Similitude augmentation in sub-scale flight test model design: An MDAO based similarity maximization approach

By 2050, the aviation industry is expected to grow by 250-300% of its current air traffic. If left unchecked, the corresponding increase in atmospheric and noise pollution will have a catastrophic impact on the environment. Thus, improvements in aircraft design are urgently needed for a sustainable growth of the aviation industry. The...

Unconventional Propeller−Airframe Integration for Transport Aircraft Configurations

It is envisioned that the future generations of regional and short to medium-range aircraft employ a high level of propeller integration to achieve low-emission flight. The objectives of unconventional propeller installations include the enhancement of the airframe aerodynamic efficiency, increasing the propeller efficiency, improving cabin...

Flight Mechanics and Performance of Direct Lift Control: Applying Control Allocation Methods to a Staggered Box-Wing Aircraft Configuration

The objective of the present dissertation is to show how redundant control surfaces can be exploited to shape an aircraft dynamic behavior and obtain desired flight mechanics performance. This is achieved by introducing novel approaches and methods for flight mechanics and control, mainly revolving around original implementations of traditional...

Hybrid-Electric Aircraft with Over-the-Wing Distributed Propulsion: Aerodynamic Performance and Conceptual Design

Recent developments in the field of hybrid-electric propulsion (HEP) have opened the door to a wide range of novel aircraft configurations with improved energy efficiency. These electrically-driven powertrains enable “distributed propulsion” configurations, in which the aerodynamic interaction between the propulsive devices and the airframe is...

Boundary-layer instability on rotating cones: An experiment-based exploration

Boundary-layer instability induces spiral vortices on rotating cones. As they grow along the cone, the vortices enhance mixing of high- and low-momentum fluid, and subsequently, cause the boundary-layer to transition into a turbulent state. This transition process is scientifically enticing as it is one of the classical problems in fluid...

A Graph-based, Probabilistic Framework for Novel Aerospace Technology Evaluation and Selection

Technology selection is ubiquitous in all manners of complex systems engineering, design and everyday business operations. Technologies are often complex entities shrouded in uncertainty, assumptions and interpretation. Therefore, quantifying their effect (i.e. outcome) becomes challenging for several reasons. First, as simulations may not be...

Aerodynamics of Propellers in Interaction Dominated Flowfields: An Application to Novel Aerospace Vehicles

This research is on the aerodynamics of propellers in interaction. As a propeller is dependent on the flowfield it encounters, any disturbance in that inflow results in changes in loading on the propeller. This can result in propulsive efficiency changes and affect stability through generation of in-plane forces and out-of-plane moments. The...

High Resolution Imaging of Noise from Novel Integrated Propeller Systems

Humans localize sound incessantly using the ears and it proves to be important of<br/>our awareness. It can also be a cause of annoyance to the community whenever<br/>sound is in the form of noise. Due to increase of wealth, industry, technology and<br/>corresponding globalization there is a large increase of noise. Especially with the<br/...

Agile MDAO Systems: A Graph-based Methodology to Enhance Collaborative Multidisciplinary Design

The need to continuously design better aircraft is challenging on multiple fronts: the existing tube-and-wing aircraft are difficult to improve further, while more creative configurations prove more cumbersome to design due to the lack of empirical knowledge and the (usually) more highly integrated components. Multidisciplinary Design Analysis...

Towards optimum swirl recovery for propeller propulsion systems

In a propeller propulsion system, due to the torque working on the propeller, a rotational motion of the fluid is generated. This rotational motion, expressed as a swirl component in the slipstream, does not result in any useful propulsive power, but causes a decrease in propeller efficiency. By recovering the momentum in the crosswise direction...

A Physics-based Approach to Assess Critical Load Cases for Landing Gears within Aircraft Conceptual Design

The European Union and the United States are proposing to bring in more strict flight vehicle emission criteria in their reports of the high‐level groups on aviation research, i.e. EU Flightpath 2050 and US Destination 2025. More fuel‐efficient aircraft must be developed to achieve this target. Moreover, the increasingly competitive aviation...

Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic Interaction Effects for Tip-Mounted Propellers: An Experimental Study

Propellers can enable a significant reduction in energy use of future aircraft by offering a higher propulsive efficiency than turbofan engines. This is especially relevant for a new generation of (hybrid-)electric aircraft. However, the integration of propellers with the airframe remains a challenge, and leads to performance and noise penalties...

Advise, Formalize and Integrate MDO Architectures: A Methodology and Implementation

Conceptual Design Study for In-flight Refueling of Passenger Aircraft

Aerodynamic Interaction between Propeller and Vortex

An Integrated Knowledge Based Engineering Mechatronics Modeling Approach to Support the Design of Unstable and Unmanned Aircraft

The commercial transport aircraft industry is currently developing new “more electric aircraft” (MEA) designs in which various conventional mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic power systems are replaced with electrically-based power systems. Their objective is to improve the overall flight performance by reducing the aircraft weight and by a...

Dielectric Barrier Discharge Actuators for Flow Control: Diagnostics, Modeling, Application