Raja, J (2016) Reducing the environmental impact of construction through use of geosynthetics. EngD thesis, Loughborough University, UK.
Abstract
The changing climate and damaging effects of CO2 on the environment has led to awareness throughout the construction industry of the need to deliver more sustainable solutions. The use of geosynthetics as a sustainable construction solution was demonstrated by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in a report entitled Sustainable Geosystems in Civil Engineering Applications (WRAP, 2010). The WRAP report presented a series of case studies in which geosynthetic solutions provided both cost and CO2 savings in comparison to non-geosynthetic solutions. However, in what is a huge field the report concentrated on specific areas relative to the calculation methods or on the potential construction applications. This EngD research built on this work by WRAP and aimed to establish a rigorous framework for the comparison of CO2 emissions between geosynthetic and non-geosynthetic solutions. This EngD research reviewed CO2 calculation methodologies and techniques to produce a rigorous framework that could be adopted in comparative CO2 studies between geosynthetic and non-geosynthetic solutions. It was demonstrated on three case studies looking at geosynthetics in the function of containment, drainage, and reinforcement, highlighting the possible CO2 benefits of employing geosynthetics. The development of the case studies and framework highlighted the need for accurate embodied carbon data. There was an absence of geosynthetic specific embodied carbon values in the commonly employed databases. The EngD research sought to address this and through some experimental work in collaboration with geosynthetic manufacturers calculated embodied carbon values for four types of geosynthetics.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | civil engineering; climate; collaboration; experiment; sustainable construction; waste |
| Index terms: | construction industry, reinforcement, database, savings, CO2 emissions, case study, drainage, methodology, collaboration, environmental impact, experiment, programme, manufacturer, embodied carbon, sustainable construction |
| Subjects: | infrastructure and transport systems, industry analysis, project controls, data management, management, building materials, air quality, data collection methods, sustainable construction, research methods, economic analysis, practitioner, environmental impact |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Construction Materials, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Time Control, Organizational Design, Engineering Principles, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here