AMADE – UdG subproject: Reuse of composite elements from End-of-Life aeronautical structures to enhance service life of concrete structures
Period: 12/2022 – 11/2024 (24 months)
Funding organization: Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)
AMADE – UdG Subproject Principal Investigators:
Cristina Barris Peña cristina.barris@udg.edu (IP1)
Norbert Blanco Villaverde norbert.blanco@udg.edu (IP2)
Partners: AITIIP
Other AMADE people involved:
Josep Costa, Alba Codina, Alex Fernandez, Lluís Torres
Grant agreement number: TED2021-131157B-C21 /MCIN/ AEI / 10.13039/501100011033/ i por la Unión Europea “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR
Funded by: » Agencia Estatal de Investigación” (AEI), “Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación” (MCIN) and the European Union “NextGenerationEU” TED2021-131157B-C21 /MCIN/ AEI / 10.13039/501100011033/
The European Commission’s new Circular economy action plan towards a sustainable growth and zero emissions greenhouse gases by 2050 has led to a higher demand on developing a circular economy framework for composite materials. The aeronautic sector is growing at a rapid pace and modern aircraft use increasing amounts of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites in the primary structures. The inexistence of previous regulations to deal with the CFRP parts that reach the end-of-life (EOL) has led to landfilling as the most common option. 50% of the structural weight (around 75 tonnes) of current aircraft will need to be landfilled unless suitable alternatives are proposed. In addition, the aeronautic sector uses the best grade CFRP material with excellent properties due to the stringent requirements, which can be reused to their mechanical properties can be exploited in another sector. In parallel, construction industry is one of the highest contributors of waste generation in Europe. The construction sector is facing a worldwide problem of deterioration and functional deficiencies of existing building and civil infrastructure. To mitigate this, national and European regulations tend to encourage the rehabilitation and repair of building and civil infrastructure over new construction. CFRPs have been proven to provide excellent properties for strengthening civil structures. However, a more extensive use of composites in construction may have a negative impact in the carbon footprint of this sector as composite manufacturing is energy demanding and substantially adds to more waste generation.
AIR2BUILD aims to lay the foundations for a circular economy of composite materials by bridging these two sectors. AIR2BUILD proposes to reuse CFRP parts retired aircraft to strengthen concrete structures for civil and building applications, expanding their service life and retaining its high intrinsic added value. Primary aircraft CFRP structures can be dismantled and segmented into nearly-flat panels and T-stringers made of advanced carbon composites, and these extracted segments used as Externally-Bonded Reinforcement (EBR) and Near-Surface Mounted (NSM) structural elements in construction, respectively. The large number of units manufactured per aircraft model, the relative easiness of dismantling and extracting stringers and nearly-flat panels and, the reduced refurbishment required for its application in construction will not only drastically reduce the amount of composites waste but will boost a new high added value and viable business chain around this circular activity.
