Reuse of concrete for the construction of a retaining wall: a case study

Abstract

A promising strategy to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry is the reuse of structural elements resulting from the deconstruction of existing buildings. However, despite a growing interest from the academic and industrial communities, practical examples of the reuse of structural elements remain very scarce at present, especially in the case of reinforced concrete buildings, which generally consist of a monolithic load-bearing skeleton that has not been designed for dismantling or reuse. This paper presents the results of a study on the reuse of concrete blocks from the deconstruction of an existing building as components for the in-situ construction of a new retaining wall. A real case study is considered. It consists of a building constructed in the 1970s. The developer of the new building wishes to reuse parts of the old building to create a new retaining wall on the boundary of the plot, with a length of 105 metres and a variable height between 60 and 250 cm. The dimensions and shape of the concrete blocks can vary considerably depending on the deconstruction technique used. In order to take into account this aspect, as well as the variable height and the mechanical support of the retaining wall, alternative solutions have been analysed. This paper presents the conceptual design and preliminary dimensioning of these solutions, as well as a discussion of their ability to meet all the technical and normative requirements.