Abstract
Purpose
Urban water cycle construction processes are an important element to consider when assessing the sustainability of urban areas. The present study focuses on a structural and environmental analysis of cylindrical water tanks. The goal is to optimise cylindrical water tanks from both an environmental (environmental impacts due of life cycle assessment (LCA)) and a geometric perspective (building material quantities for construction purposes depending on the tank characteristics).
Methods
A sample of 147 cases was defined based on different positions (buried, superficial and partially buried), dimensions (combinations of heights and radii) and storage capacities (between 100 and 10,000 m3). A structural analysis was conducted for a defined set of cases to determine the quantities of steel and concrete required for its construction. The environmental impacts of the entire life cycle were assessed through a life cycle assessment (LCA). Additionally, environmental standards (the less impactful option for each dimension assessed: geometry, storage capacity and position) defined in the study were applied to realistic cases to evaluate potential environmental savings.
Results and discussion
The LCA shows that materials are the main contributor to environmental impacts (more than transport, installation and end of life cycle stages). For this reason, the results of the structural and environmental assessments coincide. Taller water tanks have shown to be less impactful (60 to 70 % less impact for a 10.000-m3 tank). Regarding the position, superficial water tanks have shown to have between 15 and 35 % less impact than buried ones. The environmentally preferred water storage capacity is between 1000 and 2500 m3, being between 20 and 40 % less impact. For instance, an 8000-m3 tank would emit 1040 t of CO2 eq. Applying the environmental standards 170.5 t of CO2 eq could be saved (16 % of the total amount).
Conclusions
The results of this study show that among the cases analysed, superficially positioned cylindrical water tanks of 8.5 m in height and of between 1000 and 2500 m3 in storage capacity present fewer impacts. The use of these standards in municipal water tanks construction projects may significantly reduce environmental impacts (10 to 40 %) in all impact categories.
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Abbreviations
- ADP:
-
Abiotic depletion potential
- AP:
-
Acidification potential
- fctm:
-
Average tensile strength of the concrete
- B:
-
Buried
- CEDEX:
-
Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas
- fck:
-
Compressive strength
- CED:
-
Cumulative energy demand
- C:
-
Cylindrical
- DWTDN:
-
Drinking water transport and distribution network
- Es:
-
Elastic modulus
- EP:
-
Eutrophication potential
- D:
-
Flexural rigidity
- GWP:
-
Global warming potential
- a:
-
Height
- ISO:
-
International Standard Association
- LCA:
-
Life cycle assessment
- w max :
-
Maximum crack width
- AS geom min :
-
Minimum geometric reinforcement amount
- AS mec min :
-
Minimum mechanical reinforcement amount
- E:
-
Modulus of elasticity
- ODP:
-
Ozone layer depletion
- PB:
-
Partially buried
- POCPPOCP:
-
Photochemical oxidation potential
- R:
-
Radius
- SLS:
-
Serviceability limit state
- Hs:
-
Soil height
- r nom :
-
Steel covering
- S:
-
Superficial
- ULS:
-
Ultimate limit state
- UNESCO:
-
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- UWC:
-
Urban water cycle
- EPA:
-
US Environmental Protection Agency’s
- Hw:
-
Water height
- fyk:
-
Yield strength
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Government of Catalonia for awarding a research scholarship (FI-DGR 2014) to David Sanjuan Delmás and for its economic support of the research team (2014 SGR 1412).
The authors are also grateful for support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science through the BIA project (2010-20789-C04-01).
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Sanjuan-Delmás, D., Hernando-Canovas, E., Pujadas, P. et al. Environmental and geometric optimisation of cylindrical drinking water storage tanks. Int J Life Cycle Assess 20, 1612–1624 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-0963-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-0963-y