Fuel Efficiencies Through Airframe Improvements

Bezos‐O'Connor, Gaudy M.; Mangelsdorf, Mark F.; Nickol, Craig L.; Maliska, Heather; Washburn, Anthony E.; Wahls, Richard A.

doi:10.2514/6.2011-3530

Cited by 35 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(17 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, there is still a huge gap between the current development and the ambitious goals set by aviation authorities such as Flightpath 2050 [1]. To address the challenging goals, IATA technology roadmap [2] and the US NASA N+ programs [3,4] have identified a bunch of potential airframe and propulsion technologies which might be available in 2050 time frame according to technology readiness level. Investigating the effect of these technologies, it has been concluded that the technology development alone cannot reach the desired emission reduction goals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual Aircraft Empennage Design Based on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Approach

Liu

Jiang

2022

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Within a conventional aircraft design process, the horizontal tail and vertical tail are generally sized via volume coefficient methods. In this manuscript, an improved method for conceptual aircraft tail design based on multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) approach with stability and control constraints has been developed. To develop this method, first, the tail design requirements have been derived from the regulations and the fundamental functionalities of tail plans. Then, the empennage design is formulated as an MDO problem. Eventually the design optimization of horizontal and vertical tail is combined with the design optimization of the aircraft wing. A test case is presented for concurrent wing and tail plane design, which resulted in more than 9% reduction in aircraft block fuel weight and more than 3% reduction in aircraft maximal takeoff weight, which indicates a great potential for fuel burn and carbon reductions with empennage design optimization at conceptual aircraft design phase.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual Aircraft Empennage Design Based on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Approach

Liu

Jiang

2022

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Improvements in the aerodynamics of commercial aircraft, and in particular in the reduction of drag [ 1 , 2 ], are needed in order to reach the targets in polluting emission reduction set by the European Commission [ 3 ] and by NASA [ 4 ]. Since skin-friction drag is the major source of drag (contributing about half of the total aircraft drag [ 4 , 5 ]), substantial friction drag reduction can be achieved by maintaining the flow laminar over large portions of the aircraft surfaces [ 5 , 6 ]. However, laminar boundary layers are also more prone to separation than their turbulent counterparts [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skin-Friction-Based Identification of the Critical Lines in a Transonic, High Reynolds Number Flow via Temperature-Sensitive Paint

Costantini

Henne

Klein

et al. 2021

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this contribution, three methodologies based on temperature-sensitive paint (TSP) data were further developed and applied for the optical determination of the critical locations of flow separation and reattachment in compressible, high Reynolds number flows. The methodologies rely on skin-friction extraction approaches developed for low-speed flows, which were adapted in this work to study flow separation and reattachment in the presence of shockwave/boundary-layer interaction. In a first approach, skin-friction topological maps were obtained from time-averaged surface temperature distributions, thus enabling the identification of the critical lines as converging and diverging skin-friction lines. In the other two approaches, the critical lines were identified from the maps of the propagation celerity of temperature perturbations, which were determined from time-resolved TSP data. The experiments were conducted at a freestream Mach number of 0.72 and a chord Reynolds number of 9.7 million in the Transonic Wind Tunnel Göttingen on a VA-2 supercritical airfoil model, which was equipped with two exchangeable TSP modules specifically designed for transonic, high Reynolds number tests. The separation and reattachment lines identified via the three different TSP-based approaches were shown to be in mutual agreement, and were also found to be in agreement with reference experimental and numerical data.

show abstract

Application of Drag Reduction Techniques to Transport Aircraft

Malik

Crouch

Saric

et al. 2015

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two approaches for aircraft drag reduction are reviewed. Laminar flow control has long been studied as a potential drag reduction approach with a promise to reduce fuel burn by over 10%, but it is beginning to appear in a small way on modern commercial transports only recently because of the associated technical challenges. In this chapter, strategies for achieving laminarization for transonic transports are discussed. Wall suction is still the most effective technique for controlling any of the laminar–turbulent transition mechanisms, but natural laminar flow has been used for engine nacelle laminarization on Boeing 787‐8 and will be used on the advanced technology winglets of 737Max. For swept wings, a polished leading edge can create large regions of laminar flow because the flight environment is relatively turbulence free and the surface finish reduces the initial amplitude of stationary cross‐flow vortices. Issues such as insect contamination remain a challenge, but research continues to overcome the challenges to make laminar flow an effective technique for drag reduction. Active flow control can also potentially be used as a drag reduction technology. One specific example is considered where it is used to increase rudder side force by delaying airflow separation over the deflected control surface. The increased rudder effectiveness could lead to smaller, lower drag vertical tails with a potential to reduce fuel burn by about 0.5%. This is of significant value to aircraft industry and has resulted in recent wind tunnel and planned flight tests to further investigate the technology.

show abstract

Fuel Efficiencies Through Airframe Improvements

Cited by 35 publications

References 19 publications

Conceptual Aircraft Empennage Design Based on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Approach

Conceptual Aircraft Empennage Design Based on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Approach

Skin-Friction-Based Identification of the Critical Lines in a Transonic, High Reynolds Number Flow via Temperature-Sensitive Paint

Application of Drag Reduction Techniques to Transport Aircraft

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About