Development of life cycle assessment model for permeable pavements and road drainage systems

Urbanization caused an increase in impervious areas resulting from extensive construction, (e.g., roads, driveways, sidewalks, parking lots, and rooftops). Low-impact development (LID) approaches are sustainable methods that assist nature to manage stormwater as close to its source as possible. Permeable Pavement System (PPS), an alternative to traditional pavements, is an example of a system with the potential to achieve LID goals. PPS is designed with paving materials (e.g., porous asphalt, pervious concrete, and permeable interlocking concrete pavers) that enable stormwater to filter through voids in the permeable surface into an underlying reservoir, temporarily storing and/or infiltrating the water into underneath soil. Quantifying the environmental impacts of pavements and drainage structures is a crucial input for decision-makers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a quantitative measure of a system’s environmental impact throughout its life cycle. Hence, in this thesis, an LCA framework was developed to quantify the impacts of the life cycle stages of permeable pavements, including materials, construction, use, maintenance, and end-of-life. To facilitate fair and practical comparisons with non-permeable pavements, an LCA for traditional road drainage structures (e.g., ditches, culverts, storm sewers, grass swales, bioswales, and detention/retention basins) was also performed. An inventory database was created, involving major materials and construction processes for the two pavement system types. Because water quantity and quality improvements are benefits that permeable pavements have proven to achieve, detailed analysis of the use stage was conducted as part of the LCA. To ensure accurate runoff volume calculations and, consequently, water quality impacts, region-specific data were used on precipitation, drainage properties, and surface characteristics. The developed LCA framework can provide practical and realistic comparisons of road drainage alternatives. To illustrate the validity of the LCA framework, a comparative LCA case study was used in the LCA model to calculate the impacts of a permeable pavement in Urbana-Champaign compared to existing pavement with traditional drainage structures. For example, in addition to societal positive impact, porous asphalt PPS use-stage impacts, in terms of eutrophication, ecotoxicity, and human health, decreased by more than 50% when replacing a traditional culvert and storm sewer system.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Diab, Lara

Contributors dc:contributor

• Al-Qadi, Imad L.

• Life Cycle Assessment
• Drainage
• Sustainability
• Permeable Pavements

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Lara Diab

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/122273

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F122273