Date Available

6-17-2015

Year of Publication

2015

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Engineering

Department/School/Program

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Fazleena Badurdeen

Abstract

Many companies are using platform-based product designs to fulfill the requirements of customers while maintaining low cost. However, research that integrates sustainability into platform-based product design is still limited. Considering sustainability during platform-based design process is a challenge because the total life-cycle from pre-manufacturing, manufacturing and use to post-use stages as well as economic, environmental and societal performance in these stages must be considered. In this research, an approach for quantifying sustainability is introduced and a mathematical model is developed for identifying a more sustainable platform. Data from life-cycle assessment is used to quantify environmental factors; criteria from the Product Sustainability Index (ProdSI) are used to quantify societal factors. The Analytic Hierarchical Process method is used to assess relative importance of societal factors and the weighted sum method is used in the objective function for overall multi-objective optimization. A bicycle platform configuration will be used as a case study to demonstrate the application of the model. The relationship between commonality of the platform and sustainability performance is analyzed.

Download

Share

COinS