By Bjorn Fehrm
February 24, 2023, ©. Leeham Information: Within the Sustainable Air Transport collection we completed final week, we described new plane applied sciences developed to cut back Inexperienced Home Fuel (GHG) emissions.
There was one space we didn’t talk about, the progress on standard applied sciences to cut back the gasoline burn of an airliner.
We now begin a collection, digging deeper into what we will do with standard applied sciences to cut back the gasoline burned per passenger kilometer and, thus, GHG emissions.
Determine 1. Truss braced wing, a approach to cut back plane drag. Supply: Boeing.
Airliner expertise to cut back gasoline burn and by it emissions
The emissions from burning fossil fuels are on the root of our GHG emissions and, subsequently, local weather issues. Within the Sustainable Air Transport collection, we lined what new untried strategies may do along with Sustainable Aviation Gas, SAF, to assist decrease GHG emissions.
We discovered solely SAF can provide short-term reduction. However the steady work on decreasing gasoline consumption per passenger-km additionally helps, and we didn’t cowl this improvement.
Now we undergo standard areas that each one goal a extra economical and environmentally pleasant future airliner. We divide it on the aircraft-level into airframe and propulsion enhancements.
Airframe enhancements
We’ll cowl new structural and aerodynamic developments that purpose to decrease mass and drag, thus lowering gasoline consumption.
Boeing’s truss braced wing work, Determine 1, is a superb instance of such developments. Why does it lower airplane drag and decrease mass? What are the positives and negatives? What are Airbus and different gamers doing in these fields?
Propulsion enhancements
We additionally take a look at developments on the propulsion facet. What’s the benefit of the geared turbofan? Can direct drive designs proceed to evolve?
What about Open Rotor and CFM’s Open Fan referred to as RISE? What are the similarities and variations between Open Fan and Open Rotor? Which answer is healthier?
If the Open rotor/Open fan is a greater approach to drive the plane ahead, why hasn’t it occurred up to now? The expertise was flight-trialed 35 years in the past! What has modified that now makes it extra prone to discover a industrial utility?
Deeper than regular discussions
We’ll undergo all this in depth. To dig deeper, we are going to use the Leeham plane design and efficiency mannequin to research the airframe enhancements and GasTurb to take a look at the propulsion developments. We begin with airframe developments subsequent week.
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