Life-Cycle Assessment of a Concrete Pedestrian Bridge: A Comparative Analysis of 3D Printing and Precast Techniques

10 pages•Published: December 11, 2023

Abstract

This study aims to compare the environmental impact of precast and 3D concrete printing (3DCP) techniques with a pedestrian bridge case study. A detailed cradle-to-site life cycle assessment has been performed from the standpoint of material, construction, and installation stages. The results showed that the concrete used in 3DCP has a higher negative environmental impact compared to the precast method due to the higher percentage of cement used in printable concrete. However, since C3DP used less material than the precast technique, there is no significant difference in the environmental impact of the total concrete used between the 3DCP and precast bridges. In addition, due to the use of reinforcement and formwork in the precast technique, the environmental impact of the total materials used in the precast bridge was more adverse than the 3DCP bridge. Notably, due to using electricity for printing, the negative environmental impact of the construction process in 3DCP was significantly higher than in the precast technique. Finally, the total carbon dioxide equivalent emitted during the construction of the 3DCP bridge was 80% of the precast bridge.

Keyphrases: 3dcp, bridge, concrete, environmental impact, lca

In: Tom Leathem, Wes Collins and Anthony Perrenoud (editors). Proceedings of 59th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 4, pages 213-222.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/BVBB
	https://doi.org/10.29007/gfz4

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{ASC2023:Life_Cycle_Assessment_Concrete,
  author    = {Sarah Ataei and Amirhosein Jafari},
  title     = {Life-Cycle Assessment of a Concrete Pedestrian Bridge: A Comparative Analysis of 3D Printing and Precast Techniques},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of 59th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference},
  editor    = {Tom Leathem and Wes Collins and Anthony Perrenoud},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Built Environment},
  volume    = {4},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2632-881X},
  url       = {/publications/paper/BVBB},
  doi       = {10.29007/gfz4},
  pages     = {213-222},
  year      = {2023}}

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