Development of the pavement network systems, which is inevitable due to the rapid economic growth, has increasingly become a topic of significant concern because of the severe environmental impacts of road expansion. For achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the policies and actions towards the pavements’ life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) must be carefully assessed. Consequently, the purpose of this review is to present an overview of LCA and LCCA used in pavement engineering and management. Through the quality control of PRISMA, fifty-five most relevant documents were extracted for a thorough investigation. The state of the art review reveals that a limited number of the papers considered environmental impacts of the pavements. Consequently, to assess the environmental impact cost, a conceptual framework was developed to better consider the LCA and LCCA on various aspects of the pavement projects including the sustainability aspects. Besides, a case study was given to validate the literature review towards proposing a novel framework for the incorporation of environmental impact cost.
The water level in a river defines the nature of flow and is fundamental to flood analysis. Extreme fluctuation in water levels in rivers, such as floods and droughts, are catastrophic in every manner; therefore, forecasting at an early stage would prevent possible disasters and relief efforts could be set up on time. This study aims to digitally model the water level in the Kabul River to prevent and alleviate the effects of any change in water level in this river downstream. This study used a machine learning tool known as the automatic autoregressive integrated moving average for statistical methodological analysis for forecasting the river flow. Based on the hydrological data collected from the water level of Kabul River in Swat, the water levels from 2011–2030 were forecasted, which were based on the lowest value of Akaike Information Criterion as 9.216. It was concluded that the water flow started to increase from the year 2011 till it reached its peak value in the year 2019–2020, and then the water level will maintain its maximum level to 250 cumecs and minimum level to 10 cumecs till 2030. The need for this research is justified as it could prove helpful in establishing guidelines for hydrological designers, the planning and management of water, hydropower engineering projects, as an indicator for weather prediction, and for the people who are greatly dependent on the Kabul River for their survival.
In the construction and maintenance of asphalt pavement, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is being widely used as a cheaper alternative to the conventional hot mix asphalt (HMA). HMA incorporated with a high RAP content (e.g., 40%), which is the most commonly used, may have prominent adverse effects on life cycle, performance properties, and related costs. Thus, before utilizing RAP, it is essential to investigate whether it is still economical to use under the local climate by taking into consideration the life cycle performance. Therefore, for this paper, a case study was conducted using 20% RAP, assessed in terms of materials related to cost analysis. The results of the analysis showed that, from the total life cycle costing measurement, a total of 14% cost reduction was reported using RAP as compared to conventional materials. Moreover, the two materials (conventional HMA and RAP) are manufactured in different types of manufacturing plants. Thus, in analyzing the cost difference between the two chosen manufacturing plants for virgin materials and RAP, a total of 57% cost reduction was observed for a RAP manufacturing plant. Besides this, no cost difference was observed in the rest of the phases, such as manpower, materials transportation, and construction activities, as the same procedures and types of machinery are used. Furthermore, assessing the carbon dioxide impact and cost, the transportation and machinery emissions were considered, while the plant’s operation emission was omitted due to the unavailability of the data.
The swiftly mounting world energy consumption has sparked questions regarding supply constraints, the collapse of energy resources, and dense environmental effects. Although the construction industry has much developed, yet construction is still a difficult, and costly process. Consequently, there is a necessity to find additional energy-efficient and cost-saving substitutes to sustain the urbanization of houses at a reasonable price to low-income groups. This study aims to provide an energy-efficient proposal for a housing scheme with strict control over cost allowing the low-income groups to enjoy livability stemming from the thermally comfortable and cost-saving technology. For this purpose, visits and surveys were carried out to critically analyze the respective housing scheme. Two proposals were suggested i.e. Proposal A by applying a low-cost technique called a Rat-trap bond to the walls and Proposal B, by designing an architectural plan for proficient utilization of space along with Rat-trap bond. Proposal B is highly recommended for construction as it saves 799 units of electricity and is 28% cost-effective during the construction phase than the existing housing unit. Summarized results were prepared from cost analysis and Ecotect analysis which ascertains the proposal to be energy efficient in addition to low cost. It is recommended to invest in cost-effective and energy-efficient technologies at the governmental level so that the challenge of inadequate housing can be answered once and for all.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.