A Robust Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Aircraft Parts: Application to a Fuselage Panel

Aikaterini Anagnostopoulou, Dimitris Sotiropoulos and Konstantinos Tserpes ()
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Aikaterini Anagnostopoulou: Laboratory of Technology & Strength of Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics, University of Patras, 26500 Patras, Greece
Dimitris Sotiropoulos: Department of Electrical and Computers Engineering, University of Peloponnese, 26334 Patras, Greece
Konstantinos Tserpes: Laboratory of Technology & Strength of Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics, University of Patras, 26500 Patras, Greece

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-33

Abstract: This paper presents a cradle-to-gate sustainability assessment methodology specifically designed to evaluate aircraft components in a robust and systematic manner. This methodology integrates multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) analysis across ten criteria, categorized under environmental impact, cost, and performance. Environmental impact is analyzed through lifecycle assessment and cost through lifecycle costing, with both analyses facilitated by SimaPro 9.6.0.1 software. Performance is measured in terms of component mass and specific stiffness. The robustness of this methodology is tested through various MCDM techniques, normalization approaches, and objective weighting methods. To demonstrate the methodology, this paper assesses the sustainability of a fuselage panel, comparing nine variants that differ in materials, joining techniques, and part thicknesses. All approaches consistently identify thermoplastic CFRP panels as the most sustainable option, with the geometric mean aggregation of weights providing balanced criteria consideration across environmental, cost, and performance aspects. The adaptability of this proposed methodology is illustrated, showing its applicability to any aircraft component with the requisite data. This structured approach offers critical insights to support sustainable decision-making in aircraft component design and procurement.

Keywords: sustainability assessment; lifecycle analysis (LCA); multi-criteria decision-making methods; aircraft fuselage; R-TOPSIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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