Reduction Effect of Toxic Substances for Apartment Buildings with an Ecofriendly Pre-cast Composite Structural System

Concrete, one of the construction materials used for apartment buildings, emits some toxic substances including CO2 and chromium VI that are detrimental to occupants. This paper presents pre-cast composite beams with T-type steels at each end to reduce the use of concrete. The new structural system is developed to replace the bearing walls of conventional apartment buildings. The pre-cast composite beams of the new concept (which can be used for apartment buildings) provide similar floor depth while minimizing the use of concrete materials. The CO2 and chromium VI emissions estimated from apartment buildings constructed with bearing walls are compared with those from buildings designed with the proposed composite beams. The data obtained from the previous study of Hong et al. [Hong WK, Kim JM, Park SC, Lee SG, Kim SI, Yoon KJ, Kim HC, Kim JT: A new apartment construction technology with effective CO2 emission reduction capabilities: Energy Int J 2010;35(6):2639–2646; Hong WK, Park SC, Kim JM, Kim SI, Lee SG, Yune DY, Yoon TH, Ryoo BY: Development of structural composite hybrid systems and their application with regard to the reduction of CO2 emissions: Indoor Built Environ 2010;19(1):151–162] for the amount of concrete material in the apartment buildings was used to estimate the amounts of CO2 and chromium VI emissions. The pre-cast composite beams of the new concept are believed to be an effective structural system to reduce the use of concrete material, which in turn reduces the amounts of the noxious materials, CO2 and chromium VI. The new healthy structural frame system introduced in this paper shows the potential to enhance the health of occupants.