Sustainable design model to reduce environmental impact of building construction with composite structures

In this study, the sustainable design model for SRC composite structures is developed for optimal combination of construction materials with minimized CO2 emissions. The model is used to provide comprehensive analyses of variability of CO2 emissions in the building construction. The results indicates that increasing the cross-sectional area of steel shape is more advantageous for reduction of CO2 emissions than increasing the cross-sectional area of concrete for composite structures subjected to high axial loads required in high-rise building constructions based on the analysis of the contribution of each component to strength of column. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the environmental impact can be significantly reduced by using high strength materials in SRC structures. Further, through the application of the model to the design of an actual high-rise building, it is confirmed that derived SRC columns have excellent performances in terms of environmental impact and space utilization.