Defining Environmental Indicators at Detail Design Stage as Part of an Ecodesign Strategy

Implementing Design for Environment (DfE) into the design process requires a strategic integration. Furthermore, as DfE is continuously evolving, flexible processes need to be implemented. This article focuses on the integration of DfE into an optimization framework with the objective of influencing next-generation aircraft. For this purpose, DfE and Structures groups are developing together a set of new environmental indicators covering all life cycle stages of the product by coupling a list of yes/no questions with an environmental matrix. The following indicators are calculated: Regulation risk, Impact of manufacturing the part, CO2 emissions and Recyclability potential. These indicators will be used as constraints in the multi-disciplinary design optimization (MDO) framework, meaning that the structure will be designed while complying with environmental targets and anticipating future regulation changes. To illustrate this new methodology, it is applied to three common processes used in structural design on a generic part: aluminum with chemical milling, aluminum with mechanical milling and composite produced by automated fiber placement process. Through this initiative, it is believed that in the mid-term, manufacturing processes selection will not only be influenced by technical and cost requirements, but also considering their environmental impacts.