As a consequence of the gradually expanding aviation network, civil aircrafts
are occupying an increasingly high proportion of the transport industry. Air
transport now dominates the intercity rapid transit, long-distance passenger
transport, international passenger and freight transport, and specific regional
transport, advantaged as it is by fast, convenient, comfortable and safe options.
Nevertheless, the potential adverse impact on the environment of air transport,
specifically, in the case of this research, the pollutants generated during aircraft
production remain a concern.
Using the A319 as the main research object, this thesis will conduct a life cycle
assessment research about its environmental impact. Moreover, it will focus on
the impact brought by the application of composite materials to the entire life
cycle environmental influence of the aircraft, particularly the material production
and disposal process. At the same time, a contrast with the B737-800 aircraft
will be made due to their different composite material use rate.
Firstly, the inventory list is formed by collecting data about the weight and
material of every component in the aircraft, the input and output information of
the composite material manufacturing process, the disposal situation of the
aircraft and the treatment of composite material. Secondly, the impact
assessment of the aircraft is conducted to examine their environmental
influence. During the assessment, each life stage and the whole life cycle of the
aircrafts is assessed, and a comparison between these two aircraft types is
made. Finally, according to the impact assessment result, the environment load
increase brought by the manufacturing of composite material and the decrease
of the environment impact due to the weight reduction character of composite
material is calculated and compared.
From this research, the conclusion that the use of composite material has a
positive effect on decreasing the environmental impact of the whole life cycle of
the aircraft is obtained. This will enable aircraft manufacturers to target these
reas for improvement, to produce more comfortable, environment friendly and
market competitive aircraft.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CRANFIELD1/oai:dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk:1826/8573 |
| Date | 10 1900 |
| Creators | Liu, Ziqian |
| Contributors | Asproulis, N., Kolios, Athanasios |
| Publisher | Cranfield University |
| Source Sets | CRANFIELD1 |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or dissertation, Masters, MSc by Research |
| Rights | © Cranfield University 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright owner. |
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