A Simulation-Based Performance Analysis Tool for Aircraft Design Workflows

Abstract

A simulation-based approach for take-off and landing performance assessments is presented in this work. In the context of aircraft design loops, it provides a detailed and flexible formulation that can be integrated into a wider simulation methodology for a complete commercial aviation mission. As a matter of fact, conceptual and preliminary aircraft design activities require iterative calculations to quickly make performance predictions on a set of possible airplane configurations. The goal is to search for a design that best fits all top level aircraft requirements among the results of a great number of multi-disciplinary analyses, as fast as possible, and with a certain grade of accuracy. Usually, such a task is carried out using statistical or semi-empirical approaches which can give pretty accurate results in no time. However, those prediction methods may be inappropriate when dealing with innovative aircraft configurations or whenever a higher level of accuracy is necessary. Simulation-based design has become crucial to make the overall process affordable and effective in cases where higher fidelity analyses are required. A common example when flight simulations can be effectively used to support a design loop is given by aircraft mission analyses and performance predictions. These usually include take-off, climb, en route, loiter, approach, and landing simulations. This article introduces the mathematical models of aircraft take-off and landing and gives the details of how they are implemented in the software library JPAD. These features are not present in most of the currently available pieces of preliminary aircraft design software and allow one to perform high fidelity, simulation-based take-off and landing analyses within design iterations. Although much more detailed than classical semi-empirical approaches, the presented methodologies require very limited computational effort. An application of the proposed formulations is introduced in the second part of the article. The example considers the Airbus A220-300 as a reference aircraft model and includes complete take-off and landing performance studies, as well as the simulation of both take-off and landing certification noise trajectories.

Multidisciplinary Optimization of a Regional Jet Including Advanced Airframe and Engine Technologies

“…The tool adopted to carry out all the multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization workflows in the framework of the ADORNO project is JPAD [12][13][14][15][16][17] (Java API for Aircraft Designers), a software for preliminary aircraft design that has been developed at the University of Naples Federico II by the DAF (Design of Aircraft and Flight technologies) research group and by SmartUp Engineering *** , an academic spin-off of the University of Naples.…”

Bypass Ratio Parametric Analyses on a Narrow-Body Aircraft Using a New Tool for Turbofan Rubberization

“…5. The final analysis of the baseline model, whose results have been included in Table 3, was carried out using the module of JPAD for MDA, involving a simulation-based approach for the calculation of the performances of the airplane [22], as well as a more detailed calculation of the aerodynamics and the weights. It is important to highlight also that the characteristics of the powerplant, with the exception of the BPR and the SLS T/O thrust, were determined for this detailed analysis through the turbofan surrogate model, assuming a 2015 EIS, an OPR equal to 50 and a T4 of 1800 K, which should be close to the characteristics of the LEAP-1A.…”

Hybridization and Mission Analysis of a regional turboprop

“…: blown flap and distributed electric propulsion) are out of the intent. Even if most of ATR-42 data are available, to make a fair comparison between the two platforms, the mission profile is analyzed considering the same software, validated by comparison with other tools [13,14], and thermal engine deck (which will be scaled depending on the specific requirements of the two aircraft). Mission requirements shown in the following table have been considered both for the conventional baseline and the hybrid-electric concept.…”