Many projects have made efforts to realize commercial supersonic transports (SSTs). These trials have revealed many barriers to the successful completion of various necessary project goals related to supersonic cruise efficiency, sonic boom annoyance, economic viability and also the development of solutions for avoiding environmental problems. The shift of aircraft fuel from kerosene to liquid hydrogen will come in the near future. The purpose of this study is to discuss the feasibility of a hydrogen-fueled, low-boom SST designed to carry 50 passengers for a range of 3,500 nm at a Mach 1.6 cruise speed using a method which considers the effects of hydrogen and incorporates the sonic boom minimization theory. A multi-point optimization using a genetic algorithm is conducted. The objective functions are to maximize range, minimize takeoff weight, WTO, and to minimize the difference of equivalent areas, ΔA E , which is a metric about sonic booms. The design variables were the fuselage fineness ratio, cruise lift coefficient and wing area, which are fundamental for aircraft performance. The results show that there are trade-off relationships among them. By analyzing the higher-ranked populations that have lower ΔA E , the promising range of a wing area, a cruise C L , and an altitude for the reduction of ΔA E are revealed.
Abstract:Recently, environmental problems have been paid great attention in the world. According to the current report of ICAO, CO 2 emissions of aircraft to the total emissions will increase at an average annual rate of 3~4%. Furthermore, stable supply of oil is becoming difficult. Without exceptions, those are hitting aviation industries. Therefore, in the near future, the time to shift from kerosene to liquid hydrogen (LH 2 ) as fuel of aircraft will come. An idea of supersonic transport (SST) fueled by LH 2 as one of the next-generation SST has been proposed by JAXA. The purpose of this study is to compare the weight, aerodynamics and cost of hydrogen fueled SST with those of kerosene fueled SST and to discuss its feasibilities. A possibility of two-bubble fuselage configuration is also evaluated.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.