A conceptual design study of a distributed electric propulsion transport aircraft is presented. The objective is to study the applicability of distributed electric propulsion configurations to aircraft serving thin-haul airline routes. A series hybrid powertrain is selected, such that shorter routes can be operated on battery power aloine, while longer routes can be operated with a range extender, to reduce the required battery size. Two range extender options are examined: a modern turbodiesel and an advanced recuperated turbogenerator. Conventional fuel-powered aircraft are designed in parallel with the same mission and constraints, to illustrate the relative impact of the electric propulsion configurations on the chosen metrics. An operating cost model is assumed, to assess the commercial viability of the various designs. The advanced concepts are generated and analyzed using purpose-built conceptual design tools, with optimization employed to minimize a weighted average operating cost of a short battery-powered flight and a longer hybrid-powered flight. The analysis tools are also used to model existing aircraft for comparison. Plots of various trade studies are presented. The results suggest that the configurations examined in this study present an advantage in operating costs over conventional aircraft, in addition to assumed noise and emissions advantages.
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