ABSTRACT
Measurements and analyses in the last decades have confirmed the critical increase of greenhouse gas emissions and global average temperature, and consequently the tendency for irreversible climate disruption. At the moment, very intensified efforts are devoted at European and International levels toward stabilising this phenomenon, moreover with tight target timelines, which is translated to strict measures of reducing CO2 or equivalent emissions in every human activity. The civil – and among them the tunnelling – construction sector contributes to at least 37%. In order to include this important issue, a newly introduced scheme for the assessment of climate compatibility is proposed analogous to the limit states of load-bearing capacity and serviceability. This describes the equivalent CO2 input to achieve a certain load-bearing capacity and considers also the service life. The emission impact over the service life is compared to a limit value derived from climate research and relevant regulations. Therefore, advanced analysis techniques using non-linear finite element calculations and non-elastic design and optimized structural design can vastly contribute to reducing material consumption and facilitating resource-efficient construction layouts. The fundamentals of the newly proposed climate-oriented assessment concept will be presented and a case study on a numerical simulation and pre-design of a realistic tunnel structure is used to exemplify the implementation of this concept and its significance for an ecologically responsible future tunnelling industry.
