
Rahul V. RalegaonkarVisvesvaraya National Institute of Technology | NIT, Nagpur · Department of Civil Engineering
Rahul V. Ralegaonkar
BE (C), ME (C) PhD(Energy Efficient Buildings)
About
121
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Introduction
Rahul V. Ralegaonkar currently works at the Department of Civil Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology. Rahul does research in Sustainable Construction Engineering.
Additional affiliations
May 2018 - November 2018
December 2008 - February 2016
Publications
Publications (121)
The increasing urban population lead to a housing shortage, mainly for the economically weaker sections. Government has come up with few initiatives to implement rapid construction techniques for these housings. Also, construction is an energy-intensive process, and thus it needs a sustainable and energy-efficient approach in executing the modern b...
Houses in villages that are traditionally built with locally available materials like wood, mud, and stones are nowadays being demolished and reconstructed. The current trend has been to adopt framed construction with reinforced cement concrete and red bricks as the main materials. This is going to have a significant environmental impact and needs...
The increasing worldwide demand for concrete, fueled by rising urbanization and infrastructural expansion due to exponential population growth, has raised concerns over the depletion of natural resources, as global natural aggregate (NA) demand is estimated to surpass 50 billion tons by 2025. Concurrently, more than 3.57 billion tons of constructio...
Background
Presently, the proper disposal of E-waste is a major challenge for all nations. Portland cement and aggregates continue to play a major role in the construction industry's operations. Meanwhile, natural resources like gravel (aggregates) are becoming scarce. Thus, E-waste is now offering the building industry a chance to replace traditio...
Houses in villages that are traditionally built with locally available materials like wood, mud, and stones are nowadays being demolished and reconstructed. The current trend has been to adopt framed construction with reinforced cement concrete and red bricks as the main materials. This is going to have a significant environmental impact and needs...
Owing to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation there has been a significant increase in the manufacture and application of cement, resulting in high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. This paper investigates alternative binders that have reduced carbon dixoide emissions and better performance. The study elaborates the mix design...
Rapid construction with an energy-efficient approach is a major challenge in the present construction industry. Cement, a carbon-intensive material, is mainly used in the construction industry and hence increases the sector's carbon footprint on the environment. The current review focuses on the study of 3D concrete printing (3DCP), in which cement...
The construction world has changed day by day and is becoming more digitalized by introducing new technologies. Three-dimensional concrete printing (3DCP) is one such technology that has automated building process along with several benefits such as reduced material waste, reduced human hazard, and time savings. Traditionally, this technique utiliz...
India is in need of rapid construction technology with sustainability and environmentally friendly aspects. Prefabrication is a well-known technique that lowers carbon emissions and reduces environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluates these impacts of developed product/process. A new-age construction product was designed from a loca...
Abstract
This paper reported on the micro-level properties of alkali-activated pastes cured in ambient conditions. The mechanisms influencing setting time and the microstructure development of fly ash, slag, and metakaolin were studied. The mortar compressive strength of the binders and their ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) were tested after 56 day...
Economic growth and rapid urbanization have resulted in the increase in demand for infrastructure development. To meet this ever increasing demand, conventional construction materials such as concrete are used, which requires an energy intensive process that in turn impacts the environment adversely. Ordinary Portland Cement, being the dominant bin...
The increasing urban population requires rapid housing construction. Rising global temperatures have led to more space cooling options inside buildings. There is a need to design new-age buildings with a sustainable, thermal comfort, and energy-efficiency approach. The present work integrates this approach into the design of prefabricated elements....
The construction industry has experienced phenomenal growth because of technological advancements in the past couple of decades. Prefabrication constitutes a sizeable share of this industry and is being adopted all over the world. The method of casting construction elements in a controlled environment and assembling them on-site has revolutionised...
Buildings are demolished, when they outlived their service life, become structurally/functionally unfit, or have been built illegally. In India, an RCC framed, 40-storied high-rise building, with a built-up area of about 75,000 sqm, built without relevant approvals along with lots of violations of building bye-laws, has been demolished. There is no...
This study investigates the pozzolanic potential of industrial waste, which fails to meet the chemical composition as defined by the various international standards, e.g., IS: 3812 (Part 1): 2017 and ASTM C618-19 to adopt as a supplementary cementitious material. The effects of mechanical nanoprocessing on pozzolanic reaction efficiency, impact on...
Utilisation of unused industrial wastes and need for rapid volumetric construction led to the evolution of sustainable prefabricated housing elements, particularly for urban slums. An agro-industrial by-product as raw material and waste expanded polystyrene beads as the insulation material are chosen to develop a lightweight prefabricated construct...
An initiative of Indian Government for Open Defecation Free (ODF) country is initiated under Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India Mission). An affordable toilet unit can cut down the cost implications of this high budget flagship programme. Conventional materials and techniques may not alter the cost, time and other parameters of the project. Theref...
Use of bio-briquette ash in sustainable construction materials
Application of green solution for enhancing performance of construction materials
Population explosion, changing lifestyles, and a lack of housing facilities have created an acute shortage of affordable housing all over the globe. This essential part of the infrastructure of a country has put pressure on several governments to come up with new decisions to boost the rate of construction. UN Habitat (2016) emphasized this need, a...
Embodied energy and cost of construction of any building depends upon the consumption of resources, more specifically construction materials. In housing clusters, the spaces provided for horizontal and vertical circulation of occupants such as corridors and contribute in the built-up area of individual unit without any increase in the usable/carpet...
A huge quantity of textile effluent sludge is generated from 21 076 textile units of India and dumped in large areas, leading to contamination of soil, surface water and groundwater. Hence, effective management of this sludge is important for its reuse and safe disposal. Considering the utilization of this waste in construction activities, the curr...
Excessive consumption of cement in construction materials has resulted in a negative impact on the environment. This leads to the need of finding an alternative binder as a sustainable construction material. Different wastes that are rich in aluminosilicates have proved to be a valuable material for alkali-activated product development, which conta...
Under the India “Housing for all” scheme, 20 million urban houses have to be constructed by 2022, which requires the rate of construction to be around 8000 houses/day. Previous results by the team show that present design methods for affordable buildings and structures in India need improvement. The challenges are the disposal of solid waste genera...
An increase in the need for sustainable construction is leading towards the use of alternative construction materials. Inappropriate disposal of industrial rejects has increased the scope for alternate construction materials. Moreover, cementitious materials, which adversely affect the environment, are replaced by alkali activated materials. In the...
Gradually, the temperature of the earth is increasing due to global warming, which has increased the operational energy demand in buildings. This energy usage can substantially be reduced using energy-efficient measures such as developing a thermally resistant building envelope. The building envelope mainly consists of walls, roof and floor, where...
Increasing construction demand in urban cities due to haphazard growth in population has led to overconsumption of construction materials, which adversely affects the environment and society. Responsible production and consumption of building materials is one of the necessary steps towards achieving the sustainability goal. In this study, sustainab...
Housing units of around 20 million need to be constructed in India by 2022. One key challenge for government and industry is high demand for sustainable and affordable housing. This paper introduces the results of an industry focus group meeting with Indian Concrete Institute (ICI) and industrial associates, regarding needs for housing construction...
To meet the ever-increasing housing demand, huge amount of construction materials is being used. This creates a need to design and develop sustainable construction materials. Brick is one of the majorly used building materials that consumes several resources. However, utilization of industrial wastes in the production of bricks could reduce the imp...
Wetting of bio-based mortars — the affinity of the biofibres and earth to the water — can have a strong impact on the flow, but the microscale physics and macroscopic consequences remain poorly understood, not helping in the material optimisation. This research analyses the influence of casting on biofibres dispersion in bio-based insulation materi...
Brick is one of the majorly used building materials for masonry construction. Unlocking the potential to deliver significant impact against India's current housing and agro-industrial waste challenges is crucial. This can be met by developing sustainable products using industrial wastes. Alkali-activated products are claimed to be sustainable and c...
ABSTRACT:
The construction industry is the most fast-growing industry and booming all over the world. We are aware that capital investment in this industry is vast and it is responsible for the problem of negative impact on climate. Therefore, to achieve a goal of sustainability and low-cost housing, the concept of value engineering is brought up....
Due to ever increasing demand for the conventional construction materials as well as an increase in agro-industrial by-products it is essential to reuse these materials. As a smart city solution this chapter briefs an overview for the application of alternate raw materials as a principal source for the development of sustainable construction materi...
Buildings contribute to natural resources depletion and greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for carbon footprint. By transforming the built environment to be more climate-friendly, the building sector can play a major role in reducing the threat of climate change. In the present paper, the carbon equivalence for concrete and steel was computed for...
Identification of alternative, sustainable materials, and technologies in traditional masonry work could decrease economic, environmental, and social impacts, such as energy usage and cost during the life-cycle of the building. In the present study, sustainable brick was developed using locally available industrial by-product (co-fired blended ash-...
Urbanization has created a large housing demand of urban poor. Although different stakeholders are involved, there is a challenge to meet the redevelopment of urban slum dwelling projects in an effective manner. The concept is discussed with a case study of a slum in Nagpur City. Physical data was collected from stakeholders (construction material...
The "Swachh Bharat Mission" is currently one of the burning issues in India. About 597 million Indians defecate in open spaces due to lack of accessible sewage infrastructure. The inadequate sanitation facility leads to the serious bad impact on the social development of the society and the health issues especially for children. The poor sanitation...
With increasing urbanisation in developing countries such as India, designing low-cost and energy-efficient housing is an urgent requirement. Adoption of sustainable construction methods and materials assist in reducing the environmental impact and cost of these constructions. This paper compares the design feasibility of a single-storey load-beari...
This experimental study aims at the feasibility analysis of the industrial waste: co-fired blended ash (CFBA) for the development of low thermal conductivity bricks. The results suggested that the bricks containing 15% CFBA as a partial substitute for sand, complied with the regulations set by Indian standard (IS 1077: 1992d). As well as, thermal c...
Energy-efficient buildings assist in conserving energy and are currently prioritised due to increases in the cost of energy and greenhouse gas emissions. In this investigation, a low-thermal-conductivity walling material (bricks) was developed using co-fired blended ash (CFBA) for conserving energy in buildings. Physico-mechanical properties of the...
Building information modelling (BIM) is one of the effective ways for deciding the suitable building orientation and envelope that controls project cost, time and energy. The present paper elaborates the application of BIM for sustainable urban-poor housing. A systematic methodology is briefly discussed that considers the design challenges and suit...
Appropriate mortar design is one of the key challenges as connections between two structural elements play a significant role in building construction. Appropriate design refers to the selection of suitable constituents with their relative proportion for producing mortar of required workability, strength and durability in a cost effective manner. T...
This study examined the role of short (9 mm) and long (50 mm) basalt fibres on the properties of conventional mortar using six design combinations. Conventional cement (S-type) and sand in the proportion 1:3 were used for the study. Three fibre-reinforced mortar mix trials with 0·5, 1·5 and 2·5 wt% chopped basalt fibres with respect to the dry mix...
Ash obtained from co-combustion of sawdust and coal was studied to determine its potential to be used as an alternative construction material. The ash was subjected to chemical, physical and mineralogical characterisation. It was then mixed with cement and sand in various proportions and made into bricks. These were tested for compressive strength,...
This paper demonstrates the effect of an alternative walling element on the indoor temperature through a case study of a slum house. Using locally available biobriquette ash (BFA), cellular lightweight (CLW) bricks were developed and compared with conventional fly ash (FA) bricks. Two double-storey representative models (FA bricks and BFA-CLW brick...
This experimental investigation studied the potential of co-fired blended ash (CFBA), obtained from co-firing sawdust and coal, for the development of bricks and mortar. The identified new raw material CFBA underwent chemical (X-ray fluorescence spectrometry), physical (specific gravity determination, sieve analysis), mineralogical (X-ray diffracti...
The present paper focuses on developing a strategy to control the indoor temperature in slum dwellings under redevelopment. The proposed framework aims at improving the building planning and appropriate selection of construction materials along with controlled cost with respect to currently adopted practices. The proposed strategy is elaborated wit...
The development of permanent energy-efficient houses for ever-increasing urban slum dwellers using sustainable construction materials is a major challenge in developing countries such as India. The exposed building surfaces (walls and roof) play a significant role in controlling the peak cooling load demand in climatic zones where median temperatur...
The present paper deals with the development of cellular light weight bricks using bio-briquette ash. The necessary physical and chemical tests were conducted on a bio-briquette ash sample to investigate its suitability for the development of bricks. Physico-mechanical, durability and thermal conductivity tests were conducted on cellular light weig...
Due to ever increasing demand for the conventional construction materials as well as an increase in agro-industrial by-products it is essential to reuse these materials. As a smart city solution this chapter briefs an overview for the application of alternate raw materials as a principal source for the development of sustainable construction materi...
Sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA), which is generally landfilled, was characterised on the basis of its physico-chemical properties. The characterisation proved its suitability as a pozzolanic material. SBA bricks were then fabricated incorporating quarry dust as fine aggregate and lime as a binder. The developed SBA bricks were tested for their physico-...
The present paper deals with the investigation of the suitability and sustainability considerations of sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA) for the development of cellular lightweight (CLW) bricks. SBA was characterised and found suitable as a pozzolanic or a cementitious material. Physico-mechanical, durability and thermal tests were conducted on CLW-SBA b...
Superabsorbent polymers (SAP) are hydrophilic materials that can absorb and retain huge amounts of water. The absorbency varies from 100 to 400 times depending on environmental conditions. The material absorbs water and swells. It is analyzed through experimentation that the permeability of the swelled material is within limits of semi pervious mat...
Technically efficient and economically viable methods of rooftop rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling and use of low flow devices for integrating in residential townships are identified. An integrated tool is developed for generating designs of identified techniques along with the estimates of capital costs required for installation and the to...
The rapid industrialization and urbanization resulted in large quantity of waste generation and in turn, environmental degradation. Recycling of solid waste into a sustainable construction material with optimum mix proportion is the global need to reduce its adverse environmental impacts. The present paper aimed at optimization of the mix proportio...
Over the hot climatic zones where the exposed building roofs impart significant heat gain in the buildings can be protected using reflecting and insulating materials as a retrofitting solution.The present paper elaborates application of sustainablereflecting-cum-insulating (R-I) materials over the flat concrete roof surface for reducing the impact...
Heat gain in buildings is a major problem in most climatic zones in India, especially in the study area of Nagpur in Maharashtra. It is particularly acute in the top storeys of buildings directly beneath the roof, where internal temperatures generally exceed the ambient temperature. To reduce the heat gain of roof surfaces a combination of sustaina...
Cities in developing countries are experiencing rapid population growth that exerts excess pressure on energy and adversely affects the environment. Uninterrupted supply of energy is possible through the use of hybrid energy systems. This paper is addressed towards identifying and integrating the locally available renewable energy sources of a city...
Energy conservation in buildings plays a vital role for sustainable development of societies and nations. Although, newer buildings in developing nations are being constructed using energy conservation approach, existing buildings have higher energy demand to meet the desired comfort. Excessive energy demand for cooling the built environment is a m...
Appropriate construction materials with low thermal conductivity are required to control excess heat gain in building surfaces exposed to hot climates. This paper elaborates on the development and application of three sustainable building materials, namely hollow bricks using construction waste, double-glazed windows insulated with ultraviolet (UV)...
The issue of the ever increasing demand for construction materials and waste management has created a need for the development of sustainable materials with the appropriate utilization of wastes. This paper presents the study of the use of bio-briquette ash (BBA) for the development of bricks. Physico-chemical property investigations for a BBA samp...
To investigate the indoor temperature variations of buildings constructed with different masonry materials, the small scale modelling technique was used. Two small scale models were designed and built as per the standards (SP: 41), one with sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA) bricks and another with commercially available fly ash bricks. In order to assess...
Small-scale model houses were built with different masonry products in order to investigate the environmental performance of sustainable construction materials. Three model houses were designed and developed as per the standards one with recycled paper mill waste (RPMW)-cement bricks, another with fly ash bricks and the third with ferrocement wall...