Pavement Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment and Interpretation Using a Novel Qualitative Decision Procedure

A novel approach to life-cycle sustainability (impact) assessment and interpretation procedure on the basis of multiple criteria is developed in this paper for the comparison and evaluation of alternative road pavement designs. A case study reported in the literature, which compared pavement structures with virgin materials as well as industrial by-products such as coal ash, crushed concrete waste, and granulated blast-furnace slag, was examined in the context of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) using the proposed approach. The environmental loadings assessed during the life cycle of the pavement structures included natural raw materials and secondary products, energy and fuel consumption, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO) and particles, dust emissions, compounds leaching into the soil, and noise. The proposed qualitative decision approach to life cycle-based environmental impact assessment, similar to lexicographic methods in MCDA, relies purely on the qualitative relative importance preferences specified by the decision maker and logical inference. The decision procedure employs dominance testing using the aggregated relative importance preferences to identify which pavement design alternatives dominate the others. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487 .0000228. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Pavements; Decision making; Sustainable development; Energy consumption; Life cycles; Design. Author keywords: Pavements; Decision making; Sustainable development; Energy consumption; Life cycles; Design.