Reuse of Reinforced Concrete Components

The idea of reusing components from existing buildings is not fundamentally new. For example, wooden elements, masonry, and natural stone have been reused for centuries, primarily due to economic incentives and their availability. However, with the gradual shift in cost factors from materials/components to labor, reuse has lost its appeal over the past century, and demolition waste has generally been disposed of.

Nevertheless, the reuse of building components has never been completely abandoned. The reuse of concrete components can be traced back to at least the late 1960s, when precast concrete elements were recovered from demolished buildings and reused in new constructions. At that time, the primary incentive was purely economic, and the total volume reused was relatively small compared to the existing building stock.

Recently, however, the reuse of building components has once again attracted considerable interest due to its potential to significantly reduce the use of new raw materials and CO2 emissions.

In this context, the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing has commissioned the Chair of Construction Process Management, among others, to carry out fundamental research to prepare for the reuse of reinforced concrete components in accordance with the State Building Code for Baden-Württemberg (building structures). The research focuses on components from existing building structures that were not originally designed for demolition. The aim here is to establish the technical basis for reusing these components.

The research comprises several steps:

1. General assessment of the suitability of component types: Determining which types of components are fundamentally suitable for reuse.
2. Conceptual approaches to component testing: Development of methods for testing components in as non-destructive a manner as possible, including a possible retrofitting strategy.
3. Analysis and design of more suitable structural engineering methods: Development of methods for the demolition and reuse of components
4. Reuse and connection of components: Integration of reused components into new building structures.

The results of this research project will be published in a research report and a practice-oriented guide.

This research project is being conducted in collaboration with the Chair of Solid Construction (Prof. Oliver Fischer, Dr.-Ing. Freek Bos, Jonas Geng, Robin Mecka), the Chair of Non-Destructive Testing (Prof. Christian Große), and the University of Bamberg (Prof. Marianne Tauber).