Systems engineering approach to measuring the environmental impacts of open trenching construction operations

Open trenching is still common in various construction projects that involve underground utility lines. Due to the disturbance of the soil and the use of heavy machinery, environmental impacts can be of a concern. The paper introduces a holistic systems engineering approach to measuring the environmental impacts of open trenching operations. Exemplification is carried out for pipe laying activities. The systems engineering approach employs the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) for the abstraction of the open trenching construction operation and its various environmental impacts. SysML is utilized in this context to depict the environment, the construction product, and the construction technique as three interacting systems that exchange key system flows of materials and energy. The building blocks of the systems are presented using block definition diagrams (BDDs) whereas the flow of materials and energy is presented via internal block diagrams. The system is illustrated using an example pipe laying job that was part of the New Cairo Water Pipeline Project. Example shows how the various environmental impacts can be measured.