1,720,963 research outputs found

    Design and optimization of a large turboprop aircraft

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    This paper proposes a feasibility study concerning a large turboprop aircraft to be used as a lower environmental impact solution to current regional jets operated on short/medium hauls. An overview of this market scenario highlights that this segment is evenly shared between regional turboprop and jet aircraft. Although regional jets ensure a large operative flexibility, they are usually not optimized for short missions with a negative effect on block fuel and environmental impact. Conversely, turboprops represent a greener solution but with reduced passenger capacity and speed. Those aspects highlight a slot for a new turboprop platform coupling higher seat capacity, cruise speed and design range with a reduced fuel consumption. This platform should operate on those ranges where neither jet aircraft nor existing turboprops are optimized. This work compares three different solutions: a high‐wing layout with under‐wing engines installation and both two-and three‐lifting‐surface configurations with low‐wing and tail tips‐mounted engines. For each concept, a multi‐disciplinary optimization was performed targeting the minimum block fuel on a 1600 NM mission. Optimum solutions were compared with both a regional jet such as the Airbus A220‐300 operated on 1600 NM and with a jet aircraft specifically designed for this range

    A Simulation-Based Performance Analysis Tool for Aircraft Design Workflows

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    A simulation-based approach for take-off and landing performance assessments is presented in this work. In the context of aircraft design loops, it provides a detailed and flexible formulation that can be integrated into a wider simulation methodology for a complete commercial aviation mission. As a matter of fact, conceptual and preliminary aircraft design activities require iterative calculations to quickly make performance predictions on a set of possible airplane configurations. The goal is to search for a design that best fits all top level aircraft requirements among the results of a great number of multi-disciplinary analyses, as fast as possible, and with a certain grade of accuracy. Usually, such a task is carried out using statistical or semi-empirical approaches which can give pretty accurate results in no time. However, those prediction methods may be inappropriate when dealing with innovative aircraft configurations or whenever a higher level of accuracy is necessary. Simulation-based design has become crucial to make the overall process affordable and effective in cases where higher fidelity analyses are required. A common example when flight simulations can be effectively used to support a design loop is given by aircraft mission analyses and performance predictions. These usually include take-off, climb, en route, loiter, approach, and landing simulations. This article introduces the mathematical models of aircraft take-off and landing and gives the details of how they are implemented in the software library JPAD. These features are not present in most of the currently available pieces of preliminary aircraft design software and allow one to perform high fidelity, simulation-based take-off and landing analyses within design iterations. Although much more detailed than classical semi-empirical approaches, the presented methodologies require very limited computational effort. An application of the proposed formulations is introduced in the second part of the article. The example considers the Airbus A220-300 as a reference aircraft model and includes complete take-off and landing performance studies, as well as the simulation of both take-off and landing certification noise trajectories

    Automatic modeling of aircraft external geometries for preliminary design workflows

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    This article introduces a high-fidelity geometry definition methodology enabling Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) of aircraft configurations. All definitions and functional features have been implemented within the JPAD software, a Java-based computing library for aircraft designers, which provides a dedicated geometric modeling module called JPADCAD. The geometric module, that comes as an application programming interface (API) built on top of the OpenCASCADE Technology solid modeling kernel, is conceived for the automatic production of parametric aircraft CAD geometries. The tool allows the definition of input geometries for low-fidelity as well as high-fidelity aerodynamic analyses, hence proves to be a key factor in the entire MDAO process, particularly in conceptual or preliminary design analysis workflows. The main goal of such a geometric library remains ease of use and support for automation to minimize unnecessary or repetitive human effort. The backbone of the presented methodology is the parametric definition of a generic commercial transport aircraft configuration that translates into software data structures and functionalities of CAD surface modelers. These aspects are discussed in the first part of the article. The second part presents a use case example of the geometric modeling API, where an automated aerodynamic analysis workflow is used to construct a prediction model for canard-wing configurations

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Bypass Ratio Parametric Analyses on a Narrow-Body Aircraft Using a New Tool for Turbofan Rubberization

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    A major issue which has usually prevented aircraft manufacturers from implementing efficient and cost-effective design processes is the loose integration of engine models into iterative aircraft design workflows. This work aims at reducing this gap, by introducing a simplified modeling of the behavior of a gas turbine, allowing to rubberize a generic turbofan engine. In the present context, this methodology has been implemented for a two-spool, direct-drive, unmixed flow turbofan, but it could be easily extended to different engine configurations (e.g., geared turbofan). In order to prove the effectiveness of this approach, this rubber engine model has been included in an already existing aircraft design framework and has been used to carry out parametric analyses on engine bypass ratio, aiming at guiding the selection of this engine parameter for an advanced short-haul narrow-body aircraft

    Noise, emissions and costs trade factors for regional jet platforms using a new software for aircraft preliminary design

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    A multidisciplinary analysis approach plays a very important role in the development of future transport aircraft, being able to interconnect all aircraft-related subjects and suppliers. A major issue, which has prevented aircraft manufacturers from implementing efficient and cost-effective design processes, is the loose integration of engine models into iterative aircraft design workflows. The continuous improvement of computer calculation capabilities over years has allowed the growth of a large family of software dedicated to aircraft preliminary design activities concerning also multi-disciplinary analyses, and optimizations. In this context, a new software for aircraft preliminary design, multi-disciplinary analyses and optimizations named JPAD (Java toolchain of Programs for Aircraft Design) has been developed at the University of Naples Federico II. The main purpose of this paper is to show the capabilities of the JPAD software applied to typical preliminary design problems. Thus, results of the activities carried out by means of JPAD in the scope of the Work Package 2 (WP2) of the European CleanSky2 project ADORNO will be shown. Those will concern trade factors and response surfaces related to environmental noise, DOC, and pollutant emissions (linked to the design mission block fuel) for a Rear-Mounted engines (RM) reference 2014 aircraft configuration

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods
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