IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v29y2025i6p1977-1986.html

On the advantage of assuming constant mass flow rates in discretized dynamic material flow models

Author

Listed:
  • Oliver Cencic
  • Rudolf Frühwirth

Abstract

When using discrete dynamic stock models in combination with lifetime distributions, the total amount of material transported in a period is implicitly assumed to be a spike at either the start or the end of the considered period. Depending on the choice, the residence time of materials in stock is either underestimated in the inflow‐at‐start approach or overestimated in the inflow‐at‐end approach. This paper proposes to solve this assignment problem by assuming the total mass flow to be evenly distributed over the period, using a continuous dynamic stock model, and discretizing the results afterward. It will be shown that this so‐called uniform‐inflow approach delivers more realistic results.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliver Cencic & Rudolf Frühwirth, 2025. "On the advantage of assuming constant mass flow rates in discretized dynamic material flow models," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 29(6), pages 1977-1986, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:29:y:2025:i:6:p:1977-1986
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.70102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.70102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jiec.70102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:29:y:2025:i:6:p:1977-1986. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.