Objective
The overall objective of the RAVEL project is to provide a knowledge-based engineering methodology, assessing and influencing the environmental impact (over the total life cycle). Knowledge and data for the EOL phase will lead to better prediction of economical impact as well. Primary field of application will of future rail vehicles with focus on the tender and the conceptual design phase, where at present no adequate support is available. The RAVEL methodology will add to similar activities with respect to life cycle cost reduction.
The RAVEL project therefore will provide a methodology (with supporting tool(s)) initially applied to the alway industry which is - supporting rail operators in their tender specification and evaluation phase and designers in particular in the conceptual design phase - enhancing life-cycle costing by environmental performance optimisation (including better "environmental cost" calculation, especially for the end-of-life phase) - applicable to total vehicles as well as subassemblies and components - allowing shared design and optimisation responsibilities between manufacturers and their suppliers - providing assistance to refurbishing/repair of rail vehicles by improved tools for disassembly strategy evaluation and effort calculation In general, it will lead to reduced development times and overall cost reductions on the long term by reducing environmental impact. Resetting from disassembly optimisation, assembly costs will be reduced and by improvements in refurbishment, the overall useful life will be prolonged also.
After an initial user and market requirement analysis and an evaluation of the state-of-the-art in design support in general and in the environmental area in particular, a methodology will be developed especially suited for the tender specification and conceptual design phase. This general methodology for environmental and economical EOL decision support will be introduced and tested by the railway companies and by the design and repair & refurbishment departments of the rail vehicle manufacturer and its suppliers. The methodology BE97-4174.