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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Song Xue

  • MEng (Chongqing University, 2016)

Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Applied Science

Topic

Sustainability of Geosynthetics: Embodied Carbon Analysis and Application in Unpaved Road Design

Department of Civil Engineering

Date & location

  • Thursday, August 28, 2025

  • 2:00 P.M.

  • Engineering Office Wing

  • Room 230

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. Cheng Lin, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria (Co-Supervisor)

  • Dr. Sanat Pokharel, Department of Civil Engineering, UVic (Co-Supervisor) 

External Examiner

  • Dr. Chinchu Cherian, School of Engineering, University of Northern British Columbia 

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Emile Fromet de Rosnay, School of Languages Linguistics and Cultures, UVic

     

Abstract

Geosynthetics are widely adopted in construction projects due to their potential to reduce material usage and environmental impacts. While many studies support the lower carbon emissions associated with geosynthetic applications, precise embodied carbon (EC) values for geosynthetic products remain limited. Additionally, the substitution of actual EC values with proxy data in project-level carbon footprint assessments undermines the credibility of sustainability claims. This thesis reviews existing methods for calculating the EC of geosynthetic products, using a typical geogrid as an example based on third-party verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) data. It further compiles EC values for various geosynthetics from 120 EPDs and proposes representative regional values. To assess the impact of EC data quality, carbon footprints of 13 previously studied geosynthetic-reinforced projects are recalculated using the highest reported EC values from EPDs, revealing potential inaccuracies in current databases and references.

Building upon this product-level analysis, a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted for two representative unpaved road cross-sections, one conventional and one geogrid-reinforced, designed using the Giroud-Han method. The cradle-to-end-of-construction LCA is performed using openLCA, the ecoinvent v3.10 database, and the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method. The geogrid input is modeled with EPD-based data to enhance credibility. Results show that the geogrid-reinforced road has lower environmental burdens across most impact categories. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses reveal that transport distance of gravel significantly influences key indicators such as global warming potential (GWP), fossil resource scarcity (FFP), and human toxicity (HTPnc). With shorter transport distances, geogrid benefits are limited, but they become more pronounced as distances increase.

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