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Determining the environmental impact of material hauling with wheel loaders during earthmoving operations
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Industrilized and sustainable construction.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0465-8304
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Industrilized and sustainable construction.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4695-5369
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Industrilized and sustainable construction.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5661-5237
2019 (English)In: Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, ISSN 1096-2247, E-ISSN 2162-2906, Vol. 69, no 10, p. 1195-1214Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

A method has been developed to estimate the environmental impact of wheel loaders used in earthmoving operations. The impact is evaluated in terms of energy use and emissions of air pollutants (CO2, CO, NOx, CH4, VOC, and PM) based on the fuel consumption per cubic meter of hauled material. In addition, the effects of selected operational factors on emissions during earthmoving activities were investigated to provide better guidance for practitioners during the early planning stage of construction projects. The relationships between six independent parameters relating to wheel loaders and jobsite conditions (namely loader utilization rates, loading time, bucket payload, horsepower, load factor, and server capacity) were analyzed using artificial neural networks, machine performance data from manufacturer’s handbooks, and discrete event simulations of selected earthmoving scenarios. A sensitivity analysis showed that the load factor is the largest contributor to air pollutant emissions, and that the best way to minimize environmental impact is to maximize the wheel loaders’ effective utilization rates. The new method will enable planners and contractors to accurately assess the environmental impact of wheel loaders and/or hauling activities during earthmoving operations in the early stages of construction projects.

Implications: There is an urgent need for effective ways of benchmarking and mitigating emissions due to construction operations, and particularly those due to construction equipment, during the pre-construction phase of construction projects. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are shown to be powerful tools for analyzing the complex relationships that determine the environmental impact of construction operations and for developing simple models that can be used in the early stages of project planning to select machine configurations and work plans that minimize emissions and energy consumption. Using such a model, it is shown that the fuel consumption and emissions of wheel loaders are primarily determined by their engine load, utilization rate, and bucket payload. Moreover, project planners can minimize the environmental impact of wheel loader operations by selecting work plans and equipment configurations that minimize wheel loaders’ idle time and avoid bucket payloads that exceed the upper limits specified by the equipment manufacturer.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2019. Vol. 69, no 10, p. 1195-1214
National Category
Construction Management Environmental Analysis and Construction Information Technology
Research subject
Construction Management and Building Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-74570DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2019.1640805ISI: 000482496000001PubMedID: 31291163Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85071322959OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-74570DiVA, id: diva2:1325253
Note

Validerad;2019;Nivå 2;2019-10-08 (johcin);

Artikeln har tidigare förekommit som manuskript i avhandling.

Available from: 2019-06-14 Created: 2019-06-14 Last updated: 2020-08-26Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Assessing Energy Use and Carbon Emissions to Support Planning of Environmentally Sustainable Earthmoving Operations
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Assessing Energy Use and Carbon Emissions to Support Planning of Environmentally Sustainable Earthmoving Operations
2019 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Alternative title[sv]
Utvärdering av energianvändning och koldioxidutsläpp för planering av miljömässigt hållbara massförflyttningsoperationer
Abstract [en]

Road and infrastructure projects have significant environmental impacts due to their high energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Among it, earthmoving operations contribute disproportionately to these impacts because of their intensive use of heavy machinery. However, little is known about how different equipment configurations and/or operational management strategies affect the environmental impact of earthmoving operations. Specifically, there is

• a lack of tools that enables stakeholders to understand and assess environment impacts of per unit volume of earth handled,

• a lack of integrated method taking into account both environmental and economic impacts in the planning of earthmoving operations.

This work aims to facilitate the adoption of sustainable earthmoving practices in construction by providing methods for selecting environmentally costeffective equipment configurations for earthmoving operations. Based on these considerations, three research questions were formulated:

• How can planners and construction managers of earthmoving projects estimate the energy use and carbon emissions of earthmoving machines per functional unit of material handled? • Which factors relating to earthworks operations have the greatest impact on energy use and carbon emissions?

• How can stakeholders optimize equipment configurations with respect to the trade-off between the carbon emissions, time, and cost of earthwork operations?

To answer these questions, an exploratory research approach involving multiple case studies was adopted. This resulted in the generation of a large body of experimental data and made it possible to test new methods for predicting and minimizing emissions due to earthmoving operations during the planning phases of construction projects. Throughout, the work was guided by the results of comprehensive literature reviews. Key findings of the work presented here include:

• The combination of Discrete Event Simulations (DES) and mass haul optimization (MHO) can be used to assess environmental impacts during project planning stage. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) provides an effective approach to model the relationships between input variables relating to the earthmoving equipment and project conditions and output variables relating to energy use and CO2 emissions per unit volume of hauled materials,

• The environmental performance of an item of equipment during earthmoving operations can be expressed as a function of the equipment’s operational characteristics and the job-site conditions such as digging depth, density of hauled materials and/or the topography of haulage surface. These factors all have important effects on the environmental impacts of earthmoving operations and the efficiency of the work,

• As expected, improving equipment utilization rates and/or cycle times significantly reduces energy use and CO2 emissions per unit volume of material handled. This also increases the equipment’s usage efficiency in terms of fuel consumption per unit volume of material hauled. A high usage efficiency (evaluated in terms of utilization rates and/or cycle times) thus minimizes both the emissions and the costs of earthmoving operations.

• Planning tools that account for costs and durations when assessing the carbon emissions of earthmoving operations make it possible to select optimal earthmoving equipment configurations that minimize emissions and costs (or at least do not increases costs).

In summary, this thesis identifies key factors that facilitate the assessment and reduction of energy consumption and carbon emissions in earthmoving projects. The developed approaches allow construction managers to benchmark the emissions of different equipment configurations during project planning.

The most important outcome of this work is the development of new methods for assessing energy use and CO2 emissions per unit volume of materials handled based on equipment characteristics and project conditions. These methods can be used to compare equipment configurations during the early stages of projects, and also for benchmarking/monitoring purposes during the construction stage. In particular, their use in the planning stages could help planners and construction managers to identify optimal equipment configurations that will minimize the environmental and economic impacts simultaneously.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Luleå: Luleå University of Technology, 2019
Series
Doctoral thesis / Luleå University of Technology 1 jan 1997 → …, ISSN 1402-1544
Keywords
energy use, CO2 emissions, earthmoving operation, operational characteristics, project conditions, selection equipment configuration
National Category
Construction Management
Research subject
Construction Management and Building Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-74574 (URN)978-91-7790-409-0 (ISBN)978-91-7790-410-6 (ISBN)
Public defence
2019-10-03, F231, F-Hus, SBN, Luleå tekniska universitet, 97187 Luleå, Luleå, 10:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2019-06-19 Created: 2019-06-14 Last updated: 2023-01-24Bibliographically approved

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Jassim, HassaneanLu, WeizhuoOlofsson, Thomas

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