Category: Journal Publications

Abstract

The construction industry generates more than a third of global waste, most of which is generated at the End-of-Life stage of built facilities and is disposed of in landfills. While decision-making models have been developed by previous studies, they have focused only on a subset of End-of-Life decisions and have lacked stakeholder diversity, which can lead to biased decisions. This study seeks to develop a comprehensive and inclusive decision-making model for the End-of-Life stage of built facilities. A framework of four End-of-Life sub-phases, related decision problems and alternatives was defined based on a systematic literature review. A set of 25 criteria was compiled and validated through semi-structured interviews with 25 stakeholders representing various roles in the End-of-Life. Criteria weights were assigned with an Analytical Hierarchical Process-based survey, conducted with 52 participants. Regulations were found to be the most important criterion, specifically pointing to the value of implementing circular construction regulations and financial incentives. Furthermore, by including diverse stakeholders, higher priority was given to certain social and material factors, particularly those related to safety. Logistical constraints were also found to be important, suggesting a need to streamline deconstruction and material handling at the End-of-Life to enable circular practices. These results offer actionable insights for policymakers, building owners, and contractors aiming to implement circular economy strategies in End-of-Life decision-making. The findings highlight the role of circular economy principles in guiding sustainable End-of-Life strategies by emphasizing regulatory levers, social safeguards, and logistical enablers essential for reuse and recovery.

Gomes et al. 2026

Journal of Cleaner Production 10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149172

Abstract

Dead-end sections of water distribution systems often experience long residence times and stagnation, causing chlorine residuals to fall below regulatory standards and leading utilities to run continuous blow-offs that increase nonrevenue water. This study proposes a hybrid advection–reaction (AR) and advection–dispersion–reaction (ADR) screening–validation framework to identify cost-effective continuous blow-off configurations that satisfy minimum chlorine residual and pressure requirements across multiple operating scenarios. Candidate configurations are screened in EPANET, a public-domain hydraulic and water quality modeling software, using an AR formulation, within nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) to minimize worst-case chlorine deficit penalty while maximizing worst-case treatment-cost savings across multiple scenarios. Shortlisted nondominated configurations are then reevaluated in Washington University dead end simulator (WUDESIM), a dead-end water quality model that uses an ADR formulation and incorporates stochastic water demands, to confirm compliance in dispersion-dominated dead ends and to quantify AR–ADR discrepancy. The framework is tested on a multisource Canadian municipal system with 63 operational blow-offs supported by calibrated hydraulic and chlorine models and stochastic household demands. EPANET screening produced 14 configurations; ADR validation confirmed two configurations satisfied chlorine and pressure criteria, enabling closure of approximately 68%–73% of blow-offs while maintaining compliance, and yielding annual treatment-cost savings of approximately 64%–70% compared with baseline operation with all blow-offs open. AR screening underestimated the mean dead-end chlorine deficiency by up to 14% relative to ADR validation, indicating the importance of ADR confirmation for conservative closure decisions. Sensitivity analysis identifies nodal demand as the dominant source of uncertainty, followed by bulk decay, with wall decay having a smaller influence. Overall, the proposed hybrid workflow provides an efficient and practical approach to ensuring that safe chlorine levels are maintained.

Boloukasli et al. 2026

Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-7563

Abstract

An increasingly common form of organizational change in high-hazard industries is the acquisition of ageing facilities. While the safety implications of other types of organizational change have been widely studied, the risks associated with ageing facility acquisitions remain under-investigated. This acquisition process is often accompanied by significant challenges in interorganizational knowledge transfer (IKT). Although knowledge is widely recognized as essential to process safety, the impacts of IKT failures require further exploration, especially when original operational teams are not retained. This study aims to identify the process safety impacts of unsuccessful IKT during the acquisition of an ageing facility in which no personnel were transferred. Drawing on a qualitative case study of an offshore oil and gas platform acquisition, this study offers an in-depth analysis of the organizational and operational discontinuities that emerged during the asset handover. Safety incident data from the case study platform revealed an increase in safety incidents following the acquisition. Interviews with process safety experts and practitioners were conducted to map IKT challenges to Risk-Based Process Safety (RBPS). Failures in IKT were found to vary in their impact on process safety. Governance-related aspects of the IKT process, such as the availability of personnel from both companies during the transfer, and access to legacy databases, were found to be the most critical. These failures not only directly impacted RBPS elements such as process knowledge management but also contributed to safety impacts. These findings support the development of improved IKT frameworks for managers and regulators to avoid operational safety risks following an ageing facility acquisition.

Ferreira et al. 2026

Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2025.105779

Abstract

Predicting water main failures is a critical challenge for managing aging water infrastructure worldwide. A failure is herein understood as any type of break, such as circumferential or longitudinal cracks or holes, recorded in the utilities’ historical break records. Water pipe break prediction models, whether categorized as physical or data-driven are essential tools in the strategic planning of rehabilitation efforts. While physical models simulate real-world conditions such as soil and traffic loads and material degradation, data-driven models utilize various factors, and historical failure records to predict future water main failures by identifying patterns and correlations within the data. Recent review studies on water pipe failure prediction have predominantly concentrated on data-driven models, with limited emphasis on physical models, particularly despite significant advancements in the past decade. Moreover, a comprehensive comparative analysis between physical and data-driven approaches, including the factors they incorporate, remains unexplored. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the progression of physical models for predicting water main breaks, compare them with data-driven approaches, and identify opportunities for enhancing data-driven models by integrating insights from this comparison. This paper highlights the need to bridge the existing gaps by incorporating new variables into the data-driven models such as detailed soil and pipe material properties, climate-related variables, water quality parameters, and transient/surge pressures, and detailed consideration of load effects into predictive models. By identifying new variables to be incorporated in data-driven models this study finds opportunities to improve the accuracy of failure prediction models and support and support more effective water infrastructure management and decision-making.

Khashei et al. 2025

Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management https://doi.org/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-6866

Abstract

This paper presents a holistic assessment framework for the impacts of water distribution pipe breaks to promote environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities. This framework considers social, environmental, and economic vulnerabilities as well as probabilities associated with pipe failure. The integration of these features provides a comprehensive approach to understanding infrastructure risks. Taking the city of Vancouver as a case study, the social vulnerability index (SVI) is obtained following the application of a cross-correlation matrix and principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the most influential among 33 selected variables from the 2021 census of the Canadian population. The Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) is evaluated by considering the park and floodplain areas. The Economic Vulnerability Index (ECI) is derived from the replacement cost of pipes. These indices offer valuable insights into the spatial distribution of vulnerabilities (consequences) across urban areas. Subsequently, the Consequence of Failure (COF) is computed by aggregating the three vulnerabilities with equal weights. Pipe probability of failure (POF) is evaluated by a Weibull model calibrated on real break data as a function of pipe age. This approach enables a dynamic evaluation of pipe deterioration over time. Risk is finally assessed by combining COF and POF for prioritizing pipe replacement and rehabilitation, with the final objective of mitigating the adverse impacts of infrastructure failure. The findings show the significant impact of ethnicity, socioeconomic indices, and education on the social vulnerability index. Moreover, the areas close to English Bay and Fraser River are more environmentally vulnerable. The pipes with high economic vulnerability are primarily concrete pipes, due to their expensive replacement costs. Finally, the risk framework resulting from the vulnerabilities and pipe break probabilities is used to rank the Vancouver City water distribution network pipes. This ranking system highlights critical areas requiring different levels of attention for infrastructure improvements. All the pipes and corresponding risks are illustrated in Vancouver maps, highlighting that the pipes associated with a very high level of risk are mostly in the south and north of Vancouver.

Sinaei et al., 2025

Water https://doi.org/10.3390/w17020252

Abstract

Building construction, renovation, and demolition (CRD) waste represent about one-third-of global waste production. Implementing circular economy practices in CRD can significantly reduce waste as well as related impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the effect of different types of policies in promoting construction circularity requires further investigation. The objective of this paper is to review the range of policy instruments applied by different countries and investigate how effectively they promote circularity. Based on a literature review, thirty-seven instruments were identified and classified into five types: regulatory, economic, technical, operational, and communicative. The implementation of each of these instruments was investigated for 19 countries, selected to represent each of the world’s regions as defined by the World Bank, including: Barbados, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and United States. In each region, countries were selected to represent the full scope of CRD generated per capita. Economic, technical, operational and specific CRD regulatory instruments are moderately correlated to CRD waste recovery. In high income countries CRD regulations are the most correlated with recovery, whereas in middle income countries technical instrument implementation is more correlated.

Dziedzic et al., 2025

Resources, Conservation and Recycling https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.108053

Abstract

The aging process of oil and gas facilities poses unique challenges in risk management, especially when operators have the intention to extend their service life. Facility extension has been an object of increased interest in the oil and gas industry because of its benefits. Researchers have identified several organizational issues that can impact this process. Among these, knowledge transfer is a critical aspect in contexts involving facility transfer between companies. The goal of this research is to investigate the inter-organizational knowledge transfer (IKT) elements and mechanisms of oil and gas facilities acquired for life extension and understand their main challenges. A qualitative case study was carried out on the transfer of an oil and gas offshore production facility between companies. The study identified 22 key elements and 27 challenges that the acquiring operating company faced during the IKT process. This case study provides valuable insights that can guide other organizations in similar situations, helping them better manage the IKT process, mitigate potential risks, and ensure smoother operations during and after facility transfer. It can also support the development of future frameworks by managers and oil and gas regulators to evaluate IKT issues as part of oil and gas facility life extension.

Ferreira et al. 2024

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2024.3361797

Abstract

In large oil and gas producing countries, extraction and processing activities, including upstream activities, can represent a large share of domestic emissions. As oil fields approach their expected service life and reach depletion, energy use and GHG emissions increase per unit of produced oil, shifting operations away from their optimal point. Thus, it is paramount that oil field life extension decisions account for energy use and GHG emissions. However, many facilities are having their service life extended without considering this energy inefficiency and previous life extension decision making studies have neglected GHG emissions. Addressing this issue, this paper proposes the inclusion of a carbon footprint assessment within the evaluation of oil and gas offshore production facility life extension. The carbon footprint assessment adds an environmental lens to the evaluation of ageing, formerly evaluated according to material degradation, obsolescence and organizational issues. An eleven-stage framework is proposed to systematize the ageing related carbon footprint assessment and support life extension decision-making: (1) Objective definition, (2) Scope definition, (3) Field conditions description, (4) Scope breakdown into manageable portions, (5) Detailed data collection for each process and subsystem, (6) Input and output definition for each process and subsystem, (7) Process modelling, (8) Methodology definition for energy demand and inefficiency estimate, (9) Monitoring indicator definition, (10) Performance evaluation, and (11) Interpretation of results. The proposed framework is applied to a hypothetical case study, developed with data from a typical oil and gas offshore production platform operated in Brazil. Two LE improvement strategies were simulated, i.e. reducing the number of gas turbines, and increasing the export of natural gas. Both alter the modus operandi of the compression system and do not require additional equipment installation. These strategies resulted in a combined reduction of 922,000 tCO₂ during the extended 10-year operation. This outcome demonstrates that by applying the framework opportunities for reducing energy use and GHG emissions during life extension can be identified and quantified, facilitating life extension decision-making.

Ferreira et al., 2024

Geoenergy Science and Engineering

Abstract

Deterioration of water infrastructure is a global challenge that jeopardizes water system ability to deliver water safely. While various factors affect watermain failure, previous studies have focused on common pipe attributes or general protection strategies. The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between pipe break characteristics and system properties. Comprehensive data from thirteen Canadian water systems (over 60,000 failures) are examined with correlation and chi-squared analyses. Joint and fitting failures are most likely for pipes aged 20 years or less, and universal joints are most associated with joint failure. Pipes in clay and sand soils are more likely to break due to improper bedding and differential settlement, respectively. Furthermore, in the summer, accidental breaks of asbestos cement pipes are more likely, as are failures of pipes with collar joints and coal tar lined pipes. By exploring these relationships, the paper provides insights into opportunities for reducing water main failure, through improved design, maintenance and rehabilitation.

Gharaati and Dziedzic, 2024

Environmental Systems Research https://doi.org/10.1186/s40068-024-00334-x

Abstract

The extension of the service life of offshore oil and gas production facilities has been an object of increased interest because of its benefits. In previous work, the authors proposed a guideline for managing the life extension process of oil and gas facilities, however without integrating obsolescence management. The main objective of the present study consists of develop a framework to guide the evaluation and management of asset obsolescence in the context of life extension, considering the concept of obsolescence as having four types of drivers – unavailability from manufacturers, new requirements or demands, technological or technical changes, and new conditions or needs. A framework with six stages of obsolescence management process was proposed and validated with a case study. Because no single request submitted to the Brazilian oil and gas regulator of a facility considering life extension had complete information to perform the obsolescence evaluation, a hypothetical case study was developed with a combination of information from real offshore production facilities. Results demonstrate that the framework: (i)transforms the assessment and management of obsolescence into a systematic process that identifies priority impacted elements and, (ii)based on the risks associated with their obsolescence, supports the definition of the most appropriate decision.

Ferreira et al. 2023

Ocean Engineering https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2023.115388