This is the report of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study on some masonry wall types. As the
starting point, literature on masonry materials, techniques and possible end-of-life
scenarios were examined that are needed for the formulation of a LCA study. Prevalent
masonry types were detected as fired clay brick, AAC block, natural stone, mud brick as well
as prevalent end-of-life cases as landfill, reuse and recycling. Additionally, an overview of
the literature on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was presented in order to detect a
framework for the structure of a LCA study. After the collection of all needed information,
several possible life cycle scenarios were formulated in a realistic manner for each stated
masonry type. Obtained information was applied to a LCA evaluation software product
named SimaPro life cycle inventory software (PRé / Consultants, 2012). By means of the
software product, general scores of environmental impact for all alternatives were
obtained. Besides analyzing and comparing the scores, basic reasons behind the results
were discussed in terms of similarity and difference.
The results reveal that when the requirements shaping the wall are clearly described, the
most and the least environmental friendly wall types are detectable. During the study two
main scopes, such as commonly used wall thicknesses and thicknesses for thermal
insulation were described and several types of walls with life cycle alternatives were
labeled as the most or the least harmful to nature.
To conclude, although it is not reasonable to point out one type of masonry as the least
harmful one for any cases, the conditions of each case detect the most and the least
v
harmful type of masonry walls. Nevertheless, the relatively low environmental impact of
mud brick masonry is striking. Therefore the environmental friendly aspect of mud brick
masonry is underlined &ndash / one more time- by the results of this study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12614373/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 July 2012 |
| Creators | Ucer, Deniz |
| Contributors | Elias-ozkan, Soofia Tahira |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | Access forbidden for 1 year |
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