Life Cycle Optimization of Flexible Pavement Design and Management Based on the Principles of Sustainability
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Copyright Undertaking This thesis is protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. By reading and using the thesis, the reader understands and agrees to the following terms: 1. The reader will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the thesis. 2. The reader will use the thesis for the purpose of research or private study only and not for distribution or further reproduction or any other purpose. 3. The reader agrees to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage. IMPORTANT If you have reasons to believe that any materials in this thesis are deemed not suitable to be distributed in this form, or a copyright owner having difficulty with the material being included in our database, please contact [email protected] providing details. The Library will look into your claim and consider taking remedial action upon receipt of the written requests. Pao Yue-kong Library, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong http://www.lib.polyu.edu.hk LIFE CYCLE OPTIMIZATION OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT BASED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY CHONG DAN Ph.D The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 2015 The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Life Cycle Optimization of Flexible Pavement Design and Management Based on the Principles of Sustainability CHONG Dan A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2015 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it reproduces no material previously published or written, nor material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text. (Sign) CHONG Dan (Name) ABSTRACT Highway pavement is an essential component of transportation infrastructures. While providing important services to the society, highway pavement also consumes a large amount of capital investments and creates significant impacts to the environment. Consequently, sustainable development principles need to be adopted in highway pavement management to balance the needs from different stakeholders in the present and future. However, an integrated approach to assessing and enhancing the multiple dimensions of sustainability in the pavement’s life cycle is currently lacking. This affects the ability of highway agencies to develop proper strategies to promote sustainability when making engineering and management decisions. The research aims to develop methods and tools to assist highway agencies implementing sustainability principles in the management of highway pavement. The overall goal is addressed through interconnected objectives, including the identification of critical sustainability concerns throughout the pavement’s life cycle, the assessment of the influences of management decisions on the different aspects of sustainability, and the optimization of the management decisions guided by sustainability principles. The major outcomes of the research are summarized as follows. (1) Critical sustainability concerns in the life cycle of highway pavement are identified and quantified. The economic impacts are represented by life cycle costs (LCC); the environmental impacts are represented by energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; the social impacts are represented by mobility, i safety, and health. (2) A methodological framework is developed to assess the identified critical sustainability concerns. (3) Thermodynamic models and a software tool are developed for estimating energy consumption and GHG emissions in asphalt mixture production. (4) The exposure levels of pavement construction workers to harmful pollutants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matters (PMs) are identified and the health risks of the workers are assessed. (5) Polynomial regression models are developed to quantitatively assess the impacts of pavement thickness design and maintenance decisions on LCC, energy consumption, and GHG emissions. (6) Multi-objective nonlinear programming models are developed and solved to find the optimum solutions for enhancing flexible highway pavement sustainability. By identifying the specific sustainability concerns in the life cycle of flexible highway pavement, this study is expected to help highway administrators enhance pavement sustainability through addressing such critical concerns. The methods and tools developed in this study are expected to help highway administrators quantitatively evaluate the effects of their decisions on the different dimensions of sustainability. The multi-objective decision analysis models are expected to help highway administrators identify the most sustainable solutions and assess the tradeoffs of potentially conflicting sustainability goals. Although this study is carried out in the context of highway pavement management in Hong Kong, the methods and tools may be easily adapted to the sustainable management of highway pavement in other regions. ii LIST OF PUBLICATIONS Journal papers (Published) [1] Rattanachot, W., Wang, Y., Chong, D., & Suwansawas, S., 2015. Adaptation strategies of transport infrastructures to global climate change. Transport Policy. [2] Chong, D., Wang, Y., Guo, H., & Lu, Y., 2013. Volatile organic compounds generated in asphalt pavement construction and their health effects on workers. ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 140(2). [3] Wang, Y., Zhao, K., Glover, C., Chen, L., Wen, Y., Chong, D., & Hu, C., 2015. Effects of aging on the properties of asphalt at the nanoscale. Construction and Building Materials, 80, 244-254. [4] Wang, Y., Wen, Y., Zhao, K., Chong, D., & Wong, A. S., 2014. Evolution and locational variation of asphalt binder aging in long-life hot-mix asphalt pavements. Construction and Building Materials, 68, 172-182. [5] Wang, Y., Wen, Y., Zhao, K., Chong, D., & Wei, J., 2014. Connections between the rheological and chemical properties of long-term aged asphalt binders. ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Journal papers (Under Review) [1] Chong, D., Wang, Y., Chen, L., & Yu, B. (2015). Modeling and validation of energy consumption in asphalt mixture production. ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, under review. iii Conference Papers (Published) [1] Wang, Y., & Chong, D., 2014. Determination of optimum pavement construction alternatives to minimize life-cycle costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Construction Research Congress 2014@ Construction in a Global Network. ASCE, 679-688. Atlanta, Georgia, May 19-21, 2014. [2] Chong, D., Wang, Y., Dai, J., and Hung, W., 2013. Pollutants generated in asphalt resurfacing construction and their effects on workers’ health. Proceedings of the 4th Construction Specialty Conference, Montréal, Québec, May 29- June 1, 2013. [3] Chong, D., Wang, Y., 2012. Roadmap to sustainable road construction in Hong Kong. Proceedings of 2012 the Chinese Research Institute of Construction Management, Shenzhen, China, November 17-18, 2012. [4] Rattanachot, W., Wang, Y., Chong, D., and Li, X., 2012. Method of incorporating flood effects into flexible pavement structural analysis. Proceedings of the 4th Asia-Pacific Young Researchers and Graduates Symposium, Hong Kong, December 4-5, 2012. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am incredibly fortunate to work with individuals whose visions far exceed my own in the process of conducting my Ph.D. study. Without their time and support, this thesis would not exist. I would first like to thank my chief supervisor Dr. Yuhong Wang for his continuous support, patience, encouragement, and valuable guidance throughout the past years. I have been fortunate to have such an extraordinary supervisor who inspires me to achieve my potential. I am deeply indebted to him and grateful for his guidance. Special thanks are also given to my co-supervisor, Dr. Wing-tat Hung, for his guidance and insightful suggestions on my study. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Hai Guo, Dr. Zhen Leng, and Dr. L.W. Cheung in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Special thanks are given to them for sharing their professional knowledge and experience in environmental engineering, pavement structure, and pavement materials. I am grateful to Professor Xiaojun Chen and Dr. Zhifeng Dai in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. They provided continuous support on optimization algorithm. I am also indebted to Dr. Yujie Lu at the National University of Singapore and Dr. Bin Yu at the Southeast University for their insightful comments on this thesis. I would also like to thank the laboratory technicians, Mr. W.F. Tam, Mr. C.K. Chau, and Ms. Emily Fung, and Mr. W.K. Wong for their tremendous help during my laboratory work. I wish to acknowledge and appreciate the data supports from Mr. Alvin S.T. Wong in the Hong Kong Highways Department, Dr. H.K. Cheung in Anderson Asphalt v Limited, individuals in other asphalt mixture plants and asphalt pavement contractors in Hong Kong and Mainland China. In addition, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards all the front-line pavement construction workers for their participation and cooperation in my experimental study. To my colleagues and friends, thank you for listening