A Relation Database Structure for Life Cycle Assessments

Contents page Preface 5 Summary 6 Introduction 7 2. Relational databases and database design 9 2.1 What is a database? 9 2.2 Relational databases 10 2.3 The design process 10 2.4 Data model terminology and notation. The table QMetadatatype The table QMetaData 4.2.2 The table of Units The table Unit The table ActivityParameterType 4.2.3 The tables representing the database of substances The table PropertyType The table SubstanceProperty The table FlowProperty The table AlternateName The table Substance The table SubstanceCategory The table Composition 4.2.4 The table of addresses and names The table JuridicalPerson 4.2.5 The tables representing the Object of Study The table Sector The table ProcessType The table ProcessName The table ObjectOfStudy 4.2.6 The tables representing Environment and Geography The table Environment The table Geography 4.2.7. The tables representing the Activity and Flow concept The table Activity The table Componentship The table Flow 4.2.8 Linking Activity, Flow and Internal Activity The table FlowConnection The table ActivityParameter The table Allocation The table BaseFlow 4.2.9 The table for documenting the Inventory The table Inventory 4.2.10 The tables related to Impact Assessment The table ImpactAssessment The table AssessmentConnection 4.2.10 (cont.) The table ImpactIndex 4 The table Event The table UnitEffect The table UnitEffectValue The table ValuationMethod The table ActivityImpactIndex 5. Applications 57 5.1 User interfaces and tools 57 5.1.1 Simple database update-programs 5.1.2 Flowchart constructors and viewers 5.1.3 Analysis tools 5.2 Algorithms 58 5.2.1 Vertical structures and error propagation 5.2.2 Statistics and sensitivity analysis 5.3. Precautions 60 5.3.1 Deep structures and error propagation 5.3.2 Simplified work with no quality checks 5.3.3 Updating of data referred to 6. Future research needs 63 7. Acknowledgments 64 8. Literature 64 Appendix 1: The data model and SQL-code. Preface This report has been prepared as a part of the Nordic NEP-project and is the final report from its first subproject,-" Datatools ". A closer presentation of the NEP project is made in appendix 3. The report includes achievements made on Chalmers University of Technology, Departments of Technical and Environmental Planning and of Computing Science, where Raul Carlson made a datamodel of the life cycle inventory as a diploma work, supervised by Annmari Tillman. Göran Lövgren has been responsible for the data modeling and Bengt Steen for the environmental aspects. Bengt Steen has also been the project leader. We like to express our thanks to everyone who has contributed to this work. The relational database reflects very much …