Conceptual Aircraft Design for Sustainability

This thesis deals with sustainability assessment for application in conceptual aircraft design. An assessment methodology is developed and integrated into an existing conceptual aircraft design environment. The key characteristics compared to the current state of the art is the consistent and quantitative assessment approach for the entire aircraft life cycle and the consideration of sustainability including economic, environmental, and social aspects.

The developed methodology is based on the theoretical concept of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) comprising eco-efficiency analysis (EEA) and social assessment. Due to the different maturity and complexity levels of methods for EEA and social assessment, a successive process for LCSA is established in this thesis leading to the development of two methodologies: a streamlined eco-efficiency analysis (s-EEA) methodology for assessment of the complete aircraft life cycle towards selected economic and environmental impact categories, and a streamlined sustainability assessment (s-LCSA) methodology. The latter focuses on the eco-efficiency hot spot of the aircraft life cycle as determined by the s-EEA methodology and includes an indicator set with corresponding quantification methods for assessment of all three sustainability dimensions.

Quantification methods are developed, with which the corresponding impacts can be determined in conceptual aircraft design. All methods are integrated into the conceptual aircraft design environment MICADO for sustainability assessment within the design loop. With this integrated assessment framework two comprehensive case studies are performed that outline the potential to improve overall sustainability by operational modifications, retrofit, as well as aircraft redesign.