Carbon Footprint Analysis of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Incorporated Pedestrian Bridges: A Case Study

摘要

This paper presents a case study on the carbon footprint of a fibre reinforced polymer (FRP)-incorporated pedestrian bridge in comparison with a conventional prestressed concrete (PC) one. The CO_2 emission is used as an index and calculated for both the material manufacturing and the construction processes. It is shown that using an FRP-incorporated pedestrian bridge to replace a conventional prestressed concrete (PC) bridge may reduce the CO_2 emission by 18% and 70%, respectively, during the material manufacturing and construction periods, leading to a total reduction by about 26%. Such reduction is expected to be more significant if the life-cycle CO_2 emission is accounted for, since the former type of bridge is free of corrosion and almost maintenance-free. Therefore, FRP-incorporated bridges may become a more competitive alternative to conventional reinforced concrete (RC) or PC ones with the increasing attention paid on the sustainability and environmental friendliness of construction industry by our society.