Demountable reinforced concrete

structures - a way forward to minimize

energy and waste in construction industry

Item Type Conference paper

Authors Ashour, Ashraf; Figueira, Diogo; Almahmood, Hanady A.A.;

Yildirim, Gurkan; Aldemir, A.; Sahmaran, M.

Citation Ashour AF, Figueira D, Almahmood H et al (2023) Demountable

reinforced concrete structures - a way forward to minimize
energy and waste in construction industry. In: Ilki A, Cavunt D and
Cavunt YS (Eds.) Building for the Future: Durable, Sustainable,
Resilient. fib Symposium 2023. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering.
349: 72-80. Springer.

DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32519-9_6

Publisher SpringerNature

Rights © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer

Nature Switzerland AG. Reproduced in accordance with
the publisher's self-archiving policy. This version of the
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review (when applicable) but is not the Version of Record
and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any
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doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32519-9_6. Use of this Accepted
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 Demountable reinforced concrete structures - a way
forward to minimize energy and waste in construction
industry

Ashraf Ashour1,*, Diogo Figueira1, Hanady Almahmood2, Gürkan Yıldırım1,3, Alper

Aldemir3 and Mustafa Şahmaran3
1
University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, United Kingdom.
2 Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
2 Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.

* corresponding author, Email:afashour@bradford.ac.uk

Abstract. In the current practice, at the end of life of a reinforced concrete

structure, it is destructively demolished, and the demolition waste is limited to
downcycling and low-tech applications, while the remaining is being landfilled.
A recent report showed that construction and demolition waste (CDW) is the
biggest waste stream in the EU by weight, accounting for over 800 million tons
in 2018, i.e. around 32% of the total waste generated. This approach is clearly
wasteful of energy, jeopardizing the health of individuals and environments and
at high cost. However, design for deconstruction (DfD) of reinforced concrete
structures would facilitate the future reuse of structural elements at the end of
their life, potentially achieving a significant reduction in embodied energy of
structures and CO2 emission as well as giving the owners the benefit of retain-
ing the value of their assets.
In this paper, recent research developments and practical applications of DfD of
reinforced concrete structures are reviewed and key technical issues are dis-
cussed. The focus is on connections that should be designed in such a way to al-
low demounting of precast reinforced concrete structural elements, including
beam/column, wall/wall, column/column and segmental slab connections. The
main achievements and progress to date are outlined for each type of dry con-
nections, along with the aspects that still need to be developed. The paper con-
cludes with an outline of challenges in the application of DfD in concrete struc-
tures.

Keywords: CO2 emission, Demolition waste, Demountable structures, Dry

connections, Sustainability.

1 Introduction

The construction industry remains one of the main contributors to CO2 emissions due
to extraction and production of materials, for example, Portland cement production
accounts for 5 to 8% of total human-driven CO2 emissions [1, 2]. There is also a sig-
nificant environmental impact related to construction and demolition waste (CDW),
2

reflected in air pollution due to dust released, water contamination due to toxic ele-
ments present and a detrimental effect on local ecosystems. CDW represents about
half of overall landfill volumes of which cement-based materials represent about one
quarter [3]. To drastically reduce CDW and CO2 emission from concrete industry, it
should become the norm that structural components be designed and constructed for
reuse at the end of their life. Design for deconstruction (DfD) is an innovative design
approach, allowing the reuse of structural elements from disassembled buildings that
would significantly reduce the amount of natural (raw) resources extracted, the need
to produce new materials and the accumulation of waste in landfills, as well as giving
the building owners the benefit of retaining the value of their assets.
The concept of demountable concrete structures was initially introduced by Rein-
hardt et al. [4], followed by the development of few systems in the construction sec-
tor. However, their use and practical applications were very limited due to the lack of
knowledge and physical testing of such systems. Different configurations were pro-
posed for dry demountable connections, such as using a horizontal steel connecter and
high strength bolts for shear wall connection [5], using steel endplate, steel angle, and
steel tube connections [6], or achieving continuity of top and bottom steel reinforce-
ment by welding to connect beam and column [7]. Furthermore, a dry joint connec-
tion between assembled slabs in form of a shear key filled with aluminium foam was
suggested, which was stiff enough to provide shear transfer between the connected
slabs [8].
This paper presents a state-of-the-art review on dry connections between precast
reinforced concrete elements. The current engineering practice is initially presented,
and, then, demountable dry connections proposed in the literature are assessed to-
wards sustainable reinforced concrete (RC) construction.

2 Current Practice in Structural Engineering

Currently, at the end of life of a RC structure, although all steel and concrete materials
remain serviceable, the structure is demolished destructively, large steel elements are
recycled by energy-intensive melting, and the rest of materials are rather landfilled or
recycled. This approach is clearly wasteful of energy, creating serious emissions and
potentially costly. To drastically reduce such waste as well as reducing the embodied
energy of structures, it should become the norm that structures be designed and con-
structed for reuse after service. However, it is still to be achieved in the case of RC
structures, that generally dominate the construction market worldwide. The lack of
knowledge on the structural behavior of easily demountable (dry) connections be-
tween RC elements, including safety and structural strength, is still limiting its practi-
cal application.

2.1 Semi-Dry Connections of Precast RC Structural Elements

Two types of semi-dry connections are practically used to connect precast RC ele-
ments, namely dowel shear connection and moment-resisting connection with conti-
 3

nuity bars. Dowel shear connections are the most commonly used semi-dry connec-
tion between precast RC elements [9]. The precast concrete elements contain pre-
drilled holes that are crossed by a bolt and the connection is filled with injected grout
in the remaining clearance in the holes. Continuity is established as the reinforcement
extends beyond the end of one element and enters the pre-drilled holes in the other
element. On the other hand, moment-resisting semi dry connections are established by
extending the steel reinforcement beyond one element and welded to the similar rein-
forcement of the other element. The connection is then established when cast-in-place
concrete is added to cover the welded reinforcement. In turn, shear is transferred
through a shear key created at the ends of connected elements.
Deconstruction of RC structures with semi-dry connections, although feasible, is
not an easy procedure after service life of structures as injected grouts or some parts
of cast-in-situ concrete must be mechanically damaged and detached in addition to
cutting the steel reinforcement during disassembly process, creating demolition waste
and reducing the performance of structural elements. Then, reconstruction follows the
inverse path: parts of cast-in-place concrete need to be added and some reinforcing
bars welded. However, since the semi-dry connection is still not distant in time most
structures containing semi-dry concrete connections are still within their service life
cycle, and the deconstruction/reconstruction has not been practiced yet.

3 RC Demountable Dry Connections

Although the current knowledge on precast concrete dry connections is very scarce,
some research studies on the subject could be found in the literature. The key to suc-
cess of reusable structural components is to make the structural system easily de-
mountable at the end of life. Current practice on dry connections relies traditionally
on steel structures and steel/concrete composite structures. In this section, the research
carried out on few dry connections of RC elements is detailed and discussed. Addi-
tional dry connections are also compiled in an earlier paper by the authors [10].

3.1 Composite Steel Beams and Concrete Slab Demountable Connections

Few investigations have focused on demountable composite steel-concrete construc-
tions using various types of bolted rather than welded shear studs, allowing the reuse
of steel beams at the end of life. However, this technique would not currently permit
the reuse of concrete slabs that are generally demolished. Various bolts, including
friction-grip bolts [11], threaded bolts tightened by exterior nuts [12] and exterior nut-
tightened threaded bolts with single embedded nuts [13], have been studied with dif-
ferent degrees of success in achieving the shear transfer forces between concrete slab
and steel beams. However, demountable shear connectors are rarely used in compo-
site construction in industry due to the lack of detailed design rules concerning their
behavior.
4

3.2 Beam/Column Demountable Connections

Due to the type of stresses transferred, bending and shear, beam/column connections
are normally the most challenging to materialize and problematic type of connections
in precast RC structures. In 2016, Aninthaneni et al. [6, 14] proposed three non-
prestressed solutions (see Fig. 1) for a dry connection between a beam and a column
of precast RC structures, incorporating threaded pre-tensioned bolts and steel end
connecting parts. In turn, the beam and column have embedded threaded rods to ac-
commodate the bolts. The main feature of these 3 connections is in the connecting
element that is a steel end plate embedded in the beam in Type-1 connection (end
plate connection), an angle in Type-2 (angle connection) and the steel end angle plate
encases the beam in Type-3 (tube connection).
The experimental testing showed that Type-1 connection exhibited the closest be-
havior in comparison with the monolithic connection. The location of the plastic
hinge occurred away from the beam end and in front of the steel end plate, showing
that the connection segment was stronger than the beam capacity itself. However,
Type-2 and Type-3 exhibited less stiffness and strength compared with the control
specimen as well as Type-1.
Compared to Type-2 and Type-3, Type-1 connection has the beam’s main rein-
forcement welded to the steel end plate and, consequently, the tensile force in the
reinforcement was easily transmitted via the connection. In Type-2 connection, tensile
force in the beam’s main reinforcement is transferred to the steel end plate through
the surrounding concrete and the bolts, which is a more sinuous path compared to
Type-1 stress transfer, highlighting the causes of strength and ductility reduction, and
the severe cracks observed in the connection area during testing of Type-2 connec-
tion. It was concluded therefore that the steel plate encasement does not largely influ-
ence the connection strength and ductility. Type-2 and Type-3 connections also re-
vealed a structural behavior more dependent on the fill material used. In this context,
the rubber sheets and the epoxy resin caused a premature slip in the connection, and
thus their application as fill material is not recommended.

Fig. 1. Three types of concrete beam/column dry connections with pretensioned threaded
bolts [6, 14].

More recently, Pul and Şentürk [15] studied a beam/column precast dry connec-
tion, in which embedded steel plates are used along with threaded bolts. As can be
seen in Fig. 2, the steel end plate embedded in the beam is welded to the beam’s main
 5

reinforcement and the steel plate embedded in the column (ride plate) is welded to the
column’s stirrups. Also welded to the column’s ride plate are high nuts that act as
steel threaded ducts to accommodate the bolts and establish the connection (see Fig.
2). The connection was subjected to flexural and shear stresses in experimental tests
and the results showed a very satisfactory structural behavior, similar to the monolith-
ic connection.

Column reinforcement

Beam end plate

Column
rider
Stiffener plates
plate M27 bolt

Beam reinforcement

M27 nuts

Fig. 2. Concrete beam/column dry connection with embedded steel plates and threaded bolts –
rotated disassembled form [15].

3.3 Wall/Wall and Column/Column Demountable Connections

Connections between precast wall panels or columns are mainly subjected to com-
pression stresses, which can be simply transferred between the precast elements. Con-
sequently, the compression in the connection mobilizes friction and shear stress trans-
fer is also facilitated. For these reasons, the design of wall/wall or column/column
connections is not so challenging and complex as the design of beam/column connec-
6

tions. However, most connections between walls or columns still have flexural stress,
implying that mechanical joinery is needed.
In this regard, a concrete wall/wall connection proposed by Sun et al. [16] is illus-
trated in Fig. 3, where a robust H-shaped steel connector is used along with high-
strength pre-tensioned bolts and top (foot) and bottom (cap) steel units. The H-shape
is especially effective in providing buckling resistance to the steel connector, which
embraces both sides of the wall. In turn, the pretension in the high-strength bolts mo-
bilized shear strength by friction on the contact surface between the concrete walls
and the steel connector. The top and bottom steel units contain steel ducts to accom-
modate the bolts and have the walls’ main reinforcement welded. The units are placed
during casting of the walls and act as confinement for the concrete in the connection
zone, along with the stress provided by the pretension in the bolts. The experimental
testing of the connection under a monotonic horizontal load showed that failure oc-
curred in the walls away from the connection zone, with a good performance in terms
of ductility. It was concluded that there is still a significant margin for optimization of
the connection configuration and dimensions, particularly the steel H-shaped con-
nector.

Fig. 3. Concrete wall/wall dry connection with a horizontal steel connector and high-strength
bolts [16].
 7

Besides proposing a solution for a dry connection between wall precast elements,
Sun et al. [16] also developed a similar solution for a dry connection between a wall
and a foundation. The solution is similar to the one depicted in Fig. 3, in which the
bottom steel unit encases the short wall and is embedded on the foundation with ribs
to enhance the anchoring bond between the steel and concrete.

3.4 Slab/slab Demountable Connections

For slab/slab dry connections, the first study found in the literature proposed a shear
key filled with aluminium foam, providing fire resistance and extra shear strength to
the connection and insulation [8]. Push-off tests were conducted to evaluate the struc-
tural performance of the prestressed connection experimentally, mainly calculating
the transferred shear stresses. However, this connection was not designed for flexural
stress transfer.
Therefore, another dry connection for slab segments was proposed and experimen-
tally tested, including edge-to-edge slab ends, and a shear key at the connection sec-
tion [17, 18]. The slab segments were connected using top and bottom steel plates
combined with high tensile threaded steel bolts (Fig. 4a). Another connection is also
proposed, having on each slab an additional embedded steel block with ribs, welded
to the steel reinforcement in tension at the bottom of the slabs (Fig. 4b). The dry con-
nection consisting of a shear key at the assembled section was the most effective, in
terms of moment resistance, deflection, and flexural stiffness. On the other hand, the
dry connection with embedded steel blocks failed prematurely because of stress con-
centration at the block edges.

Before assembly

After assembly
(a) with a key and no embedded block
8

Before assembly

After assembly
(b) with a key and embedded block
Fig. 4. Dry connection details of slab segments [17, 18].

4 Summary and Conclusions

The review presented in this paper confirmed that the current knowledge on dry con-
nections in precast concrete structures is still very scarce and incomplete, hindering
the application of this type of connections in structures. In the past few years, semi-
dry connection between precast concrete elements has started to be implemented more
frequently, in which reuse is possible after mechanical removal of the cast-in-place
parts. Although these semi-dry connections represent a step forward, the deconstruc-
tion and reconstruction of structural elements is time-consuming and not an easy pro-
cedure to undertake.
The main connecting elements of current dry connections include steel plates and
bolts; however, the existence of bolts in concrete would reduce the concrete strength
as well as create a stress concentration at concrete near the bolts. The available
knowledge focused mainly on dry connections between beams and columns, where
good performance similar to monolithic connections was achieved. Significant ad-
vances were also accomplished for connections between walls. However, for other
types of connection (i.e. column/column, beam/beam and beam/slab connections), no
research could be found in the literature.
Although the initial cost of dry demountable connections would be higher than that
of monolithic or semi dry connections, the life cycle cost analysis would significantly
justify the potential benefits of demountable connections by facilitating the future
reuse of structural elements at the end of their life, potentially achieving a significant
 9

reduction in embodied energy of structures, saving landfills as well as giving the

owners the benefit of retaining the value of their assets.

5 Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Newton Prize 2020, UK-Turkey award, grant ref
number NP2020PB\100026, funded by the Department for Business, Energy & Indus-
trial Strategy. With thanks to our delivery partners the British Council, UK and the
Scientific & Technological Research Council, Turkey. For further information, please
visit www.newton-gcrf.org/newton-fund/newton-prize/.
It has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie
Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 894100.

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