Technology Assessment on Aircraft-Level: Modeling of Innovative Aircraft Systems in Conceptual Aircraft Design

摘要

Leaps in aircraft efficiency and operational safety, that were seen within the last decades in civil air transportation, were mainly achieved by introduction of innovative aircraft systems. For assessment of new technology, it is mandatory to integrate the systems design into the preliminary aircraft design such as other disciplines are already today. Therefore, a method has been developed, that allows for fast systems modeling with a limited set of input parameters that are available in the preliminary design phase. In this paper, a methodology is introduced, that allows for assessing the repercussions of integration of innovative systems into the entire aircraft systems architecture. This systems model has been fully integrated into the Preliminary Aircraft Design Suite of the Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (ILR). In the design process benefits and drawbacks of innovative systems, such as changes in mass or power consumption, directly propagate to global aircraft characteristics such as fuel efficiency. Hence, impacts of integration of innovative systems can be directly assessed on an aircraft-level. As a case study the integration of a morphing leading edge device that replaces a conventional slotted slat device is presented.