A multi-variable analysis of aircraft structure disassembly ‐ A technico-economic approach to increase the recycling performance

Abstract Despite international efforts in maximizing products recycling, complex product reprocessing poses a considerable threat on sustainable development on a macro scale. Thousands of aircrafts reach their End-of-Life each year with most of their components ending up in graveyards and landfill. Airframe disassembly, as a main step, is a complex process in terms of the required effort versus the regained values. This research proposes a disassembly planning model to evaluate the ease of disassembly for complex products. Three key disassembly parameters are employed including time, difficulty and, material compatibility to evaluate the efficiency of the disassembly strategies based on technical, economic and environmental criteria. A mathematical model is presented to find the most efficient solution based on the defined criteria. A mid-range airliner stabilizer was selected as a case study to validate the efficiency of the proposed method. The analysis includes airframe disassembly site visits, aircraft documentation analysis, interviews with experts and disassembly examination over a three-year period. The results from the proposed method shows the selected disassembly plan is 65% easier to perform, 85% less time-consuming and allows the user to gain more material recovery than conventional technics. The scalable findings of this research can be useful to increase the efficiency of the disassembly task on complex products particularly of interests to the disassembly sites, product owners and OEMs.