Optimization of Takeoff Departure Procedures for Airport Noise Mitigation

Abstract

The environmental effects of aviation, particularly community noise exposure, is one of the major barriers to a sustainable growth in passenger air traffic. With an increasing number of aircraft operations and growing urban population, several major airports around the world have implemented various noise mitigation strategies. One such mitigation strategy is to optimize the departure procedures utilized by aircraft for performing takeoff operations. Present-day noise abatement departure procedures are developed by airlines under the guidance of the International Civil Aviation Organization and regulatory entities such as the Federal Aviation Administration. These procedures are generally limited to two per aircraft type and are therefore developed for averaged flight conditions. A generic methodology has been developed here which accounts for external parameters, such as the elevation and weather conditions at the departure airport, and aims to design optimal departure procedures per set of external conditions. By retaining these variables in the procedure design process, their influence on various metrics of interest can be studied. A case study is performed using three different airports each at a standard day and a hot day weather condition. Noise metrics are evaluated at four locations relative to the runway. Fuel consumption is also calculated to account for airline operating costs. The results show that the optimality of a procedure is sensitive on both external factors, as well as metrics being evaluated. While some noise metrics require a tradeoff with fuel consumption over a set of pareto optimal solutions, at certain locations, the two are optimized simultaneously by a single procedure.