Relevant aspects to sustainability assessments of geotechnical structures

Abstract

The concept of sustainability includes a multiplicity of variables which must be carefully quantified and analysed to provide solutions which ensure the short-, medium-, and long-term well-being of society. Based on European standards, sustainability assessments must encompass environmental, economic, and social/ functional requirements (or pillars). Results from each individual evaluation can yield different conclusions, particularly for the social/functional aspects, thus, multi-criteria methods are required to quantify global scores between comparable solutions. One alternative is the integrated value model for sustainable evaluation (MIVES, for its acronym in Spanish). Said methodology allows for a quantitative assessment using multi-criteria analyses based on user-defined requirements. The present work describes the use of MIVES applied to geotechnical structures. The basis of the methodology is described, including the definition of requirements, use of value functions, and effect of stakeholders’ preferences or design requirements via weightings. Example scenarios using idealized reinforced soil walls are provided.

The authors wish to acknowledge the support of GECO Industrial (Korea, Rep), VSL Construction Systems (Spain), the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA) of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya·BarcelonaTech (UPC) (Spain), and the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) (Spain).

Postprint (published version)