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

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.

Stream Life Cycle Assessment Model for Aircraft Preliminary Design

“…The first one is S. Howe's thesis [17], which aimed to identify the key challenges relating to environmental efficiency within the aviation industry by examining routing strategies, analyzing the viability of alternative fuels and conducting a holistic life cycle assessment of a commercial airliner, the Airbus A320; -In the same years, T. Lewis [18] employed two different methods in order to analyze the environmental impacts of commercial air transport, the first being a process-based LCA utilizing the Ecoinvent database, and the second being an economic input-output life cycle assessment; -In their master's thesis, J. Lopes [28] analyzed the environmental impact of an Airbus A330-200 using a process-based methodology; in particular, he took into account every life phase, from cradle to grave, placing more emphasis on the operations where data deriving from a real airliner were used in order to obtain more consistent results; -The last article is the more recent, and it has been published by A. Rahn et al [15]. The study aimed to use discrete-event simulation in accordance with life cycle assessment.…”

“…Some examples of LCA application can also be found directly in the aviation industry. Main LCA methodologies applied here are economic input-output (EIO) [14] and process-based [15]. The first one links environmental impact with economic value [16] while the second one calculates the whole impact as the sum of all those of aircraft components [12].…”

Integrating Life Cycle Assessment in Conceptual Aircraft Design: A Comparative Tool Analysis

“…A few additional studies are worth mentioning. One of these studies is from Rahn et al [42,43]. To eliminate simplification, such as considering flight hours as an average per year or neglecting maintenance events, they suggest a discrete-event simulation combined with LCA [42].…”

“…One of these studies is from Rahn et al [42,43]. To eliminate simplification, such as considering flight hours as an average per year or neglecting maintenance events, they suggest a discrete-event simulation combined with LCA [42]. In a more recent publication [43], the authors analyze different dynamization methods to allow detailed consideration of temporal and spatial variations.…”

Life cycle inventory analysis modelling in LCSA: from basic aspects to advanced techniques

“…• Various tailored or unique modelling approaches which cannot be easily classified, such as the closed-form mathematical modelling framework, with probabilistic presumptions, for LCSA presented by Kua (2017). • Discrete-event simulation is another interesting technique that has been combined with LCA (Andersson et al, 2012), recently for aircraft (Rahn et al, 2022). It focuses on the modelling of events, making it also more suitable for modelling complex processes, including behaviour, but from a different angle to ABM.…”