Sustainable Structural Design Methodologies
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 16, Issue 4
Abstract
Modern society is demanding that the use of energy associated with construction and operation of structures be investigated during the planning and design phases. The engineering community has been striving to design more sustainable buildings in an attempt to reduce both raw material requirements and energy use during all phases of design. Structural engineers currently have very limited guidance on how to incorporate sustainability concepts in their designs. Innovative methods are needed to address the environmental impact, energy use, and other sustainability issues faced during planning and design of buildings. This paper investigates and discusses five sustainable structural design methodologies: Minimizing Material Use, Minimizing Material Production Energy, Minimizing Embodied Energy, Life-Cycle Analysis/Inventory/Assessment, and Maximizing Structural System Reuse. The goal of this paper is to describe and address issues associated with the proposed design methodologies to determine which, if any, can produce the most sustainable structural designs. It was determined that no single methodology can address all the issues surrounding sustainable structural design. Also, it was determined that combinations of two or more methodologies may increase the ability of design professionals to produce more sustainable designs.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Prestressed/Precast Concrete Institute (Daniel P. Jenny Research Fellowship) and the Ohio State University (French Fellowship) for providing partial funding for completing this paper.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 16 • Issue 4 • November 2011
Pages: 186 - 190
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 11, 2010
Accepted: Feb 4, 2011
Published online: Feb 8, 2011
Published in print: Nov 1, 2011
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