Zokaei Ashtiani, M (2022) Data-driven sustainability assessment in roadway infrastructure construction. PhD thesis, University of Washington, USA.
Abstract
Rating systems and life cycle assessment frameworks have been extensively used to measure and evaluate the sustainability performance of roadway infrastructure. However, the existing literature lacks studies that use roadway construction data to evaluate the state of practice and establish performance benchmarks. To bridge the research gaps, this dissertation collected, organized, and analyzed data from 33 Greenroads-certified projects to establish the state of practice in sustainable roadway construction. Data from Greenroads scorecards are first analyzed to evaluate the most commonly pursued sustainable best practices and provide commentary on their level of achievement. This dissertation then conducts a pavement life cycle assessment (LCA) based on project submittals to Greenroads and integrates carbon and energy footprints into pay item lists to analyze correlations between the environmental impacts and financial costs of projects. A whole roadway LCA framework (one that considers all roadway elements beyond just pavements) is further developed and tested using actual construction data mined from 30 Greenroads-certified project documents. Finally, this dissertation introduces twelve data-driven sustainable performance benchmarks to establish the state of practice in roadway construction.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Muench, S T |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | sustainability; bridge; infrastructure construction; life cycle; pavement; best practice; environmental impact |
| Index terms: | sustainability assessment, life cycle assessment, documents, scorecard, environmental impact, submittal, infrastructure construction, sustainability performance, life cycle, best practice, dissertation |
| Subjects: | professional development, civil engineering, performance measurement, value management, business, sustainability assessment, environmental impact, research dissemination and communication |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Project Management, Sustainability, Quality Management, Information Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
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