Comparative life cycle assessment of sprayed-UHPC sandwich panels over brick & block cavity construction

This paper presents a novel developed Sprayed Ultra-High-Performance Cementitious Sandwich Panel (SUHPC-SP) for structural applications. The SUHPC-SP features sprayed UHPC outer layers making it suited for structural load bearing applications, and a foamed concrete core layer offering high thermal properties. With the development of enhanced material properties and novel production methods, the established SUHPC-SP can achieve optimal mechanical performance while minimising the volumes of material required. As such, this study assesses SUHPC-SP potential to increase sustainable outputs over reference Brick and Block (B&B) construction; by quantifying and comparing the whole life cycle environmental and economic impacts of the two methods. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of these types of construction products is presented for the first time in this paper. The study found that integrating SUHPC-SP over typical B&B construction can reduce environmental impacts by as much as 500% and costs by up to 180%. This informs sustainable construction decisions, offering an effective alternative to conventional inefficient building methods and materials.<p></p>