A holistic methodology for value-driven conceptualisation of passenger cabin interiors

The design of aircraft cabin interiors is a multi-disciplinary, multi-domain activity challenged by the need to satisfy technical, operational, and commercial product requirements simultaneously. Addressing these in isolation proves ineffective in delivering cabin interiors destined for long-term success in the modern market driven by holistic forces. However, no unified approaches exist for their integrated co-development. Engineering tools like Multi-Disciplinary Optimisation resolve the technical challenges, but are unable to integrate the commercial factors. Resource-efficient innovation is further perplexed by the competitive data-sharing practices and conflicting priorities pursued by the many cabin stakeholders. As a result, the parties involved in cabin interior design lack awareness of each other’s preferences, needs, and constraints. The integration of contrasting stakeholder priorities can be streamlined by conceiving a holistic methodology for early-stage cabin product design. It shall implement effective decision-making practices into a collaborative cabin design toolset to facilitate co-creation. This thesis proposes such a methodology, which was developed in a multi-step approach. First, the identification of a suitable design assessment basis is enabled by deriving a synoptic taxonomy of discrete Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis tools. It is then employed to map the diverse multitude of drivers relevant to cabin interior design and prioritise among them using context-based logic defined by the case being addressed. Industry expertise was gathered to consolidate multiple stakeholder preferences into a robust capability for the evaluation of potential interior design solutions. Finally, the holistic cabin design approach proposed is used to assess the sustainability of cabin interior products as the most pertinent issue faced by the industry at the moment. This is achieved in a cost-efficient manner at a scale unachievable with existing Life Cycle Assessment methods. The effectiveness of the toolset proposed is validated by its application to a hypothetical case study.