Life-Cycle Assessment of Airfield Pavements and Other Airside Features:  Framework, Guidelines, and Case Studies

The guidelines for the conduct of life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies for airfields include recommendations for all phases of LCA, including goal and scope definition, life-cycle inventory development, impact assessment, interpretation and critical review, and reporting.  Four example case studies are presented that were prepared with participation and data from recently completed projects from four U.S. airports, although the scope is limited to airside civil infrastructure.  The case studies are intended to demonstrate the framework and to provide examples as to how the airfield LCA guidelines can be used to quantify the environmental impacts of different kinds of decisions made by airports.  The guidelines are expected to be updated as experience is gained with LCA studies for airfields.