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CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION Volume 11, Number 3, Sept. 2006

Urban infrastructure

Sustainable Infrastructure: Techniques, Tools & Guidelines

Building Science Insight 2006

www.bsi.gc.ca

Each year, NRC-IRC presents a national seminar to provide construction professionals with practical information. Each seminar focuses on a single topic and reports the results of NRC-IRC research, as well as information from other organizations in North America and abroad.

The state of Canada's civil infrastructure systems presents one of the major challenges we face at the beginning of the 21st Century. These systems consist of assets ranging from bridges to buildings, from buried to overhead utilities, and they are often in a state of flux as priorities shift, assets deteriorate and technologies evolve. Ensuring their sustainability is critical to the well being of all Canadians.

Sufficient funds are almost never available to maintain or renew all deficient assets in any one jurisdiction, making it essential to prioritize and select interventions that come closest to meeting an organization's prime objectives. Lack of data and limited understanding of deterioration processes result in the less than optimal selection of projects for intervention. In practice, decisions are often made subjectively and without regard to available scientifically based techniques, tools and guidelines.

To assist communities in maintaining sustainable infrastructure, Building Science Insight 2006 will address some of the challenges and opportunities related to achieving the necessary quality, efficiency and durability of these systems. The seminar will focus on the engineering techniques, tools and guidelines required to maintain and renew an aging and diverse infrastructure portfolio. More specifically, it will examine what is required to sustain infrastructure assets for future generations.

The National Research Council's Institute for Research in Construction has amassed considerable expertise in this arena over the past 50 years. More recently, NRC has participated in numerous research projects related to the management of sustainable infrastructure in collaboration with municipalities, departments of transportation, private companies, and federal departments across North America and overseas. BSI 2006 will highlight the outcomes of these research activities and address other issues related to the management of sustainable infrastructure.

Technical Program:

• A Generalized Framework for Municipal Infrastructure Management. Dr. Dana Vanier, NRC-IRC Research Officer.
• A Holistic Modelling Approach to Predict the Effects of Aging Pipes on Water Quality in Distribution Systems. Dr. Rehan Sadiq, NRC-IRC Research Officer.
• Managing Failure Risk in Large Water Transmission Mains. Drs. Yehuda Kleiner and Balvant Rajani, NRC-IRC Research Officers.
• Decision-Support Tools for Life-Cycle Management of Concrete Bridges. Dr. Zoubir Lounis, NRC-IRC Research Officer.
• The Environmental Side of Sustainability: Using Life-Cycle Assessment to Assess True Performance. Mr. Wayne Trusty, President of the ATHENA Sustainable Materials Institute and its U.S. affiliate, Athena Institute International.
• Pavement Management: InfraGuide's Best Practices on Preventive Maintenance and Pavement Research at NRC. Mr. Sylvain Boudreau, Technical Advisor to the National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure ("InfraGuide").