Abstract
Aluminium is extensively applied in aerospace industry, however, uncertainties lie in all activities of its production. In this paper, risk assessment for cost estimates in aluminium lifecycle is investigated. Through the in-house module, COSTLIPS (COSTing Life-cycle In material ProcesseS), probabilities of typical processes for aluminium production are estimated. Approach of probability distribution functions and three-point estimates is used to estimate statistical parameters of the costs for different processes. Example results show that the COSTLIPS can be used for costing of aluminium production processes including risk analysis. This would be useful for material selection and evaluation in aircraft design and manufacture in term of cost estimation. Copyright © 2008 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.