IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i4p1544-d1337666.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intervention Works Conducted to Ensure the Stability of a Slope: A Sustainability Study

Author

Listed:
  • Mircea Raul Tudorica

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Constructions, Cadaster and Architecture, University of Oradea, 410058 Oradea, Romania
    Doctoral School of Engineering Sciences, “Polytechnic” University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania)

  • Corneliu Ioan Bob

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Installations, Faculty of Civil Engineering, “Polytechnic” University of Timisoara, 300233 Timisoara, Romania)

Abstract

Challenges related to sustainability arise in all areas of human activity, but with a significant impact on the environment considering that the construction industry is held accountable for nearly one-third of the world’s final energy consumption. The aim of this paper is to assess through the use of the Bob–Dencsak specific model a sustainable slope design taking into account environmental, economic, and safety variables. Thus, analysis was performed on four intervention works, two versions of reinforced concrete retaining walls and two versions of reinforced soil with a biaxial geogrid, which ensure the stability of a slope that serves as a base for an access road to an ecological landfill located in Alba County, Romania. The study’s analysis points out that reinforced soil retaining walls are far more sustainable, providing the best sustainability indices, which is also supported by the impact of geogrids compared to reinforced concrete, thus resulting in the finding that reinforced concrete is less sustainable, achieving increases of up to 23% for embodied energy and 66% of CO 2 emissions in the atmosphere. Finally, the paper provides recommendations for future research on the sustainability assessment of slopes, with the intention of reducing environmental damage, while keeping costs to a minimum.

Suggested Citation

  • Mircea Raul Tudorica & Corneliu Ioan Bob, 2024. "Intervention Works Conducted to Ensure the Stability of a Slope: A Sustainability Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-15, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:1544-:d:1337666
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/4/1544/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/4/1544/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diaz-Balteiro, Luis & Romero, Carlos, 2004. "In search of a natural systems sustainability index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 401-405, July.
    2. Yifan Shen & Qi Li & Xiangjun Pei & Renjie Wei & Bingmei Yang & Ningfei Lei & Xiaochao Zhang & Daqiu Yin & Shijun Wang & Qizhong Tao, 2023. "Ecological Restoration of Engineering Slopes in China—A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martín-García, Jaime & Gómez-Limón, José A. & Arriaza, Manuel, 2024. "Conversion to organic farming: Does it change the economic and environmental performance of fruit farms?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    2. Víctor Pérez & Alain Hernández & Flor Guerrero & María Amparo León & Christian Luiz Silva & Rafael Caballero, 2016. "Sustainability Ranking for Cuban Tourist Destinations Based on Composite Indexes," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 425-444, October.
    3. Domenech, B. & Ferrer-Martí, L. & Pastor, R., 2015. "Hierarchical methodology to optimize the design of stand-alone electrification systems for rural communities considering technical and social criteria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 182-196.
    4. Zhou, Peng & Poh, Kim Leng & Ang, Beng Wah, 2007. "A non-radial DEA approach to measuring environmental performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 178(1), pages 1-9, April.
    5. Ernest Reig‐Martínez & José A. Gómez‐Limón & Andrés J. Picazo‐Tadeo, 2011. "Ranking farms with a composite indicator of sustainability," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 42(5), pages 561-575, September.
    6. repec:zbw:inwedp:662016 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. María Romero & María Luisa Cuadrado & Luis Romero & Carlos Romero, 2020. "Optimum acceptability of telecommunications networks: a multi-criteria approach," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 1899-1911, September.
    8. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2006. "Comparing aggregating methods for constructing the composite environmental index: An objective measure," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 305-311, September.
    9. Karagiannis, Giannis & Ravanos, Panagiotis, 2023. "A composite indicator of social inclusion for EU based on the inverted BoD model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Michalopoulos, T. & Hogeveen, H. & Heuvelink, E. & Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M., 2013. "Public multi-criteria assessment for societal concerns and gradual labelling," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 97-108.
    11. Cabrini, Silvina M. & Calcaterra, Carlos P., 2016. "Modeling economic-environmental decision making for agricultural land use in Argentinean Pampas," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 183-194.
    12. Rubén Raedo, 2021. "Urban Sustainability Deficits: The Urban Non-Sustainability Index (UNSI) as a Tool for Urban Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-25, November.
    13. B. Domenech & L. Ferrer-Martí & R. Pastor, 2022. "Multicriteria analysis of renewable-based electrification projects in developing countries," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 312(2), pages 1375-1401, May.
    14. Panzone, Luca A. & Wossink, Ada & Southerton, Dale, 2013. "The design of an environmental index of sustainable food consumption: A pilot study using supermarket data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 44-55.
    15. Briseño, Hugo & Ramirez-Nafarrate, Adrian & Araz, Ozgur M., 2021. "A multivariate analysis of hybrid and electric vehicles sales in Mexico," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. P. Zhou & B. Ang, 2009. "Comparing MCDA Aggregation Methods in Constructing Composite Indicators Using the Shannon-Spearman Measure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 83-96, October.
    17. Ernest Reig, 2012. "Building an Enlarged Human Development Indicator: Europe and the Southern Mediterranean Basin," Working Papers 1203, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    18. Carrillo, Marianela & Jorge, Jesús M., 2017. "Multidimensional Analysis of Regional Tourism Sustainability in Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 89-98.
    19. Maurizio Canavari & Nicola Cantore & Sergio Albertazzi & Chiara Marco Della & Giuliano Vitali & Claudio Signorotti & Guido Baldoni & Concetta Cardillo & Antonella Trisorio & Guido Maria Bazzani & Robe, 2013. "Sustainability in organic and conventional farm ing: toward s a multicriteria model based on simulated farm indicators," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(1), pages 175-200.
    20. Akber, Muhammad Zeshan & Thaheem, Muhammad Jamaluddin & Arshad, Husnain, 2017. "Life cycle sustainability assessment of electricity generation in Pakistan: Policy regime for a sustainable energy mix," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 111-126.
    21. Xu Wang & Liyan Han & Libo Yin, 2016. "Environmental Efficiency and Its Determinants for Manufacturing in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:1544-:d:1337666. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.