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Today, critical deficiencies hinder the effective inclusion of social criteria in public-works procurement. The primary reasons for this are the lack of information and objective social assessment methods in the construction industry. Hence, this paper proposes a method to assist agencies in including indicators and objective assessments of social sustainability in public-works procurement. This method applies to civil engineering projects in the infrastructure life-cycle construction stage using design-bid-build delivery. Eight social categories and 22 factors are organized into two organizational levels (project and company). Quantitative and semi-quantitative indicators are proposed to assess the social commitment of construction companies in their organizations and projects. Additionally, two aggregation formulas are established as assessment criteria in public-works procurement. The results highlight that the indicators' importance in assessing social commitment in a project can be defined depending on the local context. Moreover, the method to assess corporate social responsibility can also measure and compare a company's performance, regardless of size. The proposed method can be used in procurement procedures, helping public-works procurers develop transparent decision processes.
Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Eugenio Pellicer; Tatiana García-Segura; Amalia Sanz-Benlloch. An integrated method for the assessment of social sustainability in public-works procurement. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 2021, 89, 106581 .
AMA StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo, Eugenio Pellicer, Tatiana García-Segura, Amalia Sanz-Benlloch. An integrated method for the assessment of social sustainability in public-works procurement. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 2021; 89 ():106581.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo; Eugenio Pellicer; Tatiana García-Segura; Amalia Sanz-Benlloch. 2021. "An integrated method for the assessment of social sustainability in public-works procurement." Environmental Impact Assessment Review 89, no. : 106581.
Concrete is the primary building material worldwide with a substantial impact on the built environment sustainability. Hence, it is necessary to assess concrete’s combined functionality, economic and environmental impact. In this paper, two concrete sustainability assessment frameworks, MARS-SC and CONCRETop, were studied. Building on the identified gaps, a new framework, ECO2 was developed. ECO2 is a multi-criteria decision analysis framework that accounts for carbon sequestration of concrete, impact allocation of raw materials, and the impact from the use and end-of-life phases. Hence, it could be used to optimize the proportions of a concrete mix based on a user-defined sustainability objective. A case study concluded that, due to the whole life cycle scope, the environmental impact calculated through ECO2 is 20% higher than that by MARS-SC and CONCRETop. In case of reinforced concrete, where service life requirements are different, the ranking of the alternatives according to ECO2 will significantly change comparatively.
Hisham Hafez; Rawaz Kurda; Nadia Al-Ayish; Tatiana Garcia-Segura; Wai Ming Cheung; Brabha Nagaratnam. A whole life cycle performance-based ECOnomic and ECOlogical assessment framework (ECO2) for concrete sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production 2021, 292, 126060 .
AMA StyleHisham Hafez, Rawaz Kurda, Nadia Al-Ayish, Tatiana Garcia-Segura, Wai Ming Cheung, Brabha Nagaratnam. A whole life cycle performance-based ECOnomic and ECOlogical assessment framework (ECO2) for concrete sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2021; 292 ():126060.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHisham Hafez; Rawaz Kurda; Nadia Al-Ayish; Tatiana Garcia-Segura; Wai Ming Cheung; Brabha Nagaratnam. 2021. "A whole life cycle performance-based ECOnomic and ECOlogical assessment framework (ECO2) for concrete sustainability." Journal of Cleaner Production 292, no. : 126060.
Senior management support is a key dynamic capacity for design companies in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, given the fact that they must identify changes in the competitive environment, which are increasingly becoming more and more technological. In addition, senior management support is obliged to react in the most efficient and effective way. Currently, the project design teams that have adopted building information modeling (BIM) are subject to constant changes in the technological environment, of which the activity is influenced by the behavior of senior management support. This research focuses on this issue by analyzing the role played by the variables of technological learning, collaborative culture, and support provided by senior management as precedents of BIM technology effectiveness. The data set has been obtained from 92 AEC companies in Spain. Using partial least squares (PLS), this research finds evidence of the previously mentioned relationships and the existence of partial mediation effects generated by technological learning and collaborative culture within the support of senior management in BIM technology effectiveness. In addition, this model achieves an appropriate level of predictive validation to explain BIM technology effectiveness in engineering project designs. The results highlight that senior management support needs to promote a technological learning and collaborative culture to improve the technological capabilities. The contribution and original value of the paper is to provide empirical evidence that the effectiveness of BIM factors in project design teams is influenced by the behavior of top management support.
Francisco Villena-Manzanares; Tatiana García-Segura; Eugenio Pellicer. Organizational Factors That Drive to BIM Effectiveness: Technological Learning, Collaborative Culture, and Senior Management Support. Applied Sciences 2020, 11, 199 .
AMA StyleFrancisco Villena-Manzanares, Tatiana García-Segura, Eugenio Pellicer. Organizational Factors That Drive to BIM Effectiveness: Technological Learning, Collaborative Culture, and Senior Management Support. Applied Sciences. 2020; 11 (1):199.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFrancisco Villena-Manzanares; Tatiana García-Segura; Eugenio Pellicer. 2020. "Organizational Factors That Drive to BIM Effectiveness: Technological Learning, Collaborative Culture, and Senior Management Support." Applied Sciences 11, no. 1: 199.
Various studies have been recently conducted to predict pavement condition, but most of them were developed in a certain region where climate conditions were kept constant and/or the research focused on specific road distresses using single parameters. Thus, this research aimed at determining the influence of pavement structure, traffic demand, and climate factors on urban flexible pavement condition over time. To do this, the Structural Number was used as an indicator of the pavement capacity, various traffic and climate variables were defined, and the Pavement Condition Index was used as a surrogate measure of pavement condition. The analysis was focused on the calibration of regression models by using the K-Fold Cross Validation technique. As a result, for a given pavement age, pavement condition worsens as the Equivalent Single Axle Load and the Annual Average Height of Snow increased. Likewise, a cold Annual Average Temperature (5–15 °C) and a large Annual Average Range of Temperature (20–30 °C) encourage a more aggressive pavement deterioration process. By contrast, warm climates with low temperature variations, which are associated with low precipitation, lead to a longer pavement service life. Additionally, a new classification of climate zones was proposed on the basis of the weather influence on pavement deterioration.
David Llopis-Castelló; Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Amalia Sanz-Benlloch; Eugenio Pellicer. Influence of Pavement Structure, Traffic, and Weather on Urban Flexible Pavement Deterioration. Sustainability 2020, 12, 9717 .
AMA StyleDavid Llopis-Castelló, Tatiana García-Segura, Laura Montalbán-Domingo, Amalia Sanz-Benlloch, Eugenio Pellicer. Influence of Pavement Structure, Traffic, and Weather on Urban Flexible Pavement Deterioration. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (22):9717.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDavid Llopis-Castelló; Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Amalia Sanz-Benlloch; Eugenio Pellicer. 2020. "Influence of Pavement Structure, Traffic, and Weather on Urban Flexible Pavement Deterioration." Sustainability 12, no. 22: 9717.
Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; David Llopis-Castelló; Michael D. Lepech; M. Amalia Sanz; Eugenio Pellicer. Incorporating pavement deterioration uncertainty into pavement management optimization. International Journal of Pavement Engineering 2020, 1 -12.
AMA StyleTatiana García-Segura, Laura Montalbán-Domingo, David Llopis-Castelló, Michael D. Lepech, M. Amalia Sanz, Eugenio Pellicer. Incorporating pavement deterioration uncertainty into pavement management optimization. International Journal of Pavement Engineering. 2020; ():1-12.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; David Llopis-Castelló; Michael D. Lepech; M. Amalia Sanz; Eugenio Pellicer. 2020. "Incorporating pavement deterioration uncertainty into pavement management optimization." International Journal of Pavement Engineering , no. : 1-12.
Fostering sustainability in the construction industry has been claimed; however, important barriers are hindering its implementation in public procurement. The main reason is the lack of knowledge about what sustainability criteria should be included and the high level of subjectivity in the definition of their level of importance. Both aspects should be addressed depending on the specific context of each country. Therefore, the aim of this research focused on identifying the sustainability shortcomings that exist in each European Union country in order to determine the level of importance of each sustainability category. Five environmental categories and eight social categories were established, and, to assess the sustainability performance of the 28 European countries, 42 national indicators were selected and the Promethee method was undertaken to rank the countries. Finally, through a cluster analysis, two groups of countries were identified. The first group consisted of the most economically developed European Union countries. These countries need to focus mainly on the environmental performance. However, the second group needs to make an effort in social sustainability at the same time, which controls their environmental performance. This research provides guidance on the decision-making with regard to the inclusion of sustainability in public procurement of the construction industry.
Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Madeleine Aguilar-Morocho; Tatiana García-Segura; Eugenio Pellicer. Study of Social and Environmental Needs for the Selection of Sustainable Criteria in the Procurement of Public Works. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7756 .
AMA StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo, Madeleine Aguilar-Morocho, Tatiana García-Segura, Eugenio Pellicer. Study of Social and Environmental Needs for the Selection of Sustainable Criteria in the Procurement of Public Works. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (18):7756.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo; Madeleine Aguilar-Morocho; Tatiana García-Segura; Eugenio Pellicer. 2020. "Study of Social and Environmental Needs for the Selection of Sustainable Criteria in the Procurement of Public Works." Sustainability 12, no. 18: 7756.
Universities are preparing future professionals to face real problems. Sustainable development is a challenge that requires particular attention from educational programs. In their profession, civil engineers address many decisions that can compromise the sustainability of infrastructure. This paper proposes a sustainable decision-making module to promote student competencies relevant to solving real engineering decision-making problems while meeting sustainability criteria. The module is tested in a project management course for a master’s in Planning and Management in Civil Engineering program. Students were placed in a procurement process scenario with the objective of designing a sustainable decision-making layout for selecting the best construction company to construct a highway. The assessment of the student performance revealed that most students acquired higher-order cognitive skills, and the perception survey showed that this learning method has been widely accepted for developing competencies related to both decision-making and sustainable thinking. This study could serve as an example for engineering education to promote sustainable practices through the active exploration of decision-making in real professional situations.
Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; M. Amalia Sanz; Alicia Lozano-Torró. Sustainable Decision-Making Module: Application to Public Procurement. Journal of Civil Engineering Education 2020, 146, 04020004 .
AMA StyleTatiana García-Segura, Laura Montalbán-Domingo, M. Amalia Sanz, Alicia Lozano-Torró. Sustainable Decision-Making Module: Application to Public Procurement. Journal of Civil Engineering Education. 2020; 146 (3):04020004.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; M. Amalia Sanz; Alicia Lozano-Torró. 2020. "Sustainable Decision-Making Module: Application to Public Procurement." Journal of Civil Engineering Education 146, no. 3: 04020004.
Most of the definitions of sustainability include three basic pillars: economic, environmental, and social. The economic pillar has always been evaluated but not necessarily in the sense of economic sustainability. On the other hand, the environmental pillar is increasingly being considered, while the social pillar is weakly developed. Focusing on the environmental and social pillars, the use of methodologies to allow a wide assessment of these pillars and the integration of the assessment in a few understandable indicators is crucial. This article is structured into two parts. In the first part, a review of life cycle impact assessment methods, which allow a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and social pillars, is carried out. In the second part, a complete environmental and social sustainability assessment is made using the ecoinvent database and ReCiPe method, for the environmental pillar, and SOCA database and simple Social Impact Weighting method, for the social pillar. This methodology was used to compare three optimized bridges: two box-section post-tensioned concrete road bridges with a variety of initial and maintenance characteristics, and a pre-stressed concrete precast bridge. The results show that there is a high interrelation between the environmental and social impact for each life cycle stage.
Vicent Penadés-Plà; David Martínez-Muñoz; Tatiana García-Segura; Ignacio J. Navarro; Víctor Yepes. Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Optimized Post-Tensioned Concrete Road Bridges. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4265 .
AMA StyleVicent Penadés-Plà, David Martínez-Muñoz, Tatiana García-Segura, Ignacio J. Navarro, Víctor Yepes. Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Optimized Post-Tensioned Concrete Road Bridges. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (10):4265.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVicent Penadés-Plà; David Martínez-Muñoz; Tatiana García-Segura; Ignacio J. Navarro; Víctor Yepes. 2020. "Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Optimized Post-Tensioned Concrete Road Bridges." Sustainability 12, no. 10: 4265.
The growing importance of international construction activity forces companies to find out what competitive advantages to provide and barriers to overcome to achieve success, considering the particular characteristics of their origin and destination countries. Seventy six articles regarding success in the international construction market in the period 2008–2017 are reviewed to identify the barriers and the competitive advantages that most affect the international success of contractors. The Chi-Square (χ²) statistical test is used to verify the influence of the origin and destination countries on these variables. The literature identifies the provision of trained human resources as the most important competitive advantage and cultural differences and political risks as the main barriers. The Chi-Square (χ²) test indicates a dependency relationship between the origin country and the competitive advantage “managerial ability” to achieve international success, and between the external barriers “link between countries”, “political environment” and “economic environment” with the target market. Results of this paper provide valuable information for any construction company seeking international success.
Alicia Lozano-Torró; Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Eugenio Pellicer. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES AND BARRIERS IN INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION: AN ORIGIN-HOST MARKET APPROACH. JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT 2020, 26, 475 -489.
AMA StyleAlicia Lozano-Torró, Tatiana García-Segura, Laura Montalbán-Domingo, Eugenio Pellicer. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES AND BARRIERS IN INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION: AN ORIGIN-HOST MARKET APPROACH. JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT. 2020; 26 (5):475-489.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlicia Lozano-Torró; Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Eugenio Pellicer. 2020. "COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES AND BARRIERS IN INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION: AN ORIGIN-HOST MARKET APPROACH." JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT 26, no. 5: 475-489.
The design of a structure is generally carried out according to a deterministic approach. However, all structural problems have associated initial uncertain parameters that can differ from the design value. This becomes important when the goal is to reach optimized structures, as a small variation of these initial uncertain parameters can have a big influence on the structural behavior. The objective of robust design optimization is to obtain an optimum design with the lowest possible variation of the objective functions. For this purpose, a probabilistic optimization is necessary to obtain the statistical parameters that represent the mean value and variation of the objective function considered. However, one of the disadvantages of the optimal robust design is its high computational cost. In this paper, robust design optimization is applied to design a continuous prestressed concrete box-girder pedestrian bridge that is optimum in terms of its cost and robust in terms of structural stability. Furthermore, Latin hypercube sampling and the kriging metamodel are used to deal with the high computational cost. Results show that the main variables that control the structural behavior are the depth of the cross-section and compressive strength of the concrete and that a compromise solution between the optimal cost and the robustness of the design can be reached.
Vicent Penadés-Plà; Tatiana García-Segura; Víctor Yepes. Robust Design Optimization for Low-Cost Concrete Box-Girder Bridge. Mathematics 2020, 8, 398 .
AMA StyleVicent Penadés-Plà, Tatiana García-Segura, Víctor Yepes. Robust Design Optimization for Low-Cost Concrete Box-Girder Bridge. Mathematics. 2020; 8 (3):398.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVicent Penadés-Plà; Tatiana García-Segura; Víctor Yepes. 2020. "Robust Design Optimization for Low-Cost Concrete Box-Girder Bridge." Mathematics 8, no. 3: 398.
In recent years, there is a trend toward the construction of sustainable structures. The goal of sustainability in structures involves several criteria that are normally opposed, leading to a decision-making process. In this process, there is a subjective portion that cannot be eliminated, such as qualitative criteria assessment of and assigning criteria importance. In these cases, decision-makers become part of the decision-making process, assessing it according to their preferences. In this work, a methodology to reduce the participation of decision-makers in achieving the goal of sustainability in structures is proposed. For this purpose, principal component analysis, kriging-based optimization, and the analytical hierarchy process are used. Principal component analysis is used to reduce the complexity of the problem according to the highly correlated criteria. Kriging-based optimization obtains sustainable solutions depending on all the perspectives of sustainability. Finally, the analytical hierarchy process is applied to reduce the optimized sustainable solutions according to the decision-maker’s views. This methodology is applied a continuous concrete box-girder pedestrian bridge deck to reach sustainable designs. This methodology allows a reduction of the complexity of the decision-making problem and also obtains sustainable robust solutions.
Vicent Penadés-Plà; Víctor Yepes; Tatiana García-Segura. Robust decision-making design for sustainable pedestrian concrete bridges. Engineering Structures 2019, 209, 109968 .
AMA StyleVicent Penadés-Plà, Víctor Yepes, Tatiana García-Segura. Robust decision-making design for sustainable pedestrian concrete bridges. Engineering Structures. 2019; 209 ():109968.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVicent Penadés-Plà; Víctor Yepes; Tatiana García-Segura. 2019. "Robust decision-making design for sustainable pedestrian concrete bridges." Engineering Structures 209, no. : 109968.
Lean philosophy introduces a new approach for maximizing value while minimizing waste, facilitating sustainable practices at the same time. Companies have become aware of these improvements and are demanding students well formed in Lean concepts. However, to meet this demand, universities must adapt their curricula to include courses that use alternative teaching methods to connect to real contexts. This paper seeks to analyze the benefits of lecture- and game-based learning for developing students’ understanding of Lean Construction Principles. A case study is carried out in the “Lean Construction” course of the Master of Planning and Management in Civil Engineering of the Universitat Politècnica de València. A combination of a traditional lecture and three simple games is applied. Descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney U-test, and the Wilcoxon test are performed to analyze the impact of each activity on the understanding of each Lean Construction Principle. Results highlight the importance of combining the lecture class with multiple games to effectively impart knowledge about Lean principles and their application in the construction industry. In addition, they emphasize the importance of selecting the game according to the Lean principle to be taught.
Rodrigo F. Herrera; M. Amalia Sanz; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Tatiana García-Segura; Eugenio Pellicer. Impact of Game-Based Learning on Understanding Lean Construction Principles. Sustainability 2019, 11, 5294 .
AMA StyleRodrigo F. Herrera, M. Amalia Sanz, Laura Montalbán-Domingo, Tatiana García-Segura, Eugenio Pellicer. Impact of Game-Based Learning on Understanding Lean Construction Principles. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (19):5294.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRodrigo F. Herrera; M. Amalia Sanz; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Tatiana García-Segura; Eugenio Pellicer. 2019. "Impact of Game-Based Learning on Understanding Lean Construction Principles." Sustainability 11, no. 19: 5294.
Boosting sustainability in public construction procurement implies new challenges associated with incentivizing integrated approaches and the inclusion of sustainability criteria in tendering procedures. Thus, the choice of project-delivery method and procurement procedure is a key decision to ensure project success for sustainable outcomes. This study focused on the social dimension of sustainability and analyzed 451 tendering documents from 10 countries to assess the influence of procurement procedures and delivery methods on the inclusion of social criteria in public construction procurement. Content analysis, descriptive statistics, and logistic regression were applied. The results show the international trends in delivery methods and procurement procedures. Country and contract size were found to be the most influential variables for the inclusion of social criteria in tendering procedures. There were no significant differences between project-delivery methods and between procurement procedures with respect to the inclusion of social criteria. However, criteria associated with employment and cultural heritage were mainly considered in traditional delivery methods, whereas professional ethics and cultural heritage were associated with the lowest price procurement procedures. Finally, subjective methods were predominantly used to assess social sustainability.
Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Tatiana García-Segura; M. Amalia Sanz; Eugenio Pellicer. Social Sustainability in Delivery and Procurement of Public Construction Contracts. Journal of Management in Engineering 2019, 35, 04018065 .
AMA StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo, Tatiana García-Segura, M. Amalia Sanz, Eugenio Pellicer. Social Sustainability in Delivery and Procurement of Public Construction Contracts. Journal of Management in Engineering. 2019; 35 (2):04018065.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo; Tatiana García-Segura; M. Amalia Sanz; Eugenio Pellicer. 2019. "Social Sustainability in Delivery and Procurement of Public Construction Contracts." Journal of Management in Engineering 35, no. 2: 04018065.
During the period between 2008–2013, the internal market in Spain was characterized by economic crisis, the contraction of the demand experienced in a turbulent business environment, and strong competition among companies. This situation forced many of these companies to work abroad. One of the success factors for Spanish engineering companies abroad has been effective risk management, which avoids compromising the company’s objectives, market share, or survival. This article examines the importance of risk management in the success of Spanish engineering consulting firms in the international construction market. Ten executives of Spanish engineering companies with international experience were interviewed, analyzing the importance of risk management for them in the success of internationalization compared with other success factors. The results show that the size of the companies interviewed has no influence on the importance that they gave to risk management, but international experience does relate to the assessment of risk identification and management as a success factor. In addition, companies considered risk management a key factor for optimizing their performance in foreign markets.
Alicia Lozano-Torró; Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Eugenio Pellicer. Risk Management as a Success Factor in the International Activity of Spanish Engineering. Administrative Sciences 2019, 9, 15 .
AMA StyleAlicia Lozano-Torró, Tatiana García-Segura, Laura Montalbán-Domingo, Eugenio Pellicer. Risk Management as a Success Factor in the International Activity of Spanish Engineering. Administrative Sciences. 2019; 9 (1):15.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlicia Lozano-Torró; Tatiana García-Segura; Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Eugenio Pellicer. 2019. "Risk Management as a Success Factor in the International Activity of Spanish Engineering." Administrative Sciences 9, no. 1: 15.
Structural optimization is normally carried out by means of conventional heuristic optimization due to the complexity of the structural problems. However, the conventional heuristic optimization still consumes a large amount of time. The use of metamodels helps to reduce the computational cost of the optimization and, along these lines, kriging-based heuristic optimization is presented as an alternative to carry out an accelerated optimization of complex problems. In this work, conventional heuristic optimization and kriging-based heuristic optimization will be applied to reach the optimal solution of a continuous box-girder pedestrian bridge of three spans with a low embodied energy. For this purpose, different penalizations and different initial sample sizes will be studied and compared. This work shows that kriging-based heuristic optimization provides results close to those of conventional heuristic optimization using less time. For the sample size of 50, the best solution differs about 2.54% compared to the conventional heuristic optimization, and reduces the computational cost by 99.06%. Therefore, the use of a kriging model in structural design problems offers a new means of solving certain structural problems that require a very high computational cost and reduces the difficulty of other problems.
Vicent Penadés-Plà; Tatiana García-Segura; Víctor Yepes. Accelerated optimization method for low-embodied energy concrete box-girder bridge design. Engineering Structures 2018, 179, 556 -565.
AMA StyleVicent Penadés-Plà, Tatiana García-Segura, Víctor Yepes. Accelerated optimization method for low-embodied energy concrete box-girder bridge design. Engineering Structures. 2018; 179 ():556-565.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVicent Penadés-Plà; Tatiana García-Segura; Víctor Yepes. 2018. "Accelerated optimization method for low-embodied energy concrete box-girder bridge design." Engineering Structures 179, no. : 556-565.
Today, bridge design seeks not only to minimize cost, but also to minimize adverse environmental and social impacts. This multi-criteria decision-making problem is subject to variability of the opinions of stakeholders regarding the importance of criteria for sustainability. As a result, this paper proposes a method for designing and selecting optimally sustainable bridges under the uncertainty of criteria comparison. A Pareto set of solutions is obtained using a metamodel-assisted multi-objective optimization. A new decision-making technique introduces the uncertainty of the decision-maker's preference through triangular distributions and thereby ranks the sustainable bridge designs. The method is illustrated by a case study of a three-span post-tensioned concrete box-girder bridge designed according to the embodied energy, overall safety and corrosion initiation time. In this particular case, 211 efficient solutions are reduced to two preferred solutions which have a probability of being selected of 81.6% and 18.4%. In addition, a sensitivity analysis validates the influence of the uncertainty regarding the decision-making. The approach proposed allows actors involved in the bridge design and decision-making to determine the best sustainable design by finding the probability of a given design being chosen.
Tatiana García-Segura; Vicent Penadés-Plà; Víctor Yepes. Sustainable bridge design by metamodel-assisted multi-objective optimization and decision-making under uncertainty. Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 202, 904 -915.
AMA StyleTatiana García-Segura, Vicent Penadés-Plà, Víctor Yepes. Sustainable bridge design by metamodel-assisted multi-objective optimization and decision-making under uncertainty. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2018; 202 ():904-915.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTatiana García-Segura; Vicent Penadés-Plà; Víctor Yepes. 2018. "Sustainable bridge design by metamodel-assisted multi-objective optimization and decision-making under uncertainty." Journal of Cleaner Production 202, no. : 904-915.
Scientific literature highlights the need to engage social sustainability more effectively in the construction industry through public procurement. Previous contributions have been focused on establishing strategies and defining guides to encourage and facilitate the inclusion of social criteria in public procurement. However, to reach effective results, the characterization of the current scenario needs to be clarified. With this aim, this research analyzes 451 tendering documents from 10 countries in terms of social sustainability. Three research questions are stated to characterize what the current main social criteria are, how these are defined, and what the differences and similarities are with respect to the inclusion of social criteria in tendering procedures at the international level. To analyze tendering documents, a quantitative content analysis that combines inductive and deductive approaches is developed. Descriptive statistics and statistical analysis based on correspondence analysis and the chi-square contingency table analysis are performed. The results show a lack of metrics to assess social sustainability objectively, the predominance of health and safety as the main social criteria that are included in public procurement, and the importance of the contract size in the number of social categories considered in procurement procedures. However, the main result of this research is focused on showing the important role that the variable “country” plays when the behavior regarding the inclusion of social sustainability is compared at the international level since significant differences are found between Anglo-Saxon and Spanish-speaking countries. Policies should be implemented to promote the use of social criteria and metrics in the award of projects and in the evaluation and monitoring of social performance in the construction industry.
Laura Montalbán-Domingo; Tatiana García-Segura; M. Amalia Sanz; Eugenio Pellicer. Social sustainability criteria in public-work procurement: An international perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 198, 1355 -1371.
AMA StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo, Tatiana García-Segura, M. Amalia Sanz, Eugenio Pellicer. Social sustainability criteria in public-work procurement: An international perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2018; 198 ():1355-1371.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLaura Montalbán-Domingo; Tatiana García-Segura; M. Amalia Sanz; Eugenio Pellicer. 2018. "Social sustainability criteria in public-work procurement: An international perspective." Journal of Cleaner Production 198, no. : 1355-1371.
The construction sector is one of the most active sectors, with a high economic, environmental and social impact. For this reason, the sustainable design of structures and buildings is a trend that must be followed. Bridges are one of the most important structures in the construction sector, as their construction and maintenance are crucial to achieve and retain the best transport between different places. Nowadays, the choice of bridge design depends on the initial economic criterion but other criteria should be considered to assess the environmental and social aspects. Furthermore, for a correct choice, the influence of these criteria during the bridge life-cycle must be taken into account. This study aims to analyse the life-cycle environmental impact of efficient structures from the economic point of view. Life-cycle assessment process is used to obtain all the environmental information about bridges. In this paper, a prestressed concrete precast bridge is cost-optimized and afterwards, the life-cycle assessment is carried out to achieve the environmental information about the bridge.
Vicent Penadés-Plà; Tatiana García-Segura; José V. Martí; Víctor Yepes. An Optimization-LCA of a Prestressed Concrete Precast Bridge. Sustainability 2018, 10, 685 .
AMA StyleVicent Penadés-Plà, Tatiana García-Segura, José V. Martí, Víctor Yepes. An Optimization-LCA of a Prestressed Concrete Precast Bridge. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (3):685.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVicent Penadés-Plà; Tatiana García-Segura; José V. Martí; Víctor Yepes. 2018. "An Optimization-LCA of a Prestressed Concrete Precast Bridge." Sustainability 10, no. 3: 685.
The goal of sustainability involves a consensus among economic, environmental and social factors. Due to climate change, environmental concerns have increased in society. The construction sector is among the most active high environmental impact sectors. This paper proposes new features to consider a more detailed life-cycle assessment (LCA) of reinforced or pre-stressed concrete structures. Besides, this study carries out a comparison between two optimal post-tensioned concrete box-girder road bridges with different maintenance scenarios. ReCiPe method is used to carry out the life-cycle assessment. The midpoint approach shows a complete environmental profile with 18 impact categories. In practice, all the impact categories make their highest contribution in the manufacturing and use and maintenance stages. Afterwards, these two stages are analyzed to identify the process which makes the greatest contribution. In addition, the contribution of CO2 fixation is taken into account, reducing the environmental impact in the use and maintenance and end of life stages. The endpoint approach shows more interpretable results, enabling an easier comparison between different stages and solutions. The results show the importance of considering the whole life-cycle, since a better design reduces the global environmental impact despite a higher environmental impact in the manufacturing stage.
Vicent Penadés-Plà; José V. Martí; Tatiana García-Segura; Víctor Yepes. Life-Cycle Assessment: A Comparison between Two Optimal Post-Tensioned Concrete Box-Girder Road Bridges. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1864 .
AMA StyleVicent Penadés-Plà, José V. Martí, Tatiana García-Segura, Víctor Yepes. Life-Cycle Assessment: A Comparison between Two Optimal Post-Tensioned Concrete Box-Girder Road Bridges. Sustainability. 2017; 9 (10):1864.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVicent Penadés-Plà; José V. Martí; Tatiana García-Segura; Víctor Yepes. 2017. "Life-Cycle Assessment: A Comparison between Two Optimal Post-Tensioned Concrete Box-Girder Road Bridges." Sustainability 9, no. 10: 1864.
Victor Yepes; José Vicente Martí; Tatiana García-Segura; Fernando González-Vidosa. Heuristics in optimal detailed design of precast road bridges. Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 2017, 17, 738 -749.
AMA StyleVictor Yepes, José Vicente Martí, Tatiana García-Segura, Fernando González-Vidosa. Heuristics in optimal detailed design of precast road bridges. Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering. 2017; 17 (4):738-749.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVictor Yepes; José Vicente Martí; Tatiana García-Segura; Fernando González-Vidosa. 2017. "Heuristics in optimal detailed design of precast road bridges." Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 17, no. 4: 738-749.