Designing for sustainability & upgradability in an aerospace system

• Main Author: Lewis, Spencer L. (Spencer Lawrence), 1975-
• Other Authors: Wesley L. Harris and Daniel E. Hastings.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2005
• Subjects: Aeronautics and Astronautics.; Management of Technology Program.
• Online Access: http://theses.mit.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/Describe/0018.mit.theses%2f2000-117; http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/9256

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program, 2000. === Also available online at the MIT Theses Online homepage <http://thesis.mit.edu>. === Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-101). === The United States Air Force utilizes a significant amount of its budget to maintain its aerospace systems in operational condition. In order to reduce these costs, the Air Force has communicated to aerospace manufactures a desire to reduce the overall costs of its aerospace system maintenance. This thesis investigates how the Air Force and Corporation Alpha, a leading manufacturer of aerospace engines, have adapted their design and development practices to make the EG10 fighter engine family more reliable, durable, and maintainable. I used the metric Unscheduled Engine Removals (UER) per 1000 Effective Flight Hours (UER/1000EFH) to compare the sustainability of different models of EG10 while investigating how the sustainment lessons of the EG10 have been incorporated into Corporation Alpha's latest product, the EG1 5-1. The analysis presented in this thesis will focus on the policies, technology, processes and tools, and final results of efforts to improve the sustainability of these engine systems. The final results show that the sustainability, as measured by the UER metric, have not increased beyond 106 EFH with each succeeding generation of EG10 engine. This illustrates that improving aerospace system sustainability involves factors beyond the design phase of the system. === by Spencer L. Lewis. === S.M.