Sustainability design of concrete structures

Abstract Concrete became the most used material on Earth over 200 years following the invention of modern cement. The design concept has undergone a transition from the allowable stress design method, limit state design method, and to the performance‐based design method, in response to the evolution of materials, sophistication of experimental facilities, and advancement of computation skills. From the issues on resources and energy depletion, global warming, and resilience etc., it is necessary to create a new design framework taking into consideration the required performance beyond the conventional concept, in order to construct infrastructure and buildings in a more rational way. In other words, one should construct a design system which sets the continued existence of the diverse and rich global environment as its most important criterion of value. In this paper, the authors review the design and technology system developed in the past and discusses it based on the above‐mentioned new viewpoint, while constructing and presenting a new design system for concrete structures, focusing mainly on the concept of sustainability which is regarded as the most important in achieving conservation of the Earth's rich resources as well as sound socioeconomic activities of humankind in the future, and discusses its feasibility.