Etiqueta: Life Cycle Assessment

Environmental impact shares of a reinforced concrete earth-retaining wall with buttresses

http://blog.360gradosenconcreto.com/tipos-muros-contencion-prefabricados-concreto/

Abstract: Structural engineers focus on the reduction of carbon emissions in reinforced concrete structures, while other impacts affecting ecosystems and human health become secondary or are left behind. The featured life cycle assessment shows the impacts corresponding to each construction stage of an earth-retaining wall with buttresses. In this study the contribution ratio of each input flow is analyzed. Accordingly, concrete, landfill, machinery, formwork, steel, and transport are considered. Results show that despite the concrete almost always accounts for the largest contribution to each impact, the impact shares of steel present noticeable sensitivity to the steel-manufacturing route. The parameter of study is the recycling rate, usually 75% reached in Spain. Noticeable variation is found when the recycling content increases. The relationship between the impacts of each material with the amount of material used discloses research interest.

 

Keywords: Life cycle assessment, Functional unit, Steel recycling rate, Concrete ratio, Photochemical oxidation, Ozone depletion, Global warming.

Reference:

MOLINA-MORENO, F.; MARTÍ, J.V.; YEPES, V.; CIROTH, A. (2017). Environmental impact shares of a reinforced concrete earth-retaining wall with buttresses. The Ninth International Structural Engineering and Construction Conference, Resilient Structures and Sustainable Construction ISEC-9, Valencia, Spain July 24-July 29.

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Special Issue “Sustainable Construction”

High visibility: indexed by the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science) and other databases. Impact Factor: 1.343 (2015)

Special Issue “Sustainable Construction”

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section “Sustainable Engineering and Science“.

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2017

Special Issue Editors

Guest Editor

Prof. Dr. Víctor Yepes
Concrete Science and Technology Institute (ICITECH), Department of Construction Engineering and Civil Engineering Projects, Universitat Politècnica de València Valencia, Spain
Interests: multi-objective optimization; life-cycle assessment; decision-making; sustainability; concrete structures; CO2 emissions; construction management

Guest Editor

Dr. Tatiana García-Segura
Concrete Science and Technology Institute (ICITECH), Department of Construction Engineering and Civil Engineering Projects, Universitat Politècnica de València Valencia, Spain
Interests: multi-objective optimization; durability; safety; sustainability; post-tensioned bridges; maintenance; blended cement; recycled concrete

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This “Sustainable Construction” Special Issue comprises selected papers for Sustainability. Construction is one of the main sectors generating greenhouse gases. This industry consumes large amounts of raw materials, such as stone, timber, water, etc. Additionally, infrastructure should provide service over many years without safety problems. Therefore, their correct design, construction, maintenance and dismantling are essential to reduce economic, environmental and societal consequences. That is why promoting sustainable construction is becoming extremely important nowadays. This Special Issue is seeking papers that explore new ways of reducing the environmental impacts caused by the construction sector, as well promoting social progress and economic growth. These objectives include, but are not limited to:

  • The use of sustainable materials in construction
  • The development of technologies and processes intended to improve sustainability in construction
  • The optimization of designs based on sustainable indicators
  • The reduction of the economic, environmental and social impact caused by production processes
  • The promotion of durable materials that reduce the future maintenance
  • The life-cycle assessment
  • Decision-making processes that integrate economic, social, and environmental aspects

Papers selected for this Special Issue are subject to a rigorous peer-review procedure with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments and applications.

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Keywords

  • sustainable materials
  • life-cycle assessment
  • sustainable and efficient technologies and processes
  • design optimization
  • durable materials
  • maintenance minimization
  • decision-making

Evaluación del ciclo de vida de muros óptimos de contrafuertes

s09596526Nos acaban de publicar un artículo que versa sobre la evaluación del ciclo de vida de muros óptimos de contrafuertes. En este estudio se han analizado 30 muros optimizados de varias alturas (4-13 m), con terrenos de distintas capacidades portantes (0,2; 0,3 y 0,4 MPa). Os paso la referencia, el resumen y el enlace al artículo. Espero que os sea de interés.

NOTICIA: Hasta el 21 de diciembre de 2016 podéis descargaros gratis el artículo directamente en:

http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Tz-03QCo9JQWX

Aprovecha la oportunidad para no pagar los costes de descarga.

Highlights

  • A life cycle assessment over 30 optimized earth-retaining walls is conducted
  • Concrete presents the highest contribution to all impact categories
  • Steel significance on every impact increases with wall size
  • The recycling rate influences each impact category to different degrees
  • Savings on abiotic resource depletion with 70% recycled steel are about 72%

 

l-31-fig31-3-counterfort-retaining-wallsAbstract:

In this paper life cycle assessments are carried out on 30 optimized earth-retaining walls of various heights (4–13 m) and involving different permissible soil stresses (0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 MPa) in Spain. Firstly, the environmental impacts considered in the assessment method developed by the Leiden University (CML 2001) are analyzed for each case, demonstrating the influence of the wall height and permissible soil stress. Secondly, this paper evaluates the contribution range of each element to each impact. The elements considered are: concrete, landfill, machinery, formwork, steel, and transport. Moreover, the influence of the wall height on the contribution of each element over the total impact is studied. This paper then provides the impact factors per unit of concrete, steel, and formwork. These values enable designers to quickly evaluate impacts from available measurements. Finally, the influence of steel recycling on the environmental impacts is highlighted. Findings indicate that concrete is the biggest contributor to all impact categories, especially the global warming potential. However, the steel doubles its contribution when the wall heights increase from 4 m to 13 m. Results show that recycling rates affect impacts differently.

Keywords

Life cycle assessment; Retaining wall; Sustainability; Buttressed wall

Referencia:

ZASTROW, P.; MOLINA-MORENO, F.; GARCÍA-SEGURA, T.; MARTÍ, J.; YEPES, V. (2017). Life cycle assessment of cost-optimized buttress earth-retaining walls: a parametric study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140:1037-1048. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.085

 

 

Environmental Assessment of Concrete Structures

2014-11-12 16.38.05In recent decades, with the objective of reaching a more sustainable development, worldwide society has increased its concern about environmental protection. Nevertheless, there are still economic sectors, such as the construction industry, which produce significant environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that enables identifying environmental issues related to both finished products and services, and allows focusing efforts to resolve them. The main objective of this paper is to asses LCA applicability on concrete structures so that construction’s environmental performance can be improved. For this purpose, an attempt is made to provide a decision-making tool for construction-sector stakeholders with reliable and accurate environmental data. The research methodologies used in this paper are based on a literature review and are applied to a case study. This review was performed to collect information on LCA methodologies currently in use and their practical application. The case study subsequently described in this paper involved identification of the most sustainable type of slab for a reinforced concrete structure in a residential building, using two different databases. It was observed that, depending on the database selected and inherent assumptions, results varied. Therefore it was concluded that in order to avoid producing incorrect results when applying LCA, it is highly recommended to develop a more constrained methodology and grant access to reliable construction-sector data. (link)