68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF DRILLED SHAFT DESIGN IN SAND

Mina Lee, University of Waterloo (Canada)
Dipanjan Basu, University of Waterloo (Canada)

A variety of methods are available for design of drilled shafts based on different assumptions and input parameters. Whilst all these design methods ensure safety and/or serviceability of drilled shafts, difference in drilled shaft dimensions ensues for the same design problem if different design methods are used. Consequently, there is a difference in material use depending on the choice of the design method, and this impacts the environment. In this study, life cycle analyses (LCA) are performed to quantify the consumption of resources required to construct drilled shafts designed using different available methods and to estimate the emissions as a consequence of the construction. Different available design methods are selected and compared based on the results of LCA for several different subsurface profiles consisting of sand layers.