A Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and a Life-cycle Analysis (LCA) of four different pedestrian trail bridges is described in this paper. The US Department of Energy’s TECHTEST TEA/LCA software platform was used to compare the cost and environmental impact of three commercially available pedestrian trail bridges, a steel truss bridge, an FRP pultruded truss bridge, and a glulam stringer bridge, with a bridge made from decommissioned wind turbine blades (referred to as a BladeBridge by the Re-Wind Network). The LCA performed was a “cradle-to-gate” type LCA. The material extraction being the “cradle” and the “gate” being the fabricated bridge in the shop ready to ship. The use phase (field installation, in-service maintenance or repair) and end-of-life phase were not considered in the TEA/LCA as they are considered to be similar in cost and impact for all four bridge types (albeit the uncertainty with end-of-life of FRP composites at this time). All bridges had a 50 ft (15.24 m) long by 6 ft (1.83 m) wide deck and were designed for a 90 psf (4.3 kN/m2). They were all assumed to have a 60-year service life which is standard for the industry. The results indicate that raw materials had the biggest effect on embodied CO2eq and that labor had the largest impact on cost for all bridges. The results indicate that the BladeBridge is significantly less expensive and has significantly less environmental impact than the three commercially available bridges. This is because the primary structural load-carrying element is recycled/repurposed and does not incur any material acquisition cost and requires much less labor to fabricate into a bridge structure than the other bridges.

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Comparative Techno-Economic and Life-Cycle Analysis (TEA/LCA) of Pedestrian Trail Bridges Made from Pultruded FRP, Steel, Timber and Decommissioned Wind Turbine Blades

  • Aeva G. Silverman,
  • Gabriel Ackall,
  • G. Eric Johansen,
  • Russell Gentry,
  • Lawrence C. Bank

摘要

A Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and a Life-cycle Analysis (LCA) of four different pedestrian trail bridges is described in this paper. The US Department of Energy’s TECHTEST TEA/LCA software platform was used to compare the cost and environmental impact of three commercially available pedestrian trail bridges, a steel truss bridge, an FRP pultruded truss bridge, and a glulam stringer bridge, with a bridge made from decommissioned wind turbine blades (referred to as a BladeBridge by the Re-Wind Network). The LCA performed was a “cradle-to-gate” type LCA. The material extraction being the “cradle” and the “gate” being the fabricated bridge in the shop ready to ship. The use phase (field installation, in-service maintenance or repair) and end-of-life phase were not considered in the TEA/LCA as they are considered to be similar in cost and impact for all four bridge types (albeit the uncertainty with end-of-life of FRP composites at this time). All bridges had a 50 ft (15.24 m) long by 6 ft (1.83 m) wide deck and were designed for a 90 psf (4.3 kN/m2). They were all assumed to have a 60-year service life which is standard for the industry. The results indicate that raw materials had the biggest effect on embodied CO2eq and that labor had the largest impact on cost for all bridges. The results indicate that the BladeBridge is significantly less expensive and has significantly less environmental impact than the three commercially available bridges. This is because the primary structural load-carrying element is recycled/repurposed and does not incur any material acquisition cost and requires much less labor to fabricate into a bridge structure than the other bridges.