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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PARSIFAL (Prandtlplane ARchitecture for the Sustainable Improvement of Future AirpLanes)

Teaser

Summary

The project PARSIFAL (Prandtlplane ARchitecture for the Sustainable Improvement of Future AirpLanes) aims at defining the basis to improve the air transport of the future by evaluating the effects of the introduction of an innovative box-wing aircraft, called â€œPrandtlPlaneâ€ (PrP), into service. The project is focused on the medium size commercial aircraft category, in which the adoption of the PrP configuration can confer to aircraft with the same overall dimensions and fuel consumption of an A320/B737 the payload capacity of a A330/B767. In addition, a further objective of PARSIFAL is to develop the design tools that would allow to investigate the application of the PrP configuration to other aircraft categories, for which the PrP can provide a huge increase of payload (passengers and freight), keeping the dimensions fully compatible with existing airports.
The efficiency and the environmental impact of the PrP aircraft resulting after the conclusion of PARSIFAL will be compared with the most efficient equivalent conventional aircraft and the advantages of the new configuration will be quantified, taking also the standpoint of manufacturers, airlines and airport managers into account.
The PARSIFAL Consortium is supported by an Advisory Board composed of representatives of aircraft manufacturers, airlines and airport management companies, who will provide requirements, guidance and industrial expertise for the project development.

Work performed

The work performed in the first 18 months of the project was carried out almost in line with what was planned. It was managed following the 3 phases established at the beginning:
- Phase 1 (M1Ã·M6): Starting PrP configuration: activity progress 100%
- Phase 2 (M7Ã·M33): Development of specific knowledge: activity progress about 50%
- Phase 3 (M25Ã·M36): Performances and applications: will start in 2nd period
In the following a quick synthesis of the work done is done.
PHASE 1 - STARTING PRP CONFIGURATION
Scope: to establish the configuration of the aircraft on which to focus the subsequent scientific analyses. The first part of the work has been dedicated to the socio-economic and market analysis of the near future (between now and 2035), which allowed the Consortium to identify the most promising market segment towards which the development of the PrandtlPlane (PrP) configuration could be oriented. The result is that the maximum increase of passenger demand is expected for small to medium ranges (500-4000 km), which are today covered by medium size airplanes, as for instance the A320 and B737.
As a consequence, the relevant Top Level Airplane Requirements (TLAR) have been specified in order to define a starting point for the design of the PrP. The main TLAR are the following
- Number of passengers: 250 Ã· 320
- Max range at max payload: 4.000 km
- Minimum Mach number at cruise conditions: 0.78
- Maximum Wingspan: 36 m (ICAO Aerodrome Reference Code â€œ3Câ€ or â€œ4Câ€, depending on Take-Off Field Length)
PHASE 2 - DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE
Scope: (A) to develop the scientific tools that are necessary to perform the necessary engineering evaluations on the PrP box-wing configuration; (B) to define the aircraft configuration that will be used for the evaluation of PrP performances (final part of the Project).
The design of a new aircraft such as the PrP requires the evaluation of many alternatives, for which the development of specific tools for parametric studies as well as the development of interfaces among the such tools is needed.
Starting from the above consideration, preliminary design tools, properly set for the box-wing analysis, have been used to investigate the PrP design space. After several design loops involving both lower (e.g. panel methods) and higher fidelity tools (e.g.: CFD, FEM, etc.), this phase has led to a baseline PrP configuration, which represents the 1st Milestone of the project. Such configuration has a box wing system designed to reduce drag during cruise, a wider fuselage to increase n. of passengers and an uninterrupted cargo deck. The cabin layout has 8 seats abreast and 2 aisles, which are enlarged in order to facilitate passengers boarding and deboarding, hence reducing the aircraft turn-around-time. Other characteristics are:
- N. passengers: 308
- Wingspan: 36 m
- Fuselage length: 44 m
- Fuselage width: 5.40 m
- Cruise Mach: 0.79
- Maximum Take-Off Weight: 120 tons
More in details, the specific technical activities performed in the 1st period of the project have been focused on:
- Definition of models for the evaluation of economic viability of the PrP as well as for the impact on airport operations;
- Aerodynamic analysis, for the design of the lifting system and vertical tail plans, cruise and take-off performance evaluation, of stability and control derivatives calculation, etc.;
- Structural analysis for the design of the main components of fuselage and wing system;
- Estimation of Weight and Centre fo Gravity;
- Analysis of propulsion system integration and effects on external noise production;
- Mission profile optimization in compliance with the defined TLARs and evaluation of fuel consumption.
In order to allow each partner to contribute with own tools and expertise to the development of the starting configuration and to get a deeper knowledge about the PrP, a collaborative design workflow has been conceived. This is made possible through the adoption of a standard fi

Final results

The main ambition of the project is to be the milestone of a new generation of civil aircraft.
The expected step forward in civil aviation that the project intends to pursue is the demonstration that the PrP is a feasible solution for an aircraft that is capable of transporting about 50% more passengers compared to present aircraft with the same wingspan (eg. A320/B373), decreasing fuel consumption per transported passenger and, therefore, the environmental impact.
This means the ability to increase the number of passengers, minimizing the saturation of airport capacity and providing an answer to the increasing air traffic demand.
The preliminary results at the end of the first period of activities confirm the expectations about the potential of the PrP configuration. Such potential will be assessed in the second period of the research, where both the aircraft configuration and the design method will be refined.
In addition to the specific case of the PrP under study within the project, the developed design methods and tools will allow to study the application of the PrP to different aircraft categories, taking advantage of scaling procedures derive from the project itself.
All that, in the medium period, is expected to have considerable impact in terms of:
- reduced pollution (both CO2 and noise) per transported passenger;
- increased air transport capability capacity with low impact on airport capacity;
- increased market opportunities for the aeronautical industry;
- increased non-aviation business activities related to airports, where the number of people in transit depend on air transport capability directly.