Life cycle sustainability assessment of a light rail transit system: Integration of environmental, economic, and social impacts

The transition toward sustainable urban transportation has gained importance in recent decades. However, urban transportation has not been addressed for all dimensions of sustainability. This study presents a life cycle sustainability assessment of a light rail transit system in Kayseri, Turkey, by integrating environmental, economic, and social aspects. The sustainability performance of the light rail transit system is evaluated using a cradle-to-grave approach to assess three aspects of sustainability. For the environmental evaluation, a life cycle assessment was applied using SimaPro 8.4.1 PhD version based on ISO 14040 and 14044. The method, which includes nine environmental impact categories, was employed to assess the environmental performance of the light rail transit system with a functional unit of 1 passenger-km. For the economic assessment, life cycle costing was utilized with the functional unit of USD for 1 passenger-km. A social life cycle assessment was applied to assess the social performance of the light rail transit system based on guidelines published by the United Nations Environment Programme in collaboration with the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. For the determination of social impacts, 11 subcategories and 18 social indicators were selected. The results showed that the global warming potential and abiotic depletion potential of the light rail system per passenger-km were 2.4E - 02 kg CO2 eq. and 2.7E - 01 MJ, respectively, with a service life of 50 years. The total life cycle cost of the light rail system was calculated as 0.046 USD for 1 passenger-km. The results also revealed that the main contributor to the total life cycle cost was energy cost, with 92% (2.88E + 08 USD) of the total cost. In the social performance evaluation, it is found that the industry performs well for society, the local community, and workers but has a weaker social performance for the consumer due to a weak feedback mechanism. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;00:1-13. (c) 2021 SETA

Robust Multicriteria Sustainability Assessment in Urban Transportation

Developing methodologies to facilitate the planning of sustainable transport systems for decision makers (DMs) is becoming more critical. This study proposed a methodological framework for sustainable urban transportation to make decisions during urban transportation's design and planning stages. Urban transportation alternatives were evaluated by sustainability indicators that considered a triple bottom line approach's environmental, economic, and social aspects. To choose the best alternative sustainable transportation scenarios, two multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, for example, a hesitant fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (HF-AHP) and multiple attribute utility model (MAUT), were integrated. First, eight sustainable transportation indicators that considered data availability from the transport sector were selected. The weights of the selected indicators were calculated using an HF-AHP. These indicators included carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption, depletion of nonrenewable resources, operational and maintenance costs, fuel and taxes, the number of fatalities or injuries, and motor vehicles for public transport per 10,000 population. Finally, sensitivity analysis was applied to validate the robustness. Based on HF-AHP results, the number of fatalities or injuries was the most significant among the eight indicators, with a 0.158 normalized weight (Ni). The results of this integrated methodology highlighted that Alternative 11, which was dominated by low-motorized vehicles (low-MVs), was the best sustainable alternative and Alternative 1 was the worst sustainable alternative, which was dominated by high-MVs with 0.69 and 0.27 total utility values, respectively. Low-motorized urban transportation alternatives showed higher sustainable performances than the motorized and high-motorized alternatives. This study proposed a novel and robust methodology for decisions on sustainable urban transportation projects and renovating current urban transportation systems

Experimental investigations on the ballistic impact performances of cold rolled sheet metals

This study focuses on the ballistic performances of 1 and 2 mm-thick and 2 × 1 mm-thick cold rolled sheet metal plates against 9 mm standard NATO projectile. The velocity of the projectile before and after perforation, the diameter of the front face deformation, the depth of the crater and the diameter of the hole were measured. The fracture surfaces of the plates near the ballistic limit were also microscopically analyzed. The highest ballistic limit was found in 2 mm-thick plate (332 m s−1) and the lowest in 1 mm-thick plate (97 m s−1). While, the ballistic limit of 2 × 1 mm-thick plate decreased to 306 m s−1. Typical failure mechanism of the projectile was the flattening and mushrooming at relatively low velocities and the separation from the jacket at relatively high velocities. In accord with the ballistic limits, 2 mm-thick target plate exhibited the highest hardness value. Microscopic investigations showed the significant reductions in the grain size of the targets after the test