Abstract
Abstract Every year all over the world many concrete structures are being disassembled for various reasons. The idea of reuse of whole structural members from disassembled or renovated structures is not a new problem but still it is not well recognized. In Department of Structural Engineering of Silesian University of Technology a wide research program was undertaken concerning acquisition and reuse of steel members [1], RC and PC members [2], [3], [4] and timber ones [5], [6]. Especially reinforced concrete precast members seems to be appropriate to be subjected the procedure of reuse [7]. The paper presents the tests and investigations focused on precast elements typical for bridge structures. These are reinforced concrete I-shaped beams, obtained from the demolition of road viaduct on the route from Gliwice to Mikołów. The elements have been in service for more than 40 years. The laboratory tests consisted of the mechanical part and chemical part. The overarching goal of conducted analyses is to work out the method of usefulness evaluation of structural elements and to provide the guidelines for required tests preceding their reuse.
Highlights
The idea of reuse of whole structural elements has become more and more popular all over the world
In case of taking into account the allowable cracks aperture of 0.3 mm for the method of loading and static scheme adopted in tests, the maximum bending moment corresponding to the cracking of 0.3 mm was equal 175 kNm
Conclusion of testing The necessity of rebuilding of the traffic system caused that some reinforced concrete bridge beams had to be dismantled
Summary
The idea of reuse of whole structural elements has become more and more popular all over the world For both environmental and economic reasons the necessity of such actions has arisen since nowadays many concrete structures are being disassembled. It seems to be significant the common reuse of precast elements, RC and PC alike. Sustainable development in the construction industry should cover the entire life cycle of the building, from design through whole period of utilization until its demolition In each of these periods, the impact of buildings on the environment should be minimized (by minimizing the energy demand) and the use of building materials should be optimized (including the possibility of their future reuse). This was the main reason to initiate the research program with general target to prepare such guidelines for the most popular precast elements used in the past [7]
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