Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: With growing environmental awareness and the resulting pressure on aviation, ecological impact assessments are becoming increasingly important. Life cycle assessment has been widely used in the literature as a tool to assess the environmental impact of aircraft. However, due to the complexity of the method itself and the long lifespans of aircraft, most studies so far have made strong simplifications, especially concerning the operational phase. Using a combined discrete-event simulation framework, this paper aims to ecologically assess the individual life cycle phases of an aircraft. The method will be demonstrated in a case study of an A320 and subsequently compared with findings from the literature. Despite the significant environmental impact of flight operations, which covers almost 99.8% of the entire life cycle of the aircraft, a detailed consideration of all life cycle phases is essential to serve as a reference for the ecological assessment of novel aircraft concepts. The presented assessment method thus enables a holistic analysis at an early stage of the design process and supports the decision-making for new technologies and operational changes.
Source: Sustainability
DOI: 10.3390/su141710598
Authors: Antonia Rahn, Kai Wicke, Gerko Wende
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,872
OpenAlex ID: W4293546129