BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING FOR ASSESSMENT OF STRUCTURAL MATERIAL IMPACT ON BUILDING STRUCTURES

Building construction is one of the largest contributors of carbon emissions that implicate the environment. Therefore, selection of building structural material is very crucial to reduce carbon emissions from construction industry. The aim of this project is using Building Information Modelling tools to determine the best carbon reduction practices by using composition of different types of conventional building material. The objective of this study is (1) Assessment of CO2 emissions produced from different conventional structural materials used in construction of buildings using Building Information Modelling (BIM), (2) Analysis and comparison of CO2 emissions generated by different combination of conventional structural materials, and (3) Selection of the best structural materials combination that generates the lowest carbon emissions to be practice in building construction. The study will involve in modelling and design of a selected building using BIM tools. Different grades and class of the main structural material that are concrete and steel will be put in combination into the design of several models of the selected building. Quantity of concrete and steel for each model will be calculated to convert into CO2 equivalent for carbon emission determination. Input for CO2 equivalent will be obtain from Inventory Carbon and Energy (ICE) developed by Hammond and Jones (2011) as reference due to the absence of Malaysia standard for embodied carbon conversion factor. Building model that generates the lowest carbon emissions will be selected and recommended as the best conventional structural material combination to be practiced in the construction industry. In the end of this project work, concrete grade of 35Mpa combined with reinforcement steel grade of 460Mpa yielded the lowest carbon emission thus is recommended to be best practice Malaysian building construction industry for this set of material data.