The construction industry claims a vast quantity of natural resources and is responsible for more than half of the waste generated in Germany. R-concrete contains recycled aggregates and is a resource efficient alternative to primary concrete. A central stakeholder whose preferences may...

Many studies have documented large and persistent productivity differences across producers, even within narrowly defined industries. This paper both extends and departs from the past literature, which focused on technological explanations for these differences, by proposing that demand-side...

The construction industry contributes around 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, 40% of depletion of natural resources, and 25% of wastes globally. To reduce these impacts, construction industries can adopt low-carbon alternatives for construction materials and waste minimisation strategies,...

This note presents a method to decompose life cycle inventories derived from integrated and mixed-unit hybrid life cycle assessment. The approach extends the decomposition method described by Wiedmann (Econ Struct 6:11, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40008-017-0072-0) by differentiating between...

The construction industry contributes around 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, 40% of depletion of natural resources, and 25% of wastes globally. To reduce these impacts, construction industries can adopt low-carbon alternatives for construction materials and waste minimisation strategies,...

This note presents a method to decompose life cycle inventories derived from integrated and mixed-unit hybrid life cycle assessment. The approach extends the decomposition method described by Wiedmann (Econ Struct 6:11, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40008-017-0072-0) by differentiating between...

Deterioration of concrete structures with time is well understood. One of the major reasons of deterioration is reaction between cement paste and reactive siliceous aggregates which is known as alkali silica reaction (ASR). This article reviews the studies on ASR in concrete. Although a vast...

This paper presents a quantitative model of productivity dispersion to explain why inefficient producers are slowly selected out of the ready-mix concrete industry. Measured productivity dispersion between the 10th and 90th percentile falls from a 4 to 1 difference using OLS, to a 2 to 1...

This paper explores the potential of concrete material to accumulate toxic trace elements using ablative laser technology (ICP-MS). Concrete existing in offshore structures submerged in seawater acts as a sink for hazardous metals, which could be gradually released into the ocean creating...

Fluctuations in demand cause some plants to exit a market and other to enter.Would eliminating these fluctuations reduce plant turnover? A structural model of entry and exit in concentrated markets is estimatedfor the ready-mix concrete industry, using plant level data from the U.S. Census. The...

In markets where spatial competition is important, many models predict that average prices are lower in denser markets (i.e., those with more producers per unit area). Homogeneous-producer models attribute this effect solely to lower optimal markups. However, when producers instead differ in...

The impact of concrete structure on the thermal performance of the dual-media thermocline thermal energy storage (TES) tank which is very promising to be applied in concentrating solar power (CSP) systems is investigated. The lumped capacitance method is used since the introduction of corrected...

Concrete can be viewed as granular materials at the mesoscopic level. A specific distribution of aggregate particles in boundary layers, known as the wall effect, plays an important role in the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. However, the detailed and systematic experimental...

The production of concrete, a major construction material, emits a large amount of CO2 from the material production stage, such as in the production of cement, aggregates, and admixtures, to the manufacturing stage, and it is expected that a reduction of CO2 emission will be required....

Introduction -- Sustainable Development and Global Climate Change -- Lean Production Philosophy -- The Precast Concrete Industry -- Modelling the Lean Production Philosophy -- Research Design and Methodology -- Applications in Precast Concrete Factories -- Case study of a Precast Concrete...

In markets where spatial competition is important, many models predict that average prices are lower in denser markets (i.e., those with more producers per unit area). Homogeneous-producer models attribute this effect solely to lower optimal markups. However, when producers instead differ in...

In this study we analyze the effect of thermal mass on space heating energy use and life cycle primary energy balances of a concrete- and a wood-frame building. The analysis includes primary energy use during the production, operation, and end-of-life phases. Based on hour-by-hour dynamic...

As research on the reduction in the life cycle carbon dioxide (LCCO2) emissions of buildings has become increasingly important, the development of technologies that can quantitatively assess the LCCO2 emissions of a building at the level of the construction materials is essential. In addition,...

To predict aggregates’ size distribution effect on the concrete compressive strength, a probabilistic mechanical model is proposed. Within this model, a Voronoi tessellation of a set of non-overlapping and rigid spherical aggregates is used to describe the concrete microstructure. Moreover,...

This work correlates the resistance of concrete cores with the physical properties of the granular material forming it. A basic physical characterization is conducted, taking into account the origin of the grains involved in the concrete mixture; that is, if they come from natural degradation...

Many studies have documented large and persistent productivity differences across producers, even within narrowly defined industries. This paper both extends and departs from the past literature, which focused on technological explanations for these differences, by proposing that demand-side...