Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020)

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 42886

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Guest Editor
Aircraft Design and Systems Group (AERO), Department of Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Berliner Tor 9, 20099 Hamburg, Germany
Interests: aircraft design; flight mechanics; aircraft systems; open access publishing
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Honorary Guest Editor
Flight Performance and Propulsion, Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, 2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands
Interests: aircraft design
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Aircraft design is, as we know, the first fascinating step in the life of an aircraft, where visions are converted into reality.

In a practical sense, aircraft design supplies the geometrical description of the aircraft. Traditionally, the output is a three-view drawing and a list of aircraft parameters. Today, the output may also be an electronic 3D model. In the case of civil aircraft, a fuselage cross-section and a cabin layout are provided in addition.

In an abstract sense, aircraft design determines the design parameters to ensure that the requirements and constraints are met and design objectives are optimized. The fundamental requirements for civil aviation are payload and range. Many constraints come from certification rules demanding safety. The objectives are often of a financial nature, like lowest operating costs. Aircraft design always strives for the best compromise among conflicting issues.

The design synthesis of an aircraft goes from the conceptual design to the detailed design. Frequently, expert knowledge is needed more than computing power. Typical work involves statistics, the application of inverse methods, and use of optimization algorithms. Proposed designs are analyzed with respect to aerodynamics (drag), structure (mass), performance, stability and control, and aeroelasticity, to name just a few. A modern aircraft is a complex, computer-controlled combination of its structure, engines, and systems. Passengers demand high comfort at low fares, society demands environmentally friendly aircraft, and investors demand a profitable asset.

Overall aircraft design (OAD) comprises all aircraft types in civil and military use, considers all major aircraft components (wing, fuselage, tail, undercarriage) as well as the integration of engines and systems. The aircraft is seen as part of the air transport system and beyond contributing to multimodal transport. Aircraft design applies the different aerospace sciences and considers the aircraft during its whole life cycle. Authors from all economic sectors (private, public, civic, and general public) can submit to this Special Issue (SI). Education and training in aircraft design is considered as important as research in the field.

The SI can be a home for those active in the European Workshop on Aircraft Design Education (EWADE) or the Symposium on Collaboration in Aircraft Design (SCAD), both independent activities under the CEAS Technical Committee Aircraft Design (TCAD). Please see http://AircraftDesign.org for details.

Following the successful initial Special Issue on “Aircraft Design (SI-1/2017)”, this is already the second SI “Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020)”. Depending on the need, further special issues may follow. Activities in the past showed that aircraft design may be a field too small to justify its own (subscription-based) journal. A continuous open access special issue may fill the gap. As such, the Special Issue “Aircraft Design” can be a home for all those working in the field who regret the absence of an aircraft design journal.

The Special Issue "Aircraft Design" is open to the full range of article types. It is a place to discuss the "hot topics" (zero-emission airplanes, electric flight, urban air mobility—you name it). The classic topics in aircraft design remain:

  • Innovative aircraft concepts
  • Methodologies and tools for aircraft design and optimization
  • Reference aircraft designs and case studies with data sets

It is up to us as authors to shape the Special Issue “Aircraft Design” according to our interests through the manuscripts we submit.

Prof. Dr. Dieter Scholz
Prof. em. Egbert Torenbeek
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind 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.

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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8 pages, 1259 KiB  
Editorial
Publishing in “Aircraft Design” with a Continuous Open Access Special Issue
by Dieter Scholz
Aircraft Design and Systems Group (AERO), Hamburg University of Applied Science (HAW Hamburg), Berliner Tor 9, 20099 Hamburg, Germany
Aerospace 2020, 7(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace7010005 - 14 Jan 2020
Viewed by 5644
Abstract
The article looks at publishing options in the field of aircraft design to find that no dedicated journal on aircraft design exists. For this reason, a Continuous Special Issue Aircraft Design of the well established journal “Aerospace” at the Open Access publisher MDPI [...] Read more.
The article looks at publishing options in the field of aircraft design to find that no dedicated journal on aircraft design exists. For this reason, a Continuous Special Issue Aircraft Design of the well established journal “Aerospace” at the Open Access publisher MDPI is started. Often special issues of a journal are introduced for “hot topics”. Here, the subset “special issue” is used for a scientific domain—in this case “aircraft design”. Recurring single special issues are numbered in sequence and are identified by the year of the deadline for manuscript submissions. This allows for the delivery of several single special issues over time in a row without the need to define a publishing schedule up front. Together these single issues form the Continuous Special Issue Aircraft Design and offer a new publishing home for the aircraft design community. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020))
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Research

Jump to: Editorial

31 pages, 3466 KiB  
Article
Amphibious Aircraft Developments: Computational Studies of Hydrofoil Design for Improvements in Water-Takeoffs
by Arjit Seth and Rhea P. Liem *,‡
1 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong 999077, China
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Aerospace 2021, 8(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace8010010 - 30 Dec 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 6139
Abstract
Amphibious aircraft designers face challenges to improve takeoffs and landings on both water and land, with water-takeoffs being relatively more complex for analyses. Reducing the water-takeoff distance via the use of hydrofoils was a subject of interest in the 1970s, but the computational [...] Read more.
Amphibious aircraft designers face challenges to improve takeoffs and landings on both water and land, with water-takeoffs being relatively more complex for analyses. Reducing the water-takeoff distance via the use of hydrofoils was a subject of interest in the 1970s, but the computational power to assess their designs was limited. A preliminary computational design framework is developed to assess the performance and effectiveness of hydrofoils for amphibious aircraft applications, focusing on the water-takeoff performance. The design framework includes configuration selections and sizing methods for hydrofoils to fit within constraints from a flying-boat amphibious aircraft conceptual design for general aviation. The position, span, and incidence angle of the hydrofoil are optimized for minimum water-takeoff distance with consideration for the longitudinal stability of the aircraft. The analyses and optimizations are performed using water-takeoff simulations, which incorporate lift and drag forces with cavitation effects on the hydrofoil. Surrogate models are derived based on 2D computational fluid dynamics simulation results to approximate the force coefficients within the design space. The design procedure is evaluated in a case study involving a 10-seater amphibious aircraft, with results indicating that the addition of the hydrofoil achieves the purpose of reducing water-takeoff distance by reducing the hull resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020))
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18 pages, 1951 KiB  
Article
Design Space Exploration of a Jet Engine Component Using a Combined Object Model for Function and Geometry
by Jakob R. Müller *, Massimo Panarotto and Ola Isaksson
Department of Industrial and Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology, Chalmersplatsen 4, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
Aerospace 2020, 7(12), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace7120173 - 8 Dec 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4417
Abstract
The design of aircraft and engine components hinges on the use of computer aided design (CAD) models and the subsequent geometry-based analyses for evaluation of the quality of a concept. However, the generation (and variation) of CAD models to include radical or novel [...] Read more.
The design of aircraft and engine components hinges on the use of computer aided design (CAD) models and the subsequent geometry-based analyses for evaluation of the quality of a concept. However, the generation (and variation) of CAD models to include radical or novel design solutions is a resource intense modelling effort. While approaches to automate the generation and variation of CAD models exist, they neglect the capture and representation of the product’s design rationale—what the product is supposed to do. The design space exploration approach Function and Geometry Exploration (FGE) aims to support the exploration of more functionally and geometrically different product concepts under consideration of not only geometrical, but also teleological aspects. The FGE approach has been presented and verified in a previous presentation. However, in order to contribute to engineering design practice, a design method needs to be validated through application in industrial practice. Hence, this publication reports from a study where the FGE approach has been applied by a design team of a Swedish aerospace manufacturers in a conceptual product development project. Conceptually different alternatives were identified in order to meet the expected functionality of a guide vane (GV). The FGE was introduced and applied in a series of workshops. Data was collected through participatory observation in the design teams by the researchers, as well as interviews and questionnaires. The results reveal the potential of the FGE approach as a design support to: (1) Represent and capture the design rationale and the design space; (2) capture, integrate and model novel solutions; and (3) provide support for the embodiment of novel concepts that would otherwise remain unexplored. In conclusion, the FGE method supports designers to articulate and link the design rationale, including functional requirements and alternative solutions, to geometrical features of the product concepts. The method supports the exploration of alternative solutions as well as functions. However, scalability and robustness of the generated CAD models remain subject to further research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020))
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22 pages, 1191 KiB  
Article
Multifidelity Sensitivity Study of Subsonic Wing Flutter for Hybrid Approaches in Aircraft Multidisciplinary Design and Optimisation
by Marco Berci 1 and Francesco Torrigiani 2,*,†
1 Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, 6371 Stans, Switzerland
2 Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, 21129 Hamburg, Germany
Current address: DLR, Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics, Hein-Saß-Weg 22, 21129 Hamburg, Germany.
Aerospace 2020, 7(11), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace7110161 - 12 Nov 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3659
Abstract
A comparative sensitivity study for the flutter instability of aircraft wings in subsonic flow is presented, using analytical models and numerical tools with different multidisciplinary approaches. The analyses build on previous elegant works and encompass parametric variations of aero-structural properties, quantifying their effect [...] Read more.
A comparative sensitivity study for the flutter instability of aircraft wings in subsonic flow is presented, using analytical models and numerical tools with different multidisciplinary approaches. The analyses build on previous elegant works and encompass parametric variations of aero-structural properties, quantifying their effect on the aeroelastic stability boundary. Differences in the multifidelity results are critically assessed from both theoretical and computational perspectives, in view of possible practical applications within airplane preliminary design and optimisation. A robust hybrid strategy is then recommended, wherein the flutter boundary is obtained using a higher-fidelity approach while the flutter sensitivity is computed adopting a lower-fidelity approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020))
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28 pages, 16233 KiB  
Article
Multi-Fidelity Design Optimization of a Long-Range Blended Wing Body Aircraft with New Airframe Technologies
by Stanislav Karpuk 1,*, Yaolong Liu 2,* and Ali Elham 1,*
1 Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Structures, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Hermann-Blenk-Straße 35, 38108 Braunschweig, Germany
2 School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Aerospace 2020, 7(7), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace7070087 - 30 Jun 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 7779
Abstract
The German Cluster of Excellence SE²A (Sustainable and Energy Efficient Aviation) is established in order to investigate the influence of game-changing technologies on the energy efficiency of future transport aircraft. In this paper, the preliminary investigation of the four game-changing technologies active flow [...] Read more.
The German Cluster of Excellence SE²A (Sustainable and Energy Efficient Aviation) is established in order to investigate the influence of game-changing technologies on the energy efficiency of future transport aircraft. In this paper, the preliminary investigation of the four game-changing technologies active flow control, active load alleviation, boundary layer ingestion, and novel materials and structure concepts on the performance of a long-range Blended Wing Body (BWB) aircraft is presented. The BWB that was equipped with the mentioned technologies was designed and optimized using the multi-fidelity aircraft design code SUAVE with a connection to the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code SU2. The conceptual design of the BWB aircraft is performed within the SUAVE framework, where the influence of the new technologies is investigated. In the second step, the initially designed BWB aircraft is improved by an aerodynamic shape optimization while using the SU2 CFD code. In the third step, the performance of the optimized aircraft is evaluated again using the SUAVE code. The results showed more than 60% reduction in the aircraft fuel burn when compared to the Boeing 777. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020))
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18 pages, 8417 KiB  
Article
Simulation and Test of Discrete Mobile Surfaces for a RC-Aircraft
by Francesco Nicassio and Gennaro Scarselli *,†
1 Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Aerospace 2019, 6(11), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace6110122 - 5 Nov 2019
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6138
Abstract
Morphing structures suitable for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been investigated for several years. This paper presents a novel lightweight, morphing concept based on the exploitation of the “lever effect” of a bistable composite plate that can be integrated in an UAV horizontal [...] Read more.
Morphing structures suitable for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been investigated for several years. This paper presents a novel lightweight, morphing concept based on the exploitation of the “lever effect” of a bistable composite plate that can be integrated in an UAV horizontal tail. Flight dynamics equations are solved in Simulink environment, thus being able to simulate and compare different flight conditions with conventional and bistable command surfaces. Subsequently, bistable plates are built by using composite materials, paying particular attention to dimensions, asymmetric stacking sequence and total thickness needed to achieve bistability. NACA0011 airfoil is chosen for proving this concept. Wind tunnel tests demonstrate that the discrete surface is capable of withstanding the aerodynamic pressure. A remotely piloted vehicle is employed to test the discrete horizontal tail command during the take-off. The results show that, choosing a proper configuration of constraints, stacking sequence and aspect ratio for the bistable laminate, it is possible to tailor the snap-through mechanism. The proposed concept appears lighter and increases aerodynamic efficiency when compared to conventional UAV command surfaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020))
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15 pages, 9207 KiB  
Article
Studies on the Electro-Impulse De-Icing System of Aircraft
by Xingliang Jiang * and Yangyang Wang *
State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Aerospace 2019, 6(6), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace6060067 - 5 Jun 2019
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 7689
Abstract
In order to solve the accidents caused by aircraft icing, electro-impulse de-icing technology was studied through numerical simulation and experimental verification. In addition, this paper analyzed in detail the influence of the number, placement arrangement, and starting time of pulse coils on the [...] Read more.
In order to solve the accidents caused by aircraft icing, electro-impulse de-icing technology was studied through numerical simulation and experimental verification. In addition, this paper analyzed in detail the influence of the number, placement arrangement, and starting time of pulse coils on the de-icing effect, which plays a guidance role in the design and installation of the subsequent electro-impulse de-icing system. In an artificial climate chamber, the new de-icing criteria were obtained by tensile test, and the platform for the electro-impulse de-icing system was built. Replacing the skin with an aluminum plate, an electro-impulse de-icing system with a single coil was used. A three-dimensional skin-ice layer model was established by using Solidworks software. The finite element method was adapted. Through comparison between the de-icing prediction results and the test results in the natural environment, it was proven that the calculation process of de-icing prediction was correct, which laid a theoretical foundation for the selection of the number, placement arrangement, and starting time of the pulse coils. Finally, in this paper, by choosing the leading edge of NACA0012 wing as the research object, the influence of the number, placement arrangement, and starting time of pulse coils on the de-icing effect was analyzed. The results show that to get a better de-icing effect, the electro-impulse de-icing system with two impulse coils should be selected. The two coils were installed in the central position of the top and bottom surfaces of the leading edge, respectively. In addition, one of the impulse coils started working 1200 μs later than the other one. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aircraft Design (SI-2/2020))
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