Pavement Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment and Interpretation Using a Novel Qualitative Decision Procedure

A novel approach to life-cycle sustainability (impact) assessment and interpretation procedure on the basis of multiple criteria is developed in this paper for the comparison and evaluation of alternative road pavement designs. A case study reported in the literature, which compared pavement structures with virgin materials as well as industrial by-products such as coal ash, crushed concrete waste, and granulated blast-furnace slag, was examined in the context of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) using the proposed approach. The environmental loadings assessed during the life cycle of the pavement structures included natural raw materials and secondary products, energy and fuel consumption, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO) and particles, dust emissions, compounds leaching into the soil, and noise. The proposed qualitative decision approach to life cycle-based environmental impact assessment, similar to lexicographic methods in MCDA, relies purely on the qualitative relative importance preferences specified by the decision maker and logical inference. The decision procedure employs dominance testing using the aggregated relative importance preferences to identify which pavement design alternatives dominate the others.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000228
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/08873801
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Copyright © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers
• Authors:
  • Santhanam, Ganesh Ram
  • Gopalakrishnan, Kasthurirangan
• Publication Date: 2013-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 544-554
• Serial:
  • Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
  • ISSN: 0887-3801

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Decision making; Environmental impacts; Fuel consumption; Leaching; Life cycle analysis; Pavement design; Pavement performance; Pollutants; Sustainable development; Tire/pavement noise
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01491531
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ASCE
• Created Date: Aug 15 2013 10:18AM