Sustainable Mass Handling

Filip Israelsson, KTH

The calculation model presented in this thesis provides a way of estimating the amount of excavated soil and rock generated during the construction of new residential areas at an initial stage of the planning process. The excavated volume is expressed as a function of the number of residents and the number of floors in the buildings of the planned area, allowing for an early estimation that may effectively influence the logistical planning of the mass handling process. The simplified calculation model applied to a case study of the existing residential area Annedal in Stockholm produces an estimated amount of 577 500 ton excavated soil and rock, approximately 3.8 % lower than the reference value of 600 000 ton.

Regional storage sites are advantageous as different construction projects generate and utilize different types of soil, rock and aggregates, resulting in a higher possible re-use share than in individual projects. When regarding the energy usage in transportation, it is shown that intermediate storage sites located within 10 km of the construction site may allow for more than 15 % energy reduction if re-using 25 % of the excavated amount of soil and rock. A distance of 5 km may yield more than 20 % reduction of transportation energy for the same share of re-use.