Sustainablity - Reuse of Steel Structures

Circularity in Construction

Addressing the climate emergency demands a concentrated effort toward the design of reusable construction components. Among the various strategies, direct reuse stands out for its significant energy savings compared to recycling processes. Within this context, our research group is committed to advancing a comprehensive design methodology that enables the direct reuse of cold-formed steel components, which are prevalent in single-storey structural applications. Furthermore, we are actively developing steel column-base connections that are readily demountable and facilitate repeated reuse.

Team

Dr. JEYABALAN Aswin Kumar | Mr. UMARAJ Ragul | Mr. KALITA Kaustav Kundan

Project Objectives:

Evaluate the feasibility of repurposing thin-walled steel structures following buckling failures.
Investigate the relationship between service life extension, frequency of reuse, residual load-carrying capacity, and failure modes.
Facilitate collaboration among key stakeholders in the construction industry to promote and enable the practical implementation of steel structure reuse.

Scientific Publications on Steel Structures Reuse:

1. Recommendations for Implementing Circular Economy in Construction: Direct Reuse of Steel Structures.

Sivaganesh Selvaraj and Chan, T-M. (2024).

Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 214, 108439. Link Graphical Abstract

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2. Experimental Investigations on Structural Behaviour of Reusable Interlocking Steel-Column-Base Connection with Demountability.

AKR Jeyabalan, Sivaganesh Kanmani Selvaraj and Chan, T-M. (2024).

Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 109146. Link

CRediT contribution - Jeyabalan, AKR: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft; Selvaraj. S. K: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - review & editing; Tak-Ming Chan: Conceptualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing - review & editing.

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3. If Rockets are Reusable, Why Not Buildings? Reuse Evaluation for Cold-Formed Steel Unequal-Leg Lipped Angle Columns.

Umaraj, R.R, Sivaganesh Kanmani Selvaraj, Chan, T-M., and Elghazouli, A.Y (2025).

Thin-Walled Structures, 113463. Link Graphical Abstract

CRediT contribution - Umaraj, RR: Formal analysis, Experimental Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft; Selvaraj. S. K: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Project administration, Supervision, Funding Acquisition, Writing - original draft, review & editing; Tak-Ming Chan: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing - review & editing; Elghazouli, A.Y: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing.

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4. Construction Sustainability through Reusability: Establishing Reuse Design Rules for CFS Channel Columns Subjected to Local Buckling.

Umaraj, R.R, Sivaganesh Kanmani Selvaraj, Chan, T-M., and Elghazouli, A.Y (2025).

Thin-Walled Structures, 113892. Link Graphical Abstract

CRediT contribution - Umaraj, RR: Formal analysis, Experimental Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft; Selvaraj. S. K: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Project administration, Supervision, Funding Acquisition, Writing - original draft, review & editing; Tak-Ming Chan: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing - review & editing; Elghazouli, A.Y: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing.

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5. Transforming to Construction Circularity - Reusability Assessment of Interlocking Column-Base Connection.

AKR Jeyabalan, Sivaganesh Kanmani Selvaraj and Chan, T-M. (2025).

Thin-Walled Structures, 114026. Link

CRediT contribution - Jeyabalan, AKR: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing - original draft; Selvaraj. S. K: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - review & editing; Tak-Ming Chan: Conceptualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing - review & editing.