Assessing the Trade-Off Between Sustainability and Resiliency of Reinforced Concrete in Corrosive Conditions: An LCA-System Dynamics Approach

Concrete has been categorized as a key contributor of carbon emissions. This is mostly associated with the production of the ordinary portland cement. In response to this, the concrete and cement industries are pursuing a path to reduce their carbon emissions, generally in accordance with the climate change goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. These efforts have resulted in the development of multiple low-carbon concrete systems aimed to reduce the environmental impact of cement and concrete. However, these newlow-carbon concrete systemsmay not always result in a more resilient structure, i.e., a more durable and longer-lasting structure. In fact, some research indicates that the service life of structures containing lower carbon producing alternative cementitious materialsmay be reduced based on their performance in corrosive conditions. However, reduced service life does not necessarily mean there are no carbon emission benefits from the new material. An objective assessment of the trade-off between improved sustainability (i.e., reduced carbon footprint) and reduced resilience (i.e., reduced service life) is needed. This paper presents a life-cycle assessment-system dynamics approach to evaluate the trade-off between more sustainable reinforced concrete solutions and the reduced resiliency of these systems over time. The objective of this paper is to assess the effect of improved sustainability and the potential reductions in service life as a result of corrosion deterioration for low-carbon concrete alternatives. This paper also aims to provide information to better understand how short-term sustainability decisions can influence the longer-term sustainability goals when designing and constructing with reinforced concrete.