Aluminium as a building material – a sustainable solution or an irresponsible one? A com-prehensive investigation of load-bearing aluminium structures was undertaken to answer that question, including economical, ecological as well as design aspects. In that regard, environmental effects were evaluated by means of Life-Cycle-Analysis (LCA), costs were estimated using Life-Cycle-Cost-Analysis (LCCA) and design aspects, such as utilization and duration, were analysed by applying respective design guidelines. Us-ing these tools, three aluminium and steel applications were explored and the results com-pared. Indeed, the results show that if applied correctly, aluminium’s ecological and economical performance outdo that of steel. Factors that contribute to the better performance of alumin-ium include its high ratio of load-bearing capacity to weight, its smoother formability, its higher corrosion resistance, its considerably lower maintenance requirements and its recy-cling potential. Thereby efficient design and construction have proved to be basic require-ments for above results. The use of aluminium has been found to be optimal for applications with limited spans, low loadings, untreated surfaces, with minimum 80% recycling potential and maximum 50% weight of respective steel structures. Furthermore the use of efficient design guidelines, such as Eurocode 9, is necessary. All in all, an over-all rejection of aluminium as building material can not be justified.
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Aluminium as a building material – a sustainable solution or an irresponsible one? A com-prehensive investigation of load-bearing aluminium structures was undertaken to answer that question, including economical, ecological as well as design aspects. In that regard, environmental effects were evaluated by means of Life-Cycle-Analysis (LCA), costs were estimated using Life-Cycle-Cost-Analysis (LCCA) and design aspects, such as utilization and duration, were analysed by applying respective design...
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