Assessment of Future Airframe and Propulsion Technologies on Sustainability of Next-Generation Mid-Range Aircraft

Abstract

The present work demonstrates the impact of future airframe and propulsion technologies on the sustainability of potential future medium-range commercial jets with design specifications similar to the Airbus A320-200. Advanced airframe and engine technologies include laminar flow control (LFC), active load alleviation, new materials and structures, and ultra-high bypass ratio turbofan engines. Two aircraft configurations with various design options were compared to determine potentially the best option for the mission profile, which tends to minimize the environmental impact. Each configuration was designed to balance the equivalent CO2 emissions and Direct Operating Costs. Technology sensitivity analyses were performed to investigate the significance of particular technology combinations and determine the ones that improve aircraft sustainability the most. All studies were performed at a conceptual design level using a multi-fidelity design approach to investigate the system-level effects of the technologies. The open-source aircraft design environment SUAVE was extended and integrated with other aircraft design and analysis tools to obtain all required correlations. The aircraft with advanced technologies showed an average reduction in equivalent CO2 emissions of 36% and a 23% reduction in DOC compared to the reference aircraft for a similar mission profile, although aircraft with future technologies may have a 43% higher production cost. The given results indicate that the application of technologies may be commercially successful if technologies achieve expected performance values, despite high development costs. Finally, the technology sensitivity analysis demonstrated the most significant influence of engine-related technologies and laminar flow control compared to other technologies considered in this research. Depending on design and integration complexities, engine technologies can be more achievable in the near future and can substantially reduce the overall emission level.

Comparative study of hydrogen and kerosene commercial aircraft with advanced airframe and propulsion technologies for more sustainable aviation

“…The initial sizing block consists of the constraint analysis framework and the SUAVE mission analysis to enable automatic and robust pre-sizing of the aircraft. 14 Given the set of aircraft top-level requirements, mission profile, models and coefficients responsible for aircraft technologies, and initial geometric and weight characteristics, an aircraft can be rapidly sized and necessary sensitivity analysis studies can be performed. Given the initial aircraft and mission characteristics input, the first iteration of the constraint diagram generation is performed.…”

“…14 The positioning of the engines was motivated by the potential of additional 4% increase of aerodynamic efficiency with potentially minor weight penalties due to installation. 14,73,74 The allocation of the fuel tanks is shown in Figure 5 where two integral tanks are located in front and behind the cabin. This configuration showed the most stable allocation of the aircraft center of gravity compared to the configuration which had both tanks located behind the cabin.…”

“…Laminar-turbulent transition with the presence of active suction of NLF was modeled using the one-equation model described in Ref. 14 where the curve fit was based on numerous numerical and experimental studies of wing laminar flow. This way, the boundary layer transition highly depends on the wing planform geometry and affects the design process.…”

“…Given significant improvements of two design approaches, it is important to investigate the cumulative influence of both airframe and hydrogen combustion technologies on sustainability of potential future aircraft. The latest study by Karpuk et al 14 performed a conceptual design and assessment of a medium-range aircraft with future technologies including laminar flow control, load alleviation, advanced materials and structure concepts, and ultra-high bypass ratio turbofan engines. The outcomes showed potential emission improvement capabilities and assessed potential direct operating costs (DOC) of future aircraft.…”

A Formulation of the Industrial Conceptual Design Optimization Problem for Commercial Transport Airplanes

“…Various conceptual design optimization problems of commercial transport airplanes have been formulated, initially with a single objective [8][9][10][11][12], then with multiple objectives [13,14], focusing on economy. With the recent social concern regarding environmental sustainability, the optimization problems have started to focus on optimization for both economy and environmental impacts, considering airport noise, NO X , and/or CO 2 emissions [15][16][17][18]. However, they were developed for preliminary feasibility studies, and the fidelity and comprehensiveness of these problems were generally insufficient for industrial purposes.…”