TY - JOUR
T1 - Literature review of life cycle assessment for railway bridges: critical issues and framework
AU - Du, Guangli
AU - Karoumi, Raid
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Currently, the whole world is confronted with great challenges related to environmental issues. As a fundamental infrastructure in transport networks, railway bridges are responsible for numerous material and energy consumption through their life cycle, which in turn leads to significant environmental burdens. However, present management of railway bridge infrastructures is mainly focused on the technical and financial aspects, whereas the environmental assessment is rarely integrated. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is deemed as a systematic method for also assessing the environmental impact of products and systems, but its application in railway bridge infrastructures is rare. Very limited literature and research studies are available in this area. In order to incorporate the implementation of LCA into railway bridges and set new design criteria, this article performs an elaborate literature survey and presents current developments regarding the LCA implementation for railway bridges. Several critical issues are discussed and highlighted in detail. The discussion is focused on the methodology, practical operational issues and data collections. Finally, a systematic LCA framework for quantifying environmental impacts for railway bridges is introduced and interpreted as a potential guideline.
AB - Currently, the whole world is confronted with great challenges related to environmental issues. As a fundamental infrastructure in transport networks, railway bridges are responsible for numerous material and energy consumption through their life cycle, which in turn leads to significant environmental burdens. However, present management of railway bridge infrastructures is mainly focused on the technical and financial aspects, whereas the environmental assessment is rarely integrated. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is deemed as a systematic method for also assessing the environmental impact of products and systems, but its application in railway bridge infrastructures is rare. Very limited literature and research studies are available in this area. In order to incorporate the implementation of LCA into railway bridges and set new design criteria, this article performs an elaborate literature survey and presents current developments regarding the LCA implementation for railway bridges. Several critical issues are discussed and highlighted in detail. The discussion is focused on the methodology, practical operational issues and data collections. Finally, a systematic LCA framework for quantifying environmental impacts for railway bridges is introduced and interpreted as a potential guideline.
KW - Life cycle assessment (LCA)
KW - railway bridge
KW - Sustainable construction
KW - Environmental impact
KW - Global warming potential (GWP)
KW - Literature review
UR - http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:473443/FULLTEXT01.pdf
U2 - 10.1080/15732479.2012.749289
DO - 10.1080/15732479.2012.749289
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1573-2479
VL - 10
SP - 277
EP - 294
JO - Structure & Infrastructure Engineering
JF - Structure & Infrastructure Engineering
IS - 3
ER -