TMAL02 Expert Conference

Box-Wing Configurations: A Future Scenario?

Edin Trumic — 2020-01-20

The aviation industry has witnessed great development in the last 40 to 50 years including but not limited to deeper understandings of aerodynamics, materials, different types of drag affecting aircrafts and efficiency progress regarding internal combustion and jet engines. Ongoing research is taking place in search for the next future airliner configuration with the aim of bringing further improvements in fuel efficiency, reductions in noise and noxious emissions from the engine(s). One of these “future airliner configurations” is the so-called box-wing or joined-wing, where researchers are claiming potentials of reduced structural weight and direct operating costs by lowering or eliminating the induced drag. This improves overall fuel efficiency and therefore makes the configuration interesting to investigate further.

A Study on Flight Mechanics of Tailless Aircraft

Shree Harsha Vijaya Kumar — 2020-01-20

Flying Wings or Tailless aircraft are fixed-wing aircraft defined by their lack of a definite or pronounced fuselage and absolute absence empennage. Jack Northrop defined these aircraft as ’A type of airplane in which all of the functions of a satisfactory flying machine are disposed and accommodated within the outline of the airfoil itself’. These aircraft are designed specifically to make best use of the aerodynamics effects of the wing design in order to reduce induced drag due to inclusion of empennage in the airframe and tail section vortices.

Unconventional Take-off and Landing Methods

Wenli Kong — 2020-01-20

The take-off and landing process is the challenge for an aircraft to start and end the actual flight successfully. It has always been invested a lot of research to make optimization for more comfort, safety, etc. Next to the conventional take-off and landing methods where the aircraft is started and landed at a long runaway by the execution of the pilot, there are – also because of the variety of applications of modern aircraft - a lot of other take-off and landing methods that are required due to the circumstances or even because of better appropriateness or given technology and design.

This paper gives a short overview of a few unconventional and modern take-off and landing techniques and presents them regarding application fields, potential and challenges and also focuses on future relevant aspects.

Concorde 2.0 : Ongoing Supersonic Projects

Florian Böhme — 2020-01-20

This report serves to inform about, which role supersonic projects will play in the future of aviation.

Therefore, two recent projects, which shall bring back the former euphoria for supersonic transportation get shown.

But first of all the Concorde, which was the only commercial used civil supersonic aircraft gets analyzed to work out, why supersonic transportation got forgotten.

Having a look in the past to see, what problems the Concorde faced, makes it possible to evaluate if the projects for the future are doing better.

Hypersonic Flight

Niklas Olsson — 2020-01-20

The main areas of focus within hypersonic flight were hypersonic propulsion and re-entry vehicles. Findings of the study states, self sustained hypersonic flight need an advanced engine that can function through all Mach regimes. Aerodynamic design of re-entry vehicles require a different approach compared to atmospheric hypersonic flight.

Aircraft-based Rocket Launch

Abhay Mahesh Hervatte — 2020-01-20

Rocket launches are risky, expensive and statistically more likely to fail as compared to a conventional aircraft take-off. Additionally, a larger amount of energy is needed, primarily in the lower troposphere, to propel the rocket upwards[1].

It was theorized that if a rocket is launched above the earth’s troposphere, the amount of fuel and subsequently the size of the rocket would be reduced by a significant margin. This report aims to explore, and also provide a basic understanding on, the methods that are currently implemented in aircraft based rocket launching systems.

Sabre-Rocket

Christopher Winqvist — 2020-01-20

This is a informative paper on the saber-rocket, a new type of rocket engine currently in development at Reaction Engines inc in the UK.

Vertical Landing Rockets

Sucheth Krishna Kumar Bysani — 2020-01-20

The concept of Vertical landing Rockets was developed to achieve re-usability of the rocket in order to decrease cost and time of Rocket launching. Successful attempts of vertical landing rockets have been attempted by SpaceX and Blue origin with the motivation of reduction of manufacturing and research costs, these have led the path for the re-usability of rocket engines and autonomous recovery of rockets. This paper will discuss the challenges to meet the precision landing of rockets on earth and other planets and also factors required to extend this technology to implement it in future space tourism.

When Do I Need to Change a Part? – Lifetime Analysis of Dynamic Helicopter Components

Fabian Maletzke — 2020-01-20

Numerous examples from the past show that a failure of a single part of an aircraft can lead to a catastrophic event. Therefore aircraft and all their dynamically loaded parts are required to have a finite Service Life Limit (SLL). This paper gives a brief overview of a calculation method used to determine lifetimes of dynamic helicopter components (fatigue evaluation) using linear damage accumulation. It is based on the Certification Specification for Large Rotorcraft CS-29 of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

Electric Flying Vehicles

Jorge Ocaña Dominguez — 2020-01-20

Although the electric aircraft are a quite new concept, the first attempts were in 1970s. Since then, considerable advances have been made in order to overcome the environmental impact. The biggest challenge nowadays are still the batteries.

Electric Aircraft: Alternative Power Sources

Victor Hjärpe — 2020-01-20

The development of electric aircrafts is going on to a great extent today. Many large well-known companies in the aerospace industry are working hard to achieve functional and useful aircrafts that can handle the demands required for longer and more efficient air travel.

This project examines how electric aircraft work today and the limitations that exist. How they can be developed and function in the future. The aim of this project is to understand how electric aircrafts work and why they are not used today, as well as what is required for them to function as commercial aircrafts in the future.

Contactless Energy Transfer Systems

Blanka Tonsic — 2020-01-20

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce the Contactless Energy Transfer (CET) systems and its state of art naming current applications. The wireless power transfer consists of a technology capable of transferring energy contact-less. It is not a new technology but is gaining importance nowadays in many cases where the use of wires are an impediment.

Electric Cars or Trucks with Just-in-time Energy-Reception

Bala Murali Krishna G. — 2020-01-20

Electric Vehicles (EV) are the future of transportation and a possible solution to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. But electric vehicles are run on batteries that are less energy dense when compared to the fossil fuels used in Internal Combustion Engines (ICE). This has given rise to range anxiety along with other concerns such as expensive batteries, poor charging infrastructure and huge recharge times when compared to a fill-up at the fuel station. Automotive companies, old and new, are constantly working on improving the range on their EVs, mostly by installing batteries with higher capacities. This in turn leads to an increase in the cost and weight of the vehicle. However, there is one solution being researched that could make EVs as competent as their ICE counterparts and it involves providing them with a continuous supply of energy while on the move. The energy supply can be used either to charge the batteries r for direct propulsion purposes. With batteries being the most expensive component in an EV, a simple upgrade in the current road infrastructure could help manufacturers downsize batteries and offer their vehicles at a lower cost. Similar to electric rails, electrified roads between cities is a concept that has been gaining popularity in the world of EVs. The concept is based on the principles of dynamic charging wherein Electrified Road Systems (ERS) [1], supply EVs with energy from the grid and either directly propel or charge the batteries of an EV. With Autonomous Electric Vehicles[1] being touted as the future of personal mobility, dynamic charging systems just might be the solution enabling their growth.

Coandǎ Effect

Harmen Punte — 2020-01-20

The Coandǎ effect is a phenomenon used in several applications such as health care, robotics and aeronautics. However, this effect is often interpreted incorrectly. The aim of this paper is to explain the Coandǎ effect and elaborate on the working principle behind it. In section 3 the common definition is given and additions are made to replenish it. It is explained when the Coandǎ effect is applicable for airfoils and finally some applications in modernday aeronautics are presented, for example V/STOL, ACHEON and NOTAR.

Forward-swept Wings

Fredrik Lundvall — 2020-01-20

This article was written for an expert conference at Linköpings Universitet. In this short article the concept of forward-swept wings will be explained and some of its benefits and shortcomings presented.

Albatross Flight: Dynamic Soaring

Alice Haultcoeur — 2020-01-20

This article presents the flight of an albatross, and more precisely the survey of the dynamic soaring. It is the flying technique used by the bird to save energy.

Lift Generation of Forward Flying Helicopters/Rotors

Agustín Monzón — 2020-01-20

This paper gives a fundamental introduction to the lift generation in forward flying helicopters and rotors. The paper proceeds by introducing the concept of basic lift generation in helicopters and the role of blade orientation in lift generation. Then a brief description about a forward flight of helicopters with comparison to different rotor configurations are presented to understand the lift generation influenced by the different rotor configurations. Finally the paper discusses the complexity involved in the forward flight and possibly discuss some futuristic ideas to overcome these convolutions in lift generation of forward flying helicopters.

Cloud and Weather Phenomena based on the Temperature Gradient

Lu Yu-Cheng — 2020-01-20

Most of cloud and weather phenomena occur in the troposphere. With ISA atmosphere model by US Standard Atmosphere, we can obtain the temperature gradient in the atmosphere, which is an important cause of those phenomena. And combined with basic thermodynamics and meteorology knowledge, we can further know about the details of how clouds and weather phenomena occur and the influences to flight.