ABSTRACT
Incorporating sustainability considerations as early as in the design of pile foundations can help in reducing excessive use of construction materials, thereby reducing environmental impacts. This paper uses drilled shafts as an example to illustrate the importance of environmental impact assessment in the design phase of foundations. Life cycle assessment (LCA), a standardized method for quantifying environmental impacts, is applied to drilled shafts in this study. The global warming impact of drilled shaft, quantified using LCA, is compared with two reference values – global warming impact caused by a person annually and a passenger car throughout its entire twelve-year life cycle. The comparisons help in understanding how severe the global warming impact of drilled shaft is in relation to commonly perceived polluters. Plots are developed that may be used for quick estimation of global warming impact of drilled shafts without the use of specialized LCA software programs.
