Sustainable Glider Tow Craft
Design of MARCUS-T
A. Van Acker (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
A.H.C. Plaggenborg (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
C. Grunwald (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
F.M. Nowosielski (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
G. Mendoza Ferrandis (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
M.J. Werners (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
M. Zhao (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
N.M. van Nieuwland (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
S.B.L. Etman (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
T.B.M. van Santen (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Joris Melkert – Mentor (TU Delft - Flight Performance and Propulsion)
J.S. Pockelé – Coach (TU Delft - Aircraft Noise and Climate Effects)
Maria Rosaria Acquaviva – Coach (TU Delft - Flight Performance and Propulsion)
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Abstract
Among all the chaos surrounding the impact of general aviation on climate change, there is a small beacon of peace: the sport of gliding. Gliders are nothing new: they were the very first heavier-than-air aircraft capable of transporting people. It should come to no surprise this sport has only taken off in popularity since then. Typically, a glider becomes airborne via winch or aerotow. Out of these, aerotow tends to be preferred due to thermals guiding the glider’s favoured drop-off location. Surprisingly, the increasing awareness of climate change and unpowered nature of the sport have not led to much research into sustainability of the tow craft used for aerotows. As such, the necessity of designing a sustainable glider tow craft is indisputable. The tow craft designed to fulfil this aim is the Motorised Automatic Return Craft Used for Sustainable Towing, or in short, MARCUS-T. Starting from scratch, with only several top-level requirements given, a set of in-depth analyses of the main subsystems will eventually lead to a preliminary design. In the future, this design should be revised for more detailed design.