Development of a life-cycle assessment tool for pavement preservation and maintenance of flexible and rigid pavements

Zhou, Qingwen

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/106397 Copy

Description

Title

Development of a life-cycle assessment tool for pavement preservation and maintenance of flexible and rigid pavements

Author(s)

Zhou, Qingwen

Issue Date

2019-12-12

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Al-Qadi, Imad

Department of Study

Civil & Environmental Eng

Discipline

Civil Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

Life-cycle assessment, pavement preservation schedule, treatment lifetime estimation, decision tree

Abstract

Diminishing funds for transportation infrastructure projects encouraged agencies to develop and implement cost-effective preservation and rehabilitation treatments to maintain pavement serviceability while reducing the backlog in pavement network of agencies. Pavement preservation has recently gained wide acceptance amongst the highway agencies because of its cost effectiveness and ability to enhance pavement performance. In addition, preservation treatments provide additional benefits in terms of reducing environmental impact of pavements. The major philosophy of preservation suggests a long-term and cost-effective program applied at the project-level with a network strategic programming. Therefore, development of a preservation program and selecting preservation treatments for a given project require consideration of the cost, performance, and environmental impact. In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was developed to quantify the sustainability of preservation activities and to schedule treatment activities for asphalt and concrete surfaced pavements. The developed LCA models were implemented in a tool to support project-level decisions on selecting and scheduling the most efficient preservation or rehabilitation activity. The key components of the tool are inventory analysis used in the LCA calculations, treatment lifetime models, and decision trees for preservation treatment selection. Decision trees were introduced for decision makers to guide them selecting from various preservation and rehabilitation options for a given existing pavement condition and traffic. A nationwide survey was conducted using questionnaires to collect data for developing lifetime models as well as for agency experiences and practices. In addition, data were collected from available literature and other publicly and commercially available databases. Pay items were generated for each treatment considered and used as the building block of the LCA calculations. The life-cycle stages considered include materials, construction, maintenance and rehabilitation, and use stages. Use-stage models were developed to calculate the impact of rolling resistance and heat island. The tool, which is based on Microsoft Excel’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) platform, was developed with user-friendly interfaces. The tool is intended for the engineers in state and local agencies, practitioners in the industry, and contractors. The tool outcome is a sustainability analysis comparing individual treatments or a schedule of treatments for asphalt and concrete surfaced pavements.

Graduation Semester

2019-12

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106397

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Qingwen Zhou

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