Flying wings are one of the most promising concepts regarding the ever-increasing air traffic demand. Furthermore, they help improving economic efficiency and are environmentally friendly, both in terms of emissions and noise. In the first place, the paper deals about the initial design of a medium size C-type flying wing, of the 300-seat class, showing that the aircraft is operationally efficient, and can beat conventional airplanes of similar capacity. It specifically exhibits some considerable gains in field and cruise performances. Second, the paper addresses the potential of some emerging technologies, such as laminar flow control, vectored thrust, and active stability, which provide additional improvements and allow the simplification of the original configuration to a U-type arrangement. A preliminary assessment of emergency evacuation is included.

Aeronautics and astronautics are two closely related disciplines, sometimes found under the joint term aerospace, that have progressed at a formidable pace during the 20th century. Their impact on society is overwhelming. For example, the aeroplane, the core of aeronautics, has been identified as one of the three major inventions of that century. On its turn, satellites have paved the way for modern globalization. Major drivers leading this progress have changed from the classical motto ‘higher, further, faster’ to the current ‘more affordable, cleaner, quieter’, but safety has always been kept the undisputed number one. The underlying key factors for progress have been and still are excellence and co-operation. Both aeronautics and astronautics are multidisciplinary in nature and, accordingly, this review summarizes relevant advances and trends in pertinent fields: aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and so on. All these fields are still very healthy and the 21st century will witness again a new era of astonishing aerospace developments.

No abstract

Aircraft have greatly changed over the last decades, mainly due to astonishing developments in key technological areas. The present note attempts to correlate the evolution of jet airliners with improvements in aerodynamics and propulsion. A simple model is elaborated from the range equation, taking the main magnitudes of the payload—range diagram as input data. Results show the robustness and potential of such procedures.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

emergency landings, aborted take-offs etc. A meaningful fraction of fatalities occurring in these situations is related to fire and toxic environments. Therefore, a key factor for survival is the ability to quickly evacuate the aeroplane (1-3) . To improve passenger and crew safety in such circumstances, airworthiness authorities require manufacturers and operators to meet a number of design and performance standards related to cabin evacuation (4,5) . One of these regulations, albeit quite controversial, is the 90-second rule which requires the demonstration in any new or derivative-type aeroplane that all occupants can safely abandon the aircraft in less than 90s, with half of the usable exits blocked, minimum illumination provided by floor proximity lighting, and a certain age-gender mix in the simulated occupants.The rule was established in 1965 with 120 seconds, and has been evolving over the years to encompass the improvements in escape equipment (3,6) , changes in cabin and seat material (2,7) and more complete and appropriate crew training (1,(8)(9)(10)(11) . A recent amendment to FAR regulations (4) has introduced new exit types and new conditions to perform or assess evacuation demonstrations; although some questions are still open. Table 1 summarises the updated exit types, including the new type B and C categories.The unique objective of the demonstration is to show that the aeroplane can be evacuated in less than 90s under the aforementioned conditions. It does not represent accident scenarios nor is intended for system optimisation. The demonstration only provides an industrial benchmark for consistent evaluation. However, the information provided on the random variable 'evacuation time' by a ABSTRACTThe present paper describes a new, agent-based computer model that can simulate the evacuation of narrow body transport aeroplanes in the conditions prescribed by the airworthiness regulations for certification. The input data are extracted from a complete plan view of the cabin. The results include full egress details of all occupants, passengers and crew-members, and the most significant evacuation figures and diagrams. The model has been tuned and verified with real data of narrow body certification demonstrations. Numerical simulations of six narrow body aircraft, representative of current designs, show the capabilities of the model and provide relevant information on the relationship between cabin features and emergency evacuation results. Although the computer model has been developed for helping in the certification process it would be useful too in the design of new cabins.