Life cycle assessment of an aircraft component: a case study

Veeramanikandan, R.; Nithish, S.; Sivaraj, G.; Vinodh, S.

doi:10.1504/ijise.2017.10008235

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The combustion chamber was identified as having the highest environmental impact in the engine. Vinodh et al [11] published an LCA for a turbine blade. By focusing on the manufacturing phase, environmental issues could be identified as early as in the machining process, thus enabling the development of more environmentally friendly aircraft components.…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessment In Aviationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Discrete-Event Simulation for a Holistic Aircraft Life Cycle Assessment

2022

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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.

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Section: Life Cycle Assessment In Aviationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Discrete-Event Simulation for a Holistic Aircraft Life Cycle Assessment

2022

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“…Laser machining causes a high environmental impact, and efforts are being made to reduce this impact by adopting alternate eco-friendly machining processes. The article concludes that there is a vital need to perform environmental analysis of aircraft components to develop eco-friendly aircraft products, and more studies could be conducted on the LCA of complex aircraft products in the future (Vinodh et al , 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle analysis results for engine blisk LCA

Fricke,

Bergs,

Ganser

et al. 2024

AEAT

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Purpose The aviation industry has seen consistent growth over the past few decades. To maintain its sustainability and competitiveness, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the environmental impacts across the entire life cycle of the industry, including materials, processes and resources; manufacturing and production; lifetime services; reuse; end-of-life; and recycling. One important component of aircraft engines, integral rotors known as Blisks, are made of high-value metallic alloys that require complex and resource-intensive manufacturing processes. The purpose of this paper is to assess the ecological and economical impacts generated through Blisk production and thereby identify significant ‘hot-spots’. Design/methodology/approach This paper focuses on the methodology and approach for conducting a full-scale Blisk life cycle assessment (LCA) based on ISO 14040/44. Unlike previous papers in the European Aerospace Science Network series, which focused on the first two stages of LCA, this publication delves into the “life cycle impact assessment” and “interpretation” stages, providing an overview of the life cycle inventory modeling, impact category selection and presenting preliminary LCA results for the Blisk manufacturing process chain. Findings The result shows that the milled titanium Blisk has a lower CO2 footprint than the milled nickel Blisk, which is less than half of the global warming potential (GWP) of the milled nickel Blisk. A main contributor to GWP arises from raw material production. However, no recycling scenarios were included in the analysis, which will be the topic of further investigations. Originality/value The originality of this work lies in the detailed ecological assessment of the manufacturing for complex engine components and the derivation of hot spots as well as potential improvements in terms of eco-footprint reduction throughout the products cradle-to-gate cycle. The LCA results serve as a basis for future approaches of process chain optimisation, use of “greener” materials and individual process improvements.

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