Multi-criteria decision-making model to assess the sustainability of girders and trusses: case study for roofs of sports halls

Abstract

The first, and probably the most determining, decision that structural designing teams need to make when facing the design of any infrastructure is the choice of both an appropriate material and the suitable structural typology for its components. Each component is required to satisfy those technical and functional aspects imposed by the standards and stakeholders. However, basing the decision only on these criteria does not always lead to unambiguous solutions. Currently, the aspects that are most frequently considered in decision-making processes are economic. Nevertheless, environmental and social criteria are also mandatory if one aims at making sustainability-based decisions. In this regard, from the authors’ knowledge, no tools or studies that could support decision-makers in these aspects have been found into the scientific literature and, if any, these turn to be inoperative or barely representative for the purpose since the great majority of these are oriented to building’s sustainability assessment. Therefore, the aim of the present research paper is to develop a new method for the sustainability analysis of building structural components which has been specifically oriented to beams and girders. This is done by means of a method, MIVES, that draws on multi-attribute utility theory and that allows building an integrated value model as an approach for multi-criteria decision-making. The developed model has been applied to assess the sustainability of different alternatives of beams and trusts to support the non-accessible roof of a sports halls in Vila-seca, Spain. Different material types and structural typologies are analysed. The findings show that the most sustainable alternatives are timber and reinforced concrete trusses, which are actually two options that are seldom used in practice.