Developing a Pollution Measuring System to Manage Demolition Projects Complying with Legal Regulations

Engineering, Project, and Production Management

EPPM 2014 Conference Papers

Developing a Pollution Measuring System to Manage Demolition Projects Complying with Legal Regulations

Markus Reinhardt¹ , Anna Kühlen² , and Shervin Haghsheno³

¹Research Associate, Institute for Technology and Management in Construction (TMB), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany, Tel: +49-721-608-48265, E-mail: markus.reinhardt@kit.edu
² Research Associate, French-German Institute for Environmental Research (DFIU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hertzstrasse 16, 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany, Tel: +49-721-60844691, E-mail: anna.kuehlen@kit.edu
³ Professor, Institute for Technology and Management in Construction (TMB), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany, Tel: +49-721-608-42646, E-mail: shervin.haghsheno@kit.edu

Abstract:Demolition and construction processes usually generate pollutions, namely dust, noise and vibration. These pollutions can have a negative impact on human health or the environment. Hence, pollutions are often a strong argument against necessary demolition and building projects. There are legal regulations of pollution control to minimize these impacts. However, usually no measurements and least of all permanent monitoring are performed on site, as pollution measuring is very costly. Often pollutions are only controlled by goodwill of the contractor, who acts upon his experiences and knowledge. To initiate pollution-reducing actions on site, an inexpensive measuring system is developed, which measures and calculates pollutions in real-time. In this paper, the system is described. First the basic system requirements are introduced. Then the systems components and the system buildup are explained in some detail. The system consists of measurement nodes (usually 6-10), which monitor dust, noise and vibrations. These nodes are supposed to be placed around the construction/deconstruction object. An analyzing unit calculates the estimated level of pollution in every important position. The calculated data is sent directly to the operator, since the excavator usually causes major emissions and resulting pollutions can be reduced by adjusting the working process, such as choosing a proper demolition technique or applying pollution protection measures. The aim of this research is to help the contractor and principal to perform construction and demolition work complying with legal regulations by warning them, when limits are exceeded.

Keywords: Demolition projects, dust, noise, pollution control, vibration.