Systematic Review of Engineering Procedures to Facilitate Decision-Making for Concrete Element Reuse

The construction industry’s environmental footprint is a crucial issue requiring bold mitigation strategies. One such strategy is the reuse of construction materials, which can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, natural resource depletion, and waste, all while promoting new green jobs and preserving architectural heritage. Across the materials to focus such efforts, the reuse of entire reinforced concrete elements (i.e., not just reuse of crushed concrete as backfill/aggregate) has significant potential for a large reduction of embodied carbon emissions given its prolific use and carbon-intensive production process. However, concrete element reuse comes with significant uncertainties and risks that engineers must carefully address and evaluate. To date, there are no comprehensive frameworks to guide engineering decision-making processes across the stages of a concrete reuse project. Existing research on this topic only addresses case/project-specific engineering and management tasks. This study addresses this need by providing a comprehensive review of the engineering steps required to facilitate concrete element reuse. It starts with a systematic review and retrieval using specific keywords from prevailing databases, including Web of Science, Compendex Engineering Village, and Google Scholar, of peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, books, theses, and industry reports discussing engineering procedures for concrete element reuse (in English). The aim is to capture existing knowledge from reputable studies that meet the established selection criteria. The retrieved studies are then qualitatively analyzed, introducing a maturity index (i.e., a practical validation-based categorization), which helps communicate the current readiness level (i.e., the current stage of practical applicability) of each study. A procedural synthesis follows to propose a robust engineering decision-making framework to facilitate the integration of reclaimed concrete elements into new developments. This framework guides in a detailed fashion through the following steps: source identification, preliminary survey, comprehensive assessment, design, deconstruction, and reassembly. This study intends to help researchers identify gaps that need further development and testing, policymakers identify matters that need to be regulated, and practitioners integrate reclaimed concrete elements in their projects. The key practical contribution is a framework to guide engineers (mainly architectural, structural, and construction engineers) in reusing concrete elements in their projects.