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This document is supplied to the Department for Transport in accordance with Contract
No: PPRO 4/008/002
QinetiQ/05/01827
Method for estimating
particulate emissions from
aircraft brakes and tyres
Richard J Curran
Feburary 2006
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Administration page
Customer Information
Project title PSDH
Customer Organisation Department for Transport
Customer contact R M Gardner
Contract number PPRO 4/008/002
Principal author
Richard J Curran 01252 392259
QinetiQ Ltd, Cody Technology Park, Ively
Road Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0LX
rjcurran@qinetiq.com
Release Authority
Name A W Stapleton
Post Technical Manager
Date of issue January 2006
Record of changes
Issue Date Detail of Changes
1.0 January 06 First Issue(QINETIQ/S&DU/T&P/E&M/TN051751)
2.0 February 06 Introduction of MTOW/MRW
3.0 Jul 06 Addition of low weight assumption and
correction to Tables 2 and 3
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Executive Summary
The emissions of particulates from aircraft result from the burning of fuel in their
combustion engines. However non-engine sources also contribute to aircraft
particulate emissions via wear of wheel brakes and tyres. Generally there is very
little information on which to base an estimate of the contribution to PM10
emissions at airports from aircraft brakes and tyres. However a generic emission
rate for Stansted was derived using information supplied by KLM and FLS on
aircraft representative fleet. This paper presents this data and applies its
correlations to the broader Heathrow fleet. The factors effecting brake and tyre
wear emissions are in abundance and are difficult to gauge collectively. However,
for the purpose of this inventory (to establish whether brakes and tyres emit a major
contribution to the overall particulate concentration at Heathrow) a straight forward
approach was adopted. This approach was to take aircraft weight as the sole
influencing factor on the rate/magnitude of emissions. Using brake data acquired by
FLS and KLM and tyre data acquired by BA, a generic correlation was derived and
applied to a selection of aircraft representative of the Heathrow fleet.
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List of Contents
Administration page 2

Executive Summary 3
List of Contents 4
1. Introduction 5
2. Background 6

3. Industry literature 7
3.1 Brakes 7
3.2 Tyres 7
4. Generic Emission factor 8
4.1 Generic emission equation 10
5. Conclusion 11
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1. Introduction
This paper deals with non-engine sourced Particulate Matter 10 (PM10) emissions
from aircraft. The main non-engine sources of PM10 emissions from aircraft are
wheel brake pads and tyres. The motivation for this paper was to develop a simple
methodology for predicting brake and tyre PM10 emissions for the Heathrow fleet
and establish whether these emissions contribute significantly to the particulate
concentration at Heathrow. Previous papers, namely air quality modelling for
Heathrow by Underwood [1], have drawn attention to brake and tyre wear and have
produced figures to warrant further analysis of this emission source. This paper
summarises the current available data and methodology regarding the prediction of
these emissions. Furthermore, using this information, PM10 emission factors for
brakes and tyres of aircraft representative of the Heathrow fleet are derived in terms
of the number of landings and the maximum ramp weight or max take off weight of
the aircraft. Max ramp weight was originally chosen as the correlation in order to
remain consistent with previous literature. However MTOW is arguably a more
accessible specification to apply to this analysis. This report will present both
MTOW and max ramp weight factors.
PM10 emissions from tyres and brakes are dependent on many factors including
aircraft weight, number of wheels, brake material (carbon or steel) weather
conditions, engine type, pilot actions and airline procedures. These dependencies
are largely unknown thus a simplified approach needs to be adopted in order to
predict the emissions from an aircraft fleet as large and wide ranging as
Heathrows. In doing so a number of assumptions will be made, one of which will be
to assume the percentage of eroded material from brakes and tyres that actually
ends up as suspended particulate matter in the PM10 size range.
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2. Background
Tyre wear is one of the most important non-exhaust aircraft sources contributing to
atmospheric PM concentrations. The cause of these emissions is attributed to the
frictional forces between the tyre and the ground whilst the aircraft is moving. The
loss of material due to these forces comes in the form of solids on the runway
surface and matter suspended in the air. Although a considerable amount of
literature exists in relation to tyre wear, little of it deals specifically with emission
rates, PM sizes or composition. This is partly due to the fact that no country has
introduced legislation to control the amount of particles directly emitted from tyre
wear.
Brake wear is due to forced deceleration mainly occurring at landing and to a lesser
extent during taxi operations. At these points the brake linings are subject to large
frictional heat generation. This frictional heat generation results in the wear of brake
lining particles and ultimately the release of these particles as airborne PM.
Similarly to tyre wear there is a substantial amount of literature on brake wear,
however this mainly constitutes results from measurements of road vehicles as
opposed to aircraft. In terms of operation (thus wear rate) road vehicle brakes and
aircraft brakes cannot be compared directly. Aircraft brake usage is intermittent and
intense relative to the more frequent and smooth usage of road vehicle brakes.
Therefore, to relate road vehicle results to aircraft, suitable factors should be
applied to the rates of emissions from the aircraft brakes to take account for the
considerable differences.
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3. Industry Literature
This section will present data from Underwood [1] who collated information for the
air quality assessment for the BAA of the planned expansion at Stansted airport.
Underwoods paper presents the most up to date understanding of emissions from
aircraft brakes and tyres. Underwood uses the Stansted data in an attempt to
create a Heathrow emission inventory.
The brake data is sourced from the Dutch airline KLM and the overhaul company
FLS Aerospace [2], whilst all of the tyre data is taken from British Airways
experiments [4].
3.1 Brakes:
KLM: estimated 0.012kg eroded material from (carbon) brakes per landing. In terms
of maximum ramp weight this translates to 2.68 x 10
-7
kg per kg per landing for the
F100/BAe146. In terms of MTOW this converts to 2.7 x 10
-7
kg per kg per landing.
FLS: provided information based on the life of brakes on a B737-300. 52 brakes were
sampled and 3.4kg was found to be the average weight lost per brake between the
installation and the removal. It was estimated that the life of the brake consisted of
approximately 1000 landings, thus giving a weight of 0.0034kg lost per landing. The
B737-300 having 4 brakes, gives a final estimate of 0.0136kg per landing per aircraft.
This converts to 2.34 x 10
-7
kg PM 10 per kg of maximum ramp weight per landing
and 2.35 x 10
-7
kg PM 10 per kg of MTOW per landing.
3.2 Tyres:
The following table depicts results obtained from British Airways (BA) Tests.
Aircraft
Type
Amount Lost per
landing (kg)
MTOW(kg) Kg per Kg of
MTOW per
Landing
Max Ramp
Weight
(kg)
Kg per Kg of
Max Ramp
Weight
A320 0.078 68000 1.15 x 10
-6
68400 1.14 x 10
-6
A321 0.107 89000 1.20 x 10
-6
89400 1.20 x 10
-6
B757 0.138 99700 1.38 x 10
-6
100000 1.38 x 10
-6
B777 0.427 242670 1.76 x 10
-6
243570 1.75 x 10
-6
B747 0.812 396890 2.05 x 10
-6
397800 2.04 x 10
-6
Table 1: Tyre Wear Rates courtesy o f Kevin Morris, BA
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4. Generic emission factor
Brakes :
No information specific to aircraft tyres or brakes was found concerning the
percentage of the mass lost that ends up as suspended PM10. A study under taken
by UNECE on emissions from road vehicle brakes quoted that 70% of the eroded
material ends up as suspended matter. As we are dealing with aircraft, Taylor [3]
conservatively assumed that 100% of eroded material ends up as suspended
matter in the PM10 size range. Thus a simple average of KLMs and FLSs
predictions gives a value of 2.51 x 10
-7
kg PM 10 per kg of MRW per landing or
2.53 x 10
-7
kg PM 10 per kg of MTOW per landing.
Tyres:
In order to derive a generic emission factor, one must first investigate whether a
relationship exists between weight and the amount of rubber lost per landing. This
is done by simply plotting the amount lost per landing against the MTOW and MRW.
Wear rate Vs MTOW
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 450000
MTOW (kg)
A
m
o
u
n
t

l
o
s
t

p
e
r

L
a
n
d
i
n
g

(
k
g
)
Figure 1: Tyre Wear rate Vs MTOW
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Wear Rate Vs Max Ramp Weight
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 450000
Max Ramp Weight
A
m
o
u
n
t

L
o
s
t

p
e
r

L
a
n
d
i
n
g

(
k
g
)
Figure 2: Tyre Wear rate Vs Max Ramp weight
On examination of the graphs a linear correlation is apparent for both the MTOW
and the MRW. The equation of the trendline can be applied to any aircraft to predict
its tyre wear. The equation of the MTOW graph is
2.23x10
-6
x(MTOW)-0.0874 kg = Amount lost per landing (kg) (1)
Similarly for the ramp weight the equation of the trendline works out to be
2.23x10
-6
x(MRW)-0.0879 kg = Amount lost per landing (kg)...(2)
This small difference is expected as MTOWs and MRWs vary by a fractional
amount. Applying equations 1 & 2 to a range of common aircraft operating out of
Heathrow gives table 2.
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The lighter aircraft in table 2 have MTOWs in the 55,000 kg range. Their
corresponding points in figure 1 lie at the foot of the trendline. If the trendline is
extrapolated to lower weights (eg 40,000kg) the amount lost per landing
approaches zero and eventually negative reaches emissions. This is obviously not
possible, however if one wanted to cover this range of weight it would be valid to
draw a straight line to the origin from the end of the trendline. This, however, would
only be valid for Heathrow where the majority of its fleet lie in the 50,000-400,000
kg range.
Aircraft
Type
MTOW
(kg)
Kg per
Landing
(using eqn1)
Max Ramp
Weight
(kg)
Kg per
Landing
(using eqn2)
A319-131 64000 0.022 64400 0.022
A320-111 68000 0.024 68400 0.024
A320-211 73500 0.026 73900 0.026
A320-232 73500 0.026 73900 0.026
A321-231 89000 0.034 89400 0.034
B737-300 57833 0.019 58059 0.019
B737-436 62820 0.021 63000 0.021
B737-500 52163 0.016 52389 0.016
B737-500 53886 0.017 54113 0.017
B747-436 381000 0.173 382378 0.172
B747-436 396890 0.180 397800 0.180
B757-236 99700 0.039 100000 0.039
B767-336 158000 0.066 158400 0.066
B767-336 172300 0.073 172700 0.073
B767-336 181400 0.078 181800 0.077
B777-236 242670 0.107 243570 0.107
B777-236IGW 267619 0.119 268526 0.118
B777-236ER 297556 0.133 298010 0.132
Table 2: Tyre wear rates for Heathrow fleet
Quoting the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, they estimated that
between 1-10% of the eroded tyre material ends up as suspended PM10 [3]. Taking
the upper estimate of 10% equation 1 and 2 become:
2.23x10
-7
x(MTOW)-0.00874kg = Amount PM emitted per landing(kg)..(3)
2.23x10
-7
x(MRW)-0.00879 kg = Amount PM emitted per landing (kg)...(4)
These equations can now be combined with the brake figures to give us a generic
equation.
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4.1 Generic emission equation
Combining both brake and tyre prediction factors gives us
Tyres Brakes
2.23x10
-7
x(MTOW)-0.00874 kg + 2.53 x 10
-7
x (MTOW) = Amount lost per L (5)
2.23x10
-7
x(MRW)-0.00879 kg + 2.51 x 10
-7
x (MRW) = Amount lost per L (6)
This can be simplified to 4.76x10
-7
x(MTOW)-0.00874 kg (7)
4.74x10
-7
x(MRW)-0.00879 kg (8)
Applying these formulae to the representative Heathrow fleet gives Table 3.

Aircraft
Type
MTOW
(kg)
Kg per
Landing
(using eqn7)
Max Ramp
Weight
(kg)
Kg per
Landing
(using eqn8)
A319-131 64000 0.055 64400 0.055
A320-111 68000 0.064 68400 0.064
A320-211 73500 0.077 73900 0.077
A320-232 73500 0.077 73900 0.077
A321-231 89000 0.111 89400 0.111
B737-300 57833 0.042 58059 0.041
B737-436 62820 0.053 63000 0.052
B737-500 52163 0.029 52389 0.029
B737-500 53886 0.033 54113 0.033
B747-436 381000 0.762 382378 0.763
B747-436 396890 0.798 397800 0.798
B757-236 99700 0.135 100000 0.135
B767-336 158000 0.265 158400 0.265
B767-336 172300 0.297 172700 0.297
B767-336 181400 0.317 181800 0.317
B777-236 242670 0.454 243570 0.454
B777-236IGW 267619 0.509 268526 0.510
B777-236ER 297556 0.576 298010 0.575
Table 3: Combined Brake and Tyre PM 10 emission rates
If one wished to make an approximation of the whole fleet it would be possible to
use the average of the figures above or a weighted average which would better
represent the fleet of aircraft being considered. For example the average emission
rate based on MTOW is 0.065 kg per landing, this would represent a fleet whose
average weight of aircraft landing is 155,000 kg (average of MTOW column).
However this is quite crude and would only be valid as an approximate prediction.
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5. Conclusions
Two correlations for PM10 emissions have been derived using actual data collated
by aircraft manufacturers and overhaul services.
4.76x10
-7
x(MTOW)-0.00874 kg (7)
4.74x10
-7
x(MRW)-0.00879 kg (8)
These equations combine the effect of both brake and tyre wear. The derivation of
two equations was carried out in order to make the methodology more robust. The
choice of equation to apply will depend on availability of the aircraft specifications.
However there will be negligible difference between the resultant figures.
Selecting upper estimates regarding the amount of PM10 suspended has most
probably lead to a conservative generic factor to apply to the Heathrow fleet.
The extrapolation of brake wear rates for smaller commercial aircraft using MRW
and MTOW to cover the full size range is a significant extension beyond known
data. For a more complete analysis more data from a range of aircraft would be
required to validate the assumptions made.
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6. References
[1] Underwood B Y, Walker C T and Peirce M J (2004) Air quality modelling for
Heathrow airport 2002, netcen/AEAR/ENV/R/1694/Issue1
[2] Taylor P J (2004), Primary PM10 Emissions from Non-Engine Sources, Project
LHR, Expert Panels, February 2004.
[3] UNECE (2003) Automobile brake and tyre wear.
http://vergina.eng.auth.gr/mech/lat/PM10
[4] Data supplied by Kevin Morris, British Airways.
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