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CSM80011 Systems, Processes and Technologies for Construction Poster 1 Sample

The Aim of this assignment is to evaluate selected materials or components against “Circular Economy Principles/Strategies” and/or “Sustainable Selection Criteria” and make a justified/informed decision.

Expected submissions:

1 An well-designed, fully referenced, research-based individual poster of size ‘A1’ to be submitted on Canvas; to communicate the aim, objectives and outcome of this assignment through different means such as a balance of figures, charts, diagrams, tables, dot or numbered points, etc as needed. Plus, your workbook (which could be a Microsoft word file) showing the gathered/processed information with more details in an organised and structured way, but not necessarily polished as in a formal report. You would naturally record the information you gather or generate in a file (workbook) in an organised way which is the basis of your poster but with more details.

2 A recorded presentation of 5 minutes to be stored on a cloud-based platform such as OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. or preferably the actual file as long as its size and format is acceptable in Canvas. The link to the presentation or the actual presentation video file to be submitted on Canvas.

Instructions/Objectives:

A) Select a construction material of your choice (to be called Option one), such as concrete, steel, timber, waterproofing material, thermal insulation, energy saving materials, pavements, cladding, etc with any structural or non-structural applications.

B) Identify at least one (preferably more than one) advanced, innovative, or alternative option (to be called Option two, three, etc.) corresponding to option one as selected above.

C) Critically evaluate the above options against circular economy strategies and/or sustainable assessment criteria (the six questions relevant to socio-economical, environmental, technical criteria). You may quantify your evaluations in a logical/ justified manner. For instance, by scoring them say from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest rank and 1 being the lowest rank for the criterion under consideration).

D) Adopt/justify a decision-making strategy (a matter of research which is part of your assignment) to compare alternative options and to decide.

E) Include, in your poster, the implications and limitations of your decision-making process/strategy, using a few dot points.

F) Record a presentation of 5 to 8 minutes to be submitted via Turnitin in Canvas

G) Optional: you may prepare to present your poster in Week 6, on a voluntary basis and receive a bonus mark. If we have more volunteers than can be accommodated in our limited time in Week 6, the first-come, first-served strategy will apply for selection.

Solution

Poster 1: Concrete as the Primary Material

A) Select a Construction Material (Option One)

- Material: Concrete

- Description: Concrete is a composite material for The Assignment Helpline that primarily comprises water and cement and also includes an aggregate of gravel, sand, or rock. Currently, it is applied more often for properties such as strength, durability, and multifunctionality.

- Applications: It is very popular in use in foundations, beams, columns, slabs, and pavements, among other structures, on account of its high compressive strength and high heat resistance.

B) Identify advanced, innovative, or alternative options.

- Option Two: Geopolymer Concrete

- Description: Geopolymer concrete is one of the advanced concrete materials that has been developed by partially or fully replacing cement with industrial waste products such as fly ash or slag. This helps reduce the overall emissions tremendously.

- Advantages:

- Reduced Carbon Emissions: Unlike normal concrete, it does not involve the burning of limestone, which is a process that releases a lot of carbon.

- Waste Utilization: Relies on industrial waste products, hence minimizing the waste materials.

- Enhanced Durability: Better resistance to chemical attack, thermal stability and lower permeability are provided with this option (Suárez-Eiroa, et. al., 2021).

- Option Three: Recycling Aggregate Concrete

- Description:

- Advantages:

- Resource Efficiency: Reduces the demand for virgin aggregates, encourages recycling construction wastes, and saves energy.

- Environmental Impact: Reduces the emission of carbon by reducing the quantity of natural aggregates that have to be extracted and processed.

- Economic Benefit: This may help to decrease expenses incurred from wasting resources as well as purchasing new materials.

C) Critically Evaluate Options Against Circular Economy Strategies and Sustainable Assessment Criteria

- Socio-Economic Criteria:

1. Cost:

- Traditional Concrete: Low initial investment but may turn out to be costly in the long run because of maintenance.

- Geopolymer Concrete: Initially, to manufacture products, specialized materials are required; hence, initial costs are higher, while in the long run, life-cycle costs are lower since products are durable and require negligible maintenance.

- Recycled Aggregate Concrete: The initial costs may be slightly higher or similar to those of conventional structural materials depending on whether or not recycled materials were used, but the potentially lower cost of utilizing structural systems due to decreased waste (Martín-Gómez et. al., 2024).

2. Job Creation:

- Traditional Concrete: Current employment jobs in the construction industry and cement industry.

- Geopolymer Concrete: This can have the potential to generate new employment opportunities in research, development, and production of the new binding agents.

- Recycled Aggregate Concrete: It supports job creation in aspects of recycling and management of construction waste.

- Environmental Criteria:

1. Carbon Footprint:

- Traditional Concrete: High, especially in cement production facilities where produced dust is hazardous to human breathing.

- Geopolymer Concrete: This way it is significantly lower as it does not use cement and also utilizes waste materials.

- Recycled Aggregate Concrete: Less than normal concrete because it has a recycled nature, which makes it remove materials from landfills.

2. Resource Efficiency:

- Traditional Concrete: Low, as it relies on non-renewable natural resources.

- Geopolymer Concrete: High and the use of industrial waste products is central to performing this process.

- Recycled Aggregate Concrete: Moderate to high because the use of recycled material depends on the amount used for production.

- Technical Criteria:

1. Durability:

- Traditional Concrete: Good; however, the media, record storage area, and other such characteristics can be influenced by environmental factors.

- Geopolymer Concrete: Very good, better in terms of chemical reactions, and with better thermal stability as well.

- Recycled Aggregate Concrete: In general, they are good, but their performance depends on the quality of scrap material that is used in the production (Da Costa Fernandes et. al., 2020).

2. Performance:

- Traditional Concrete: It possesses relatively very high compressive strength, while its tensile strength, if not reinforced, is also relatively low.

- Geopolymer Concrete: Equal to normal concrete in terms of its compressive strength while being better in terms of resistance.

- Recycled Aggregate Concrete: Admittedly, enough strength for many usages has been provided despite a somewhat lower level in contrast to normal aggregates.

D) Adopt/justify a decision-making strategy

- Strategy: Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)

- Justification: Unlike the simple utility-based approaches, MCDA enables an overall evaluation whereby certain values are given a certain weight depending on their significance. This appears important in an attempt to achieve a trade-off between environmental, economic, and technical factors in sustainability indexes.

E) Implications and Limitations of the Decision-Making Process

- Implications:

- Supports the efficient and systematic process of choosing materials.

- Promotes the use of sustainable construction practices because it shows a comparison of each practice and the prospects associated with it.

- Limitations:

- The variation by assigning weights to criteria can affect consequences due to subjectivity.
- A process that demands input of broad data that are occasionally scarce, particularly for new materials.

References

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