AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION – ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT IN THE PRE-DESIGN STAGE

Abstract

The increasing relevance of sustainable awareness needs the development of methods for a better understanding of the environmental impacts of production processes. Here a method is introduced for modeling and assessing these impacts of manfacturing an aircraft in the early design phase. It uses mathematical models to calculate the caused material- and energy flows of the several different production processes. The method has been applied to a short haul aircraft. Two competing models have been assembled to assess the differences in the environmental impact between aluminum-based and composite-based structures. In addition to the different materials used, both models contain the specific manufacturingtechnologies associated with those materials. The results have been analyzed and reviewed.