Life-Cycle Costs of New Construction Materials

New high-performance construction materials are being developed for transportation structures. Economic methods are needed for assessing the life-cycle cost advantages and disadvantages of these new materials relative to conventional materials. This paper provides a step-by-step, project-based approach based on life-cycle costing, minimum performance requirements, and a cost classification scheme that organizes a construction material's life-cycle cost advantages and disadvantages. A case study example of the method analyzes the cost effectiveness of fiber-reinforced-polymer bridge decks relative to reinforced concrete decks.

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