Pavement LCA Revision History

The current release of the Athena Pavement LCA desktop application is version 2.3.0101 was released in January 2018

This page contains last-minute product information and will be updated to reflect the most up–to–date state of the known issues with Athena Pavement LCA

For the list of known issues, click here.

What’s New: Changes between versions 2.2 and 2.3

Version 2.3 includes the following enhancements and updates:

1. Updates to the TRACI measure characterization factors for Global Warming Potential and Acidification Potential.
2. Updates to the Material data for Ready Mix Concrete Process as well as crushed and natural, coarse and fine aggregates.
3. Updates to the Equipment data.
4. Updates to the Pavement Vehicle Interaction (PVI) module.

Changes & Issues Addressed in Version 2.3 Build 0101:

The following software enhancements, updates and fixes have been made in Version 2.3, Build 0101, released in January 2018:

General Changes

1. TRACI Measures: Updated TRACI measure characterization factors for Global Warming Potential and Acidification Potential. Methane and N20 factors for GWP and Ammonia and Sulphur Oxides factors for Acidification Potential were aligned with the current values used in LCA software. The EPA has not updated those TRACI factors, our software had been using values updated to more recent IPCC values, but our SimaPro LCA software is using the previous values, so we’ve reverted them back to be in line with those values.

   Even if material LCI data hasn’t changed, the GWP and Acidification results will change solely due to the changes in the characterization factors, and will depend on the material. For example, Portland Cement results are barely changed, decreasing 0.2% for both GPW and Acidification. Bitumen GWP results decrease by 3%, while Acidification results increase by 75%.

2. Material Updates: The only major material updates were for crushed and natural, coarse, fine and lightweight aggregates. There is no industry wide LCA reports available, but these LCI data were updated to use the same Ecoinvent profiles that have been used in recent years for the NRMCA and CRMCA ready mix concrete industry wide LCAs. Aggregates have relatively low effects on a per unit basis compared to other materials, but compared to the previous profiles, GWP and Energy results have increased by approximately 90-100%, with similar increases in the other LCA measures.
3. Material Updates: In addition to the new North American (in scope) aggregate updates, the aggregate profiles were regionalized for electricity use and local transportation distances to permit users to enter their own material manufacturing transportation distances for their projects.
4. Equipment Table: The biggest change to the equipment table is to correct an error in the fuel use of the Milling Machine, it is now 160 times less per tonne than before. This equipment is chosen by default in any milling activity, and as an example, all of the sample projects include milling operations and the results of the construction and maintenance & rehabilitation phases of each of those projects will decrease compared to previous results.

   A bug was reported for Cold In-Place Asphalt Recycler where the fuel use was being calculated incorrectly when changes were made to the production rate or load factor. It turns our that this error also affected Back Topper, Milling Machine, Compressors and Pavement Router, the bug has been corrected and the fuel use values have been updated.

   There was also an error in any equipment that uses Secondary Fuel (Asphalt Remixer, Heating Machine and Black Topper). The secondary fuel use was being calculated in litres per hour instead of litres per whatever the appropriate unit is. These have been corrected.

5. Pavement Vehicle Interaction: The PVI module has been updated. The IRI model has not changed, but there was an error in how it was calculated in the tool and that bug has been corrected. The Deflection model has been updated and the tool is now using this new model.
6. Ready Mix Concrete Process: The energy profile for Ready Mix Concrete was updated to the profile developed in the Industry Wide NRMCA Ready Mix LCA of 2016.

So what do all these changes mean to your results?

If you run the same roadways in v3.0.01 and compare to your previous results, those results will almost certainly decrease. We compared the results of two of the sample projects, Ontario Municipal Major Arterial - 10,000 AADTT, both HMA and PCC from one version to the other. Overall, the embodied total results for the HMA road, the GWP decreased by 42% and Energy Use by 20%, and for the for the PCC road the GWP decreased by 33% and the energy use by 43%.

We tried to break this down a little using a PC concrete as an example. The changes in the aggregate background data, new TRACI factors and the ready mix process change account for about a 5% increase in GWP and Energy use and about 10% for Acidification potential. Of that, 4% of the increase is due to the new aggregate data and the remaining 1% is due to the new TRACI factors and ready mix process for GWP and energy use, and for Acidification it is similar except the TRACI factors were responsible for about 4% of the 10% increase.

Overall though, these increases were hidden by drastic decreases in the construction and maintenance results due to the change in the equipment fuel use. Two factors relating to the use of the Milling Machine account for the vast majority of this decrease. One, the milling machine fuel consumption data was corrected and decreased by a factor of 160 times. Two, the milling machine is used in the construction phase to mill rumble strips, a bug in the code was assuming that the entire roadway was being milled, not just the rumble strips. This resulted in about an 85% decrease in the construction phase results. In the maintenance phase there is a decrease 30% GWP and 10% energy use for the HMA road, and 50% GWP and 20% energy use for the PCC road. Of these, the vast majority of the change can be attributed to the incorrect fuel usage value for the milling machine.

 

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Summary of Changes between versions 2.1 and 2.2

Version 2.2 includes the following enhancements and updates:

1. Updates to the Canadian manufacturing data for Portland Cement and Portland Lime Cement.
2. Updates to the Quebec and Ontario Sample Projects and the corresponding Scenario library entries.
3. Updates to the rigid pavement steel calculator. It is now available from the Roadway design form.
4. Updates to the Maintenance & Rehabilitation effects calculations
5. The width value entered for Roundings and Sub-Base roadway design elements is now for the width at the top of the element. Previously the width was defined for the bottom of the element which could result in negative area and volume values could be calculated.

Detailed Changes & Issues Addressed

The following software enhancements, updates and fixes have been made in Version 2.2 Build 0101 released in May 2016:

General Changes

1. Roadway Design - Rigid Pavement - Steel Calculator: a new Excel based tool for calculating the mass of steel used in a roadway has been linked to the Roadway form.
2. Roadway Design - Roundings & Sub-Base Granular Layers - Width: The width value entered for Roundings and Sub-Base roadway design elements is now for the width at the top of the element. Previously the width was defined for the bottom of the element which could result in negative area and volume values could be calculated.
3. Sample Projects & Roadway Library: Updated all Ontario and Quebec Sample Projects. Repopulated the database Roadway Library that is used in the "Scenarios" dropdown box in the Roadway Form.
4. Construction Equipment Record - Primary Fuel Consumption: When editing a Construction Equipment record for Imperial units, the wrong Primary Fuel Consumption value was being calculated. This bug affects both Project level Construction Equipment and the Construction Equipment Library.
5. Secondary Transportation Effects are being overestimated. There was a bug in the algorithms that calculate the transportation related secondary (pre-combustion) effects.
6. Construction Equipment Transportation Effects - Hauled Equipment: Energy consumed to float hauled pieces of roadway construction equipment is now calculated only if roadway assemblies are present in a project. This affected both Construction and Maintenance & Rehabilitation life cycle stages.
7. Construction Equipment Transportation Effects - Self Propelled Equipment: Energy consumed to drive self-propelled pieces of roadway construction equipment that do not transport material was being under estimated. This affected both Construction and Maintenance & Rehabilitation life cycle stages.
8. Material & Construction Equipment Transportation Effects: Energy consumed to haul material and self-propelled pieces of roadway construction equipment was using the wrong distance factor. This affected both Construction and Maintenance & Rehabilitation life cycle stages.
9. Material Transportation to Site: Dump truck is now the default piece of equipment used to transport material to site if the material is not linked to a specific piece of equipment that can haul material. This affects both Construction and Maintenance & Rehabilitation life cycle stages.
10. Rehabilitation - Construction Equipment Operating Energy - Material: The energy consumed by operating construction equipment during rehabilitation activities where material was added or removed was being over estimated.
11. Rehabilitation - Construction Equipment Operating Energy - No Material: The energy consumed by operating construction equipment where material was neither added nor removed was being under estimated.
12. Rehabilitation - Construction Equipment Operating Energy - Precombustion Effects: The precombustion effects for the energy consumed by operating construction equipment during rehabilitation activities was being over estimated.
13. Rehabilitation - Removed Material Transportation Effects: The energy consumed by transporting removed material from the construction site was being underestimated.
14. HMA Plant Process - Manufacturing Effects: The energy per unit mass of HMA product being consumed by the modelled HMA Plant was updated.
15. WMA Plant Process - Manufacturing Effects: The energy per unit mass of WMA product being consumed by the modelled WMA Plant was updated.
16. Roadway Assembly - Manufacturing Transportation Effects: The energy consumed to transport material for roadway assemblies was being over estimated.
17. User Defined Composite Products - Pavements: User defined products corresponding to Pavement materials were not being properly categorized as Rigid Pavement or Flexible Pavement. This caused wrong supporting materials and quantities to be in the BOM for user defined pavement products.
18. Summary Measure Reports - Total Primary Energy: The TPE results in Summary Measure reports were being over estimated.
19. Pavement Vehicle Interaction - IRI : Changed the IRI Imperial base unit to "ft/mi" from "in/mi". For SI, the base unit remains unchanged at "m/km"

Database Updates

20. Portland Cement : Updated the Canadian data for Portland Cement
21. Portland Lime Cement : Updated the Canadian data for Portland Lime Cement

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The following software enhancements, updates and fixes were made in Version 2.1 Build 0102, released in July 2015:

Detailed Changes & Issues Addressed

The following software enhancements, updates and fixes have been made in Version 2.1 Build 0102 released in July 2015 (hot fix):

General Changes

1. Product Library - Update Synchronization: When the product library is saved, all assemblies being modified should be closed for projects that are affected by any product library record updates so that the product library record updates can be applied to the project and assemblies. This behaviour was not happening properly.
2. Product Library Record - Component Contribution Type: When the Component Library Record Component Contribution Type is changed, the component level unit contribution values can change, thereby changing the Product calculated density. The form was not being updated to reflect these changes.

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The following software enhancements, updates and fixes were made in Version 2.1 Build 0101, released in July 2015:

General Changes

1. New Name, Same Great Application: In effort to more strongly brand the desktop application and the upcoming web application, the name has been changed from to “Pavement LCA” from the “Impact Estimator for Highways”.
2. New Online Tutorials: Created a new Pavement LCA Webinars & Tutorials web page.
3. PVI Effects Disaggregation: In previous versions, the Use Phase Excess Fuel Consumption due to PVI was all lumped into a single bucket. The effects due to Roughness (IRI) and Deflection are now reported separately under the “Use Phase: Excess Fuel Consumption due to PVI” banner.
4. Project File Size Reduction: the average project file size has been reduced from around 3 MB to 700 kB.
5. User Defined Slab Length: Users can now set the rigid pavement slab length with values between 0.91m (3 feet) and 30.48m (100 feet). The old value of 4.5m (14.76 feet) is now the default value.
6. Rigid Pavement Steel Calculator: An Excel file for calculating the Mass of Steel Reinforcement has been included with the application to simplify the calculation of the steel reinforcement mass that is an optional input on the Roadway Assembly form.
7. Resource Use Report: Updated the "Resource Use" report sort order to be alphabetical
8. Primer Coat: A material quantity calculation error was corrected for the Primer Coat material.
9. Tack Coat: A material quantity calculation error was corrected for the Tack Coat material.
10. Rehabilitation Schedule Activity Record: Corrected some display and calculation errors for the "Quantity" and "Width" calculated fields. Added "Skip All" and "Skip None" buttons to make it easier to enter the M&R information.
11. Product Library - Update Synchronization: Improved the effectiveness of inheriting Product Library changes into active projects, their assemblies and any open reports.

US Regions

12. Added new US regions for US Average, California and Illinois.
13. Added 2 new sample projects and corresponding Roadway Assembly Library records for California Roadway Designs.
14. Added 2 new sample projects and corresponding Roadway Assembly Library records for Illinois Roadway Designs.
15. Added 4 new sample projects and corresponding Roadway Assembly Library records for US Average Roadway Designs.
16. Added NRMCA 3000 psi and 4000 psi benchmark Concrete Mix Designs were added to the database Product Library.

Database Updates

17. Portland Cement : Updated the US data for Portland Cement
18. Slag Cement : Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag was been renamed as Slag Cement, the US data was updated. Slag Cement replaces all other Slag SCMs in User Defined Composite Product Library records (when the application launches) and in legacy projects (when loaded into the application). The list of retired Slag SCMs include the following:
    • Air-Cooled Blast-Furnace Slag - Crushed
    • Air-Cooled Blast-Furnace Slag - Not Crushed
    • Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag
    • Granulated Nickel Slag
    • Granulated Steel Slag
19. Asphalt Patching : Added Asphalt Patching as a new Activity Type. Previously, in order to model Asphalt Patching, HMA Full or Partial Depth Reclamation had to be used with most Activities skipped
20. New Plant Process : Ready Mix Concrete Plant Process : A new Ready Mix Concrete Plant Process record was added. Users now have the option of adding this record to their user defined concrete mix designs in their user defined Product Library. By default, if no process record is added to user defined Product, surrogate values that approximate manufacturing energy are used for HMA, WMA and Concrete Pavement material types.
21. New Material: NRMCA 3000 psi benchmark Concrete Mix Design: Added the "Concrete Benchmark 4000 psi" Concrete Mix Design to the database Product Library.
22. New Material: NRMCA 4000 psi benchmark Concrete Mix Design: Added the "Concrete Benchmark 4000 psi" Concrete Mix Design to the database Product Library.
23. New Material: Concrete Optimized for US Flyash : Added the "Concrete Optimized for US Flyash" Concrete Mix Design to the database Product Library.
24. New Material: HMA PG-64-22 : Added the "HMA PG-64-22" HMA Mix Design to the database Product Library.
25. New Material: HMA PG-70-62 : Added the "HMA PG-70-62" HMA Mix Design to the database Product Library.

 

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