Life Cycle Assessment of structural components in a Brazilian airport complex / Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida de Componentes Estruturais em um Complexo Aeroportuário Brasileiro

Abstract

Concerns about environmental impacts arising from the construction industry are growing, in which concrete is one of the most adopted materials. The environmental impact of cement production is known; however, to classify whether a material has a low environmental impact ot not, an approach that considers the impacts throughout its life cycle is necessary. Thus, the life cycle assessment (LCA) emerged as a relevant tool to measure environmental impacts and compare with alternative material options. This research aims to evaluate the potential for reducing the environmental impacts of the manufacturing of reinforced concrete components, using the Vitória Airport Modernization Project, in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil as a case study. The environmental impacts of the manufacturing of concrete superstructures for buildings and rigid pavements were evaluated. To achieve this goal, the LCA method, ISO 14040, ISO 14044, and the SimaPro software were adopted. Global warming potential, embodied energy and total impact were assessed. The Building Information Modelling (BIM) of the airport complex was chosen for the quantification of the components. As an option of strategy to reduce the environmental impact, the possibility of the partial replacement of 10% and 20% of cement by glass waste was evaluated, with and without grinding. The useful life of the concrete was also estimated through data from laboratory tests, which permitted to estimate the repairs to be carried out in the concrete pillars of the buildings and their respective environmental impacts. As a result, iy is exptected to present the possibility of mitigating the environmental impact with the partial replacement of cement by glass waste in structural concrete in a representative work such as the modernization of the airport in Vitória, ES, Brazil