Modeling and control of airport departure processes for emissions reduction
Author(s)
Simaiakis, Ioannis![Thumbnail](/bitstream/handle/1721.1/58289/650350220-MIT.pdf.jpg?sequence=5&isAllowed=y)
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Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Technology and Policy Program.
Advisor
Hamsa Balakrishnan.
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Taxiing aircraft contribute significantly to the fuel burn and emissions at airports. This thesis investigates the possibility of reducing fuel burn and emissions from surface operations through a reduction of the taxi times of departing aircraft. Data analysis of the departing traffic in four major US airports provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of surface congestion on taxi times, fuel burn and emissions. For this analysis two metrics are introduced: one that compares the taxi times to the unimpeded ones and another that evaluates them in terms of their contribution to the airport's throughput. A novel approach is proposed that models the aircraft departure process as a queuing system. The departure taxi (taxi-out) time of an aircraft is represented as a sum of three components: the unimpeded taxi-out time, the time spent in the departure queue, and the congestion delay due to ramp and taxiway interactions. The dependence of the taxi-out time on these factors is analyzed and modeled. The performance of the model is validated through a comparison of its predictions with observed data at Boston's Logan International Airport (BOS). A reduction in taxi times may be achieved through the queue management strategy known as N-Control, which controls the push back process so as to keep the number of departing aircraft on the surface of the airport below a specified threshold. The developed model is used to quantify the impact of N-Control on taxi times, delays, fuel burn and emissions at BOS. Finally, the benefits and implications of N-Control are compared to the ones theoretically achievable from a scheme that controls the takeoff queue of each departing aircraft.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and, (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2009. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-141).
Date issued
2009Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division; Technology and Policy ProgramPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Aeronautics and Astronautics., Engineering Systems Division., Technology and Policy Program.