Mechanical Behavior of a Composite Lightweight Slab, Consisting of a Laminated Wooden Joist and Ecological Mortar

Abstract

The investigation reported in this paper is an evaluation of the mechanical behavior of full-scale ecological mortar slabs manufactured with a mixture of expanded clay and recycled concrete aggregates. The composite mortars form a compressive layer over laminated wooden joists to form a single construction unit. To do so, full-scale flexural tests are conducted of the composite laminated wood-ecological mortar slabs with different types of mortar designs: reference mortar (MR), lightweight mortar dosed with recycled concrete aggregates (MLC), and lightweight mortar dosed with recycled mixed aggregates (MLM). The test results showed that the mortar forming the compression layer and the laminated wooden joists worked in unison and withstood a higher maximum failure load under flexion than the failure load of the wooden joists in isolation. Moreover, the laboratory test results were compared with the simulated values of the theoretical model, generated in accordance with the technical specifications for structural calculations contained in the Spanish building code, and with the results calculated by a computer software package. From the analysis of the results of the calculation methods and the full-scale laboratory test results, it was concluded that the safety margin yielded by the calculations validated the use of those methods on this type of composite slab. In this way, a strong mixed wood–mortar slab was designed, contributing little dead-load to the building structure and its manufacture with recycled aggregate, also contributes to the circular economy of construction materials.

Integrating Regionalized Socioeconomic Considerations onto Life Cycle Assessment for Evaluating Bioeconomy Value Chains: A Case Study on Hybrid Wood–Concrete Ceiling Elements

“…The use of timber construction products and other materials made from renewable resources offers the opportunity to reduce building construction's environmental impact. From the perspective of climate change, the ability of wood to store carbon and the possibility of using wood to replace emission-intensive and non-renewable materials (e.g., aluminum, steel and concrete) is becoming more relevant in terms of the feasibility of these applications [17][18][19][20][21]. Wood and timber construction products are far more energy and resource-efficient in the extraction and processing of raw materials than conventional fossil materials used in the construction sector.…”