Recomendaciones para la aplicación de la metodología del análisis de ciclo de vida en firmes asfálticos

Laburpena

Road infrastructure has great importance in the daily lives of millions of citizens. However, maintaining reliable performance of roads generates great economic, environmental and social impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been applied in numerous case studies to calculate the potential environmental impact produced by a product or process. However, applying LCA to pavements is still at an immature stage due to the existence of gaps in the knowledge and lack of guidelines and methodologies which ease their inclusion. For this reason, this doctoral thesis attempts to analyze more deeply several aspects of the LCA methodology that are generating uncertainty in its application to asphalt pavements, so as to promote more efficient, reliable and complete LCAs. The research started with the creation of an extensive database concerning all the processes involved in the road life cycle. Then, the replacement of high-quality natural aggregates by electric arc furnace slags was studied in depth. Later, the effect of predicting the lifespan of an asphalt pavement on LCA results was addressed. Finally, the relevance of the traffic delay produced during the maintenance of a highway on its total LCA was evaluated.