On August 25th and 26th 2022, members of the CERCOM consortium attended and presented at the CERI/ITRN 2022 conference in Dublin; a joint conference of the Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland (CERAI) and the Irish Transportation Research Network (ITRN). Leading academics and practitioners working in the area of civil engineering and transport research to present state of the art research and share ideas. The conference was held between in Technological University Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. Members of RDS, Prof. Eugene OBrien, Prof. Alan O’Connor, Mr. Lorcan Connolly and Dr. Emma Sheils attended the conference on behalf of the CERCOM consortium and Dr. Sheils presented the paper entitled “CERCOM – Adoption of the Circular Economy in Road Construction”. The presentation outlined the objectives of CERCOM and the development of the Risk Based Analysis Framework.
Within the conference, research streams included Transport, Energy, Structures, Environment and Sustainable Cities and Climate Action. The collaborative environment was evident, particularly in the area of sustainability and climate change, as these topics spanned across sessions of all disciplines.
The keynote paper on bridges entitled “The pursuit of total design of bridges in the era of climate change” presented by Mr. Marcos Sanchez provided a valuable insight into the challenges faced by bridge engineers in the current climate. He outlined the responsibility of engineers and suggested potential actions that can be taken to impact CO2 reductions and practice sustainable design.
Another keynote presentation of particular interest was “Alkali-activated cements and concretes – where have we come from, and where might we be going?” by Prof. John L. Provis, who discussed the possible role of Alkali-activated cements in reducing CO2 emissions associated with concrete construction. He outlined future directions for research and development in the area of cement and concrete design.
In the Transport stream, Michael O’Shea presented a paper “Recycling of Plastic Waste in Road Construction”. The paper outlined the ongoing research in Technological University of the Shannon into replacing a small percentage of binder with plastic waste, thereby removing a portion of plastic waste from landfill and reducing CO2 associated with the production of asphalt binder.
Within the Environment Stream, Angela Nagle presented a paper on “Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of a Pedestrian Bridge Made from Repurposed Wind Turbine Blades” outlining the life cycle assessment of using decommissioned wind turbine blades as structural members in a pedestrian bridge construction. Decommissioned blades are typically sent to landfill or incinerated after a 20 year design life. This sustainable and innovative approach to bridge design had the effect of reducing CO2 emissions by 17% in comparison with a traditional pedestrian steel bridge.
Throughout the conference, members of RDS engaged with other leading experts in the field to exchange ideas and innovative approaches towards more circular economy and sustainable practices within the civil engineering and transport sectors. It was clear from discussions with other delegates that collaboration between designers, contractors, funding bodies, procurement personnel and other stakeholders is essential to advance towards more sustainable design and construction practices.
A highlight of the conference was the presentation of awards, where Prof. Eugene OBrien, Director of RDS, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his ongoing outstanding contribution to Bridge and Civil Engineering.
