Study of environmental impact from geosynthetic reinforced soil walls

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona, Spain
² International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), Barcelona, Spain
³ VSL International Ltd, Barcelona, Spain
⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

^* Corresponding author: anibal.moncada@upc.edu

Abstract

Reinforced soil walls (RSWs) have proven to be a reliable and resilient solution in many geotechnical applications (e.g., bridge abutments, highway and railway embankments, soil retaining walls, dikes, among others). Moreover, the reduced impact of these types of structures over traditional solutions has been compared using life cycle analysis (LCA) and sustainability assessment methodologies. Nowadays, RSWs are often constructed with geosynthetic materials as reinforcement elements due to their ease of use, cost, and technical viability. The use of geosynthetic materials can assist to meet the global challenges of the United Nations global sustainability goals and to adapt to the effects of climate change. The LCA methodology allows designers to determine the environmental impact of different candidate solutions or structures for a given design life. By providing comparable score-based results, a LCA permits objective decision making. The present work describes the environmental impact assessment of idealized polymer strap geosynthetic RSWs using the LCA methodology. Case studies are focused on the use of different backfill material (granular soil from a quarry or riverbed, recycled construction aggregate, and low quality locally available soil). Analysis boundaries include cradle-to-gate considerations and a 100-year design life. Results indicate the reduced environmental impact of using on-site backfill.