor system that can be built worldwide using current construction practices.