Optimization in Design of End-Bearing Concrete and Steel Piles with Regard to Climate Impact : Climate Conscious Material Choices in Early Project Planning

Sammanfattning: Environmental sustainability is becoming more popular in the building industry. Sustainable thinking needs to be present during the whole construction process, from the idea phase to the final stages. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how end-bearing concrete and steel pipes as well as composite concrete-filled steel tube piles can be designed with greater consideration to climate impact. The purpose of this study is primarily to encourage awareness during the material choice phase in early stages of project planning. A Matlab code was programmed to perform a parametric study and analyze different parameters effect on pile bearing capacity. The structural bearing capacity of a number of different piles with various prerequisites were compiled in tables. The climate impact of the piles was expressed as global warming potential (GWP). In order to compare different pile types a functional unit was created as the ratio of the piles' bearing capacity and the corresponding climate impact. The ratio was calculated for all the piles and resulted in a number of figures with bearing capacity as a function of climate impact. These figures are supposed to be used as a basis to choose which pile type is most useful in a given situation. The usability of the results was verified with a calculation example. In the example, the figures were used to chose one pile out of several options as the most climate-efficient with the highest usage ratio. Finally, a number of general conclusions could be drawn regarding pile types. When the corrosion is small (<2 mm), it can be ascertained that steel pipes are to prefer over composite pipes. With larger corrosion (>2 mm), it can be ascertained that composite piles are preferable, specifically in cases were the soil is looser. However, in firmer soil, with undrained shear strength between 10-25 kPa, composite concrete-filled steel pipes are the better option. The results show that the contribution of the concrete to the bearing capacity of the composity files is minimal compared to the contribution of the decreased inner corrosion. This implies that it is more important to have the pipes filled with to prevent inner corrosion, rather than use a strong material that contributes to the bearing capacity. With that said, composite piles are not sustainable and different filling materials can be examined to further investigate whether there is another material with smaller climate impact that makes for piles with larger ratio of bearing capacity to climate impact. The main conclusion of the master thesis is that there needs to be a standardised approach to calculating climate impact from foundation construction and it should be included in a building's life cycle analysis (LCA).