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Conceptual Design and Multidisciplinary Optimization of Electric Vertical Take-Off and...
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Conceptual Design and Multidisciplinary Optimization of Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Aircraft

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Aeronautics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2027 | Viewed by 1633

Editors

Dr. Yu Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian 710072, China
Interests: aerodynamic shape optimization; ducted propeller; distributed electrical propulsion; multidisciplinary design optimization; aircraft conceptual design
Dr. Xiaoping Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
2. National Key Laboratory of Aircraft Configuration Design, Xi’an 710072, China
Interests: advanced UAV aerodynamics; flight stability and control; autonomous flight
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapidly expanding Urban Air Mobility (UAM) sector, driven by advancements in electric propulsion and automation, is set to transform transportation through the deployment of eVTOL aircraft. This transformation imposes substantial demands on the domain of aircraft conceptual design and development. The conceptual design of eVTOLs presents unique and complex challenges that surpass those associated with traditional fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters. Designers engaged in this critical phase of aircraft conceptual design must navigate the trade-offs inherent in distributed electric propulsion (DEP), manage high power demands within constrained energy budgets, and ensure safe and quiet operation in densely populated urban environments.

This Special Issue seeks to consolidate pioneering research that addresses these multifaceted aircraft conceptual design challenges through holistic and integrated approaches. We welcome contributions that detail innovative multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) frameworks that effectively bridge different flight regimes, novel strategies for battery and propulsion system integration, and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to explore the extensive eVTOL design space. By showcasing cutting-edge methodologies and design solutions, this Issue aims to serve as an essential resource for academics, engineers, and regulatory bodies in shaping the future of air mobility.

Dr. Yu Hu
Dr. Xiaoping Xu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • eVTOL conceptual design
  • multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO)
  • distributed electric propulsion (DEP)
  • battery sizing and electrical energy system integration
  • rotorcraft aerodynamics
  • design for noise abatement

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 23340 KB  
Article
An Investigation into the Effects of End-Plates and Blade Aspect Ratio on the Hovering Efficiency of Cycloidal Propellers
by Hanzhen Li, Yu Hu, Lai Zhang, Hongbo Sun, Xuchao Zhang and Sha He
Aerospace 2026, 13(7), 606; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace13070606 - 30 Jun 2026
Viewed by 287
Abstract
Cycloidal propellers are known for their omnidirectional vectored thrust, enabling smooth transitions between hovering and forward flight, making them ideal for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. However, cycloidal propellers tend to have lower hovering efficiency than [...] Read more.
Cycloidal propellers are known for their omnidirectional vectored thrust, enabling smooth transitions between hovering and forward flight, making them ideal for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. However, cycloidal propellers tend to have lower hovering efficiency than screw propellers at the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) scale. Adding end plates to the blade tips can improve hovering efficiency by suppressing blade tip vortices. But the impact of these end plates have not been thoroughly studied. This paper aims to seek the designs with enhanced hovering efficiency and develop design guidelines for cycloidal propellers with end plates. Comprehensive force measurement experiments are performed on designs with and without end plates, and designs with rotating and static end plates. Complementary high-fidelity numerical analysis is performed to gain deeper insights into the complex 3D flow structures and the role of end plates in suppressing induced power losses. Our study reveals that end plates can effectively suppress the efficiency degradation typically associated with low aspect ratio blades. We demonstrate that even with a blade aspect ratio of 1.5, a cycloidal propeller equipped with end plates can achieve high hovering efficiency, thereby establishing a new design guideline for lightweight, high-performance propulsion systems. The designs with stationary end plates are superior to those with rotating end plates because rotation introduces additional torque caused by the friction force. Designs featuring thick end plates (t¯e=0.056) outperform those with thin end plates (t¯e=0.004), as the rounded edges can eliminate end plate vortices. A comprehensive parametric study is conducted, evaluating blade chord-to-radius ratios from 0.26 to 0.65, aspect ratios from 0.5 to 3.0, pitching amplitudes from 10° to 50°, as well as end plate configurations (stationary vs. rotating, and thin vs. thick). From this parameter space, the best design was identified as featuring stationary thick end plates (t¯e=0.056), a chord-to-radius ratio of 0.65, and a large pitching amplitude of 40 degrees. It achieves a hovering efficiency of 0.72 with a blade aspect ratio of 3, which is comparable to that of sub-scale rotors with similar Reynolds number. In contrast, for the cases without end plates, the highest hovering efficiency is lower than 0.6. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual Design and Multidisciplinary Optimization of Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Aircraft)
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27 pages, 9829 KB  
Article
Robust Design and Optimisation of Five-Phase Spoke-Type Permanent Magnet Actuator for e-VTOL Applications
by Saad Chahba, Cristina Morel and Ahmad Akrad
Aerospace 2026, 13(5), 433; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace13050433 - 5 May 2026
Viewed by 686
Abstract
This paper deals with the investigation of the best topology of a five-phase fault-tolerant spoke-type permanent magnet (PM) motor for the propulsion of a multirotor aerial vehicle. This study is carried out through four stages. First, an assessment of the PM configuration effect [...] Read more.
This paper deals with the investigation of the best topology of a five-phase fault-tolerant spoke-type permanent magnet (PM) motor for the propulsion of a multirotor aerial vehicle. This study is carried out through four stages. First, an assessment of the PM configuration effect on motor performance, considering three positions, namely surface PM, spoke-type PM, and V-shape PM. Second, an evaluation of the optimisation formulation problem on motor performance, where three formulations, respectively, involving either electric motor (EM) efficiency, EM efficiency and torque, or EM efficiency and active weight are considered for this purpose. Third, the stator winding configuration effect on performance in healthy and faulty operation mode (OM), e.g., open-circuit fault (OC) and inter-turn short-circuit (ITSC) fault, is also assessed. This evaluation is performed considering two winding configurations, namely fractional slot concentrated winding (FSCW) with single-layer (SL) or dual-layer (DL) winding. Fourth, a modified rotor geometry is proposed, based on the airgap length variation, in order to increase the airgap flux density amplitude and thus improve the motor torque and power densities. A comparative study, in this case, is performed with a classical rotor geometry in order to assess their influence on motor performance in healthy and faulty operation mode (OM). In addition, this paper presents a quantitative comparison of the proposed five-phase motor and a three-phase spoke-type PM motor, where the results, in healthy and faulty OM, show the interest of the proposed multiphase motor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conceptual Design and Multidisciplinary Optimization of Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Aircraft)
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