A comparative life cycle-based decision-making framework for road pavement structures incorporating recycled and artificial aggregates

Recent years have witnessed a significant rise in pavement life cycle assessment studies in response to the escalating focus on sustainable development in the construction sector. The traditional decision-making methods for investments in infrastructure usually consider technical and economic criteria, without taking into account the sustainability of the project. This underscores the critical need to integrate life cycle assessment with technical feasibility when evaluating and selecting road pavement structures. This research aims to bridge the gap between conventional investment considerations and the increasing importance of sustainability in infrastructure development, particularly within the urban contexts. The objective is to characterize, in terms of durability and environmental impact, two different road pavement structures for urban applications. The first is a conventional flexible pavement produced with virgin aggregates, with a porous asphalt concrete serving as the wearing course. In contrast, the second road structure incorporates an elevated proportion of recycled materials in every layer, and its surface course is a porous asphalt mixture with a high content of artificial and recycled aggregates. The experimental program is divided in two phases: in the first one, the durability of the pavements is predicted and evaluated using a professional software for the mechanical analysis and design of pavement structures; then the second step involves the comparison of the environmental performance of the two road structures, adopting a cradle-to-cradle approach. The life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis is conducted using the SimaPro software. The outcomes of the study highlighted the necessity to integrate LCA analysis into the decision-making process for the design and maintenance of urban roads.