Life-Cycle Environmental Impact Assessment of Steel Bridge Deck Pavement

To evaluate the environmental impact of steel bridge deck pavement (SBDP), based on life cycle assessment (LCA), this study quantified energy consumption and gas emission of epoxy asphalt (EA) mixture, stone mastic asphalt (SMA) mixture and guss-asphalt (GA) mixture. Firstly, the life cycle inventory of SBDP materials was established, involving the stages from raw material acquisition to end of life. Subsequently, environmental impact assessment indicators were proposed to evaluate energy consumption, climatic change and human health. Secondly, the uncertainty assessment method was investigated, and the uncertainty of inventory data and environmental factors was analyzed subsequently. Thirdly, “EA + EA” structure and “GA + SMA” structure were analyzed based on the established LCA model. Results indicate that the environment impact of “GA + SMA” is greater than “EA + EA”, and the stages with high environmental impacts of the two typical structures are the raw material acquisition, plant production, and operation and maintenance, successively. In addition, the production of epoxy asphalt binder and the plant production of GA and SMA should be optimized to reduce energy consumption and gas emission.