Assessing selected technologies and operational strategies for improving the environmental performance of future aircraft

摘要

The aviation industry is expected to grow at a rate of 4-5% in the next 20 years. Such a growth rate may have important impacts on local air quality, climate change and community noise. This work assesses selected technologies and operational procedures aimed at improving the environmental performance of future airplanes. Two different studies are presented: estimating turbine durability benefits from jet engine water injection and evaluating improvements in fuel burn and operating costs from using advanced technology, high bypass ratio engines and varying the design cruise speed. Water injection in commercial airplane engine combustors lowers operating temperatures and can lead to significant reductions in NO, and soot emissions, potentially improving engine hot section life. With increasing fuel prices and possible introduction of emissions trading in the future, fuel burn may become a more critical aircraft design driver. Increasing engine bypass ratio and lowering cruise speed can lead to reduced fuel consumption. The dominant mechanisms of failure in turbine blades are low cycle fatigue, creep and oxidation. The Universal Slopes method is used to evaluate possible fatigue life benefits from water injection for three representative blade materials.