Aircraft Design Optimisation providing optimum performance towards limiting aviation’s contribution towards Global Warming

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

Mitigating aviation’s contribution to climate change through its various emissions (including but not limited to CO2) will require new and increasingly more disruptive technologies. A reduced global warming impact could be achieved by relaxing the design constraints typically set, such as (but not limited to) aircraft design payload/range, cruise speed and cruise altitude. This topic asks for a multi-disciplinary optimization based on various cost functions such as operating cost, CO2, NOx, soot/particulate matter, as well as the likelihood of contrail induced cirrus formation as a function of the aircraft/engine design parameters (payload, range, cruise Mach number and altitude, etc.). An estimation of the mitigation potential by deviating from current typical operational parameters and current aircraft is expected. For a given design, an estimate of the sensitivity to operating parameters such as speed and altitude should be given. Selected projects should allow the coverage of two key air transport market segments: the passenger long-haul market segment as well as the short to medium range segment. Proposers should select design payload/range metrics that correspond with typical aircraft utilization for instance selecting route coverage up to a representative percentile of existing traffic flows. Proposers are free to select one, or both market segments and to define a relevant reference aircraft; and subsequently to present aircraft concepts that provide climate optimised performance. The CS2 Technology Evaluator can provide a validation opportunity within the CS2 environmental assessment. Please refer to the full topic descriptions document published in this call.