TRR 364:  Synergies of Highly Integrated Transport Aircraft - SynTrac

• Subject Area: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering ; Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Thermal Engineering/Process Engineering
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 498601949

Climate-neutral mobility, in particular climate-neutral air transport, is required to meet Sustainable Devel-opment Goals. A substantial increase of the overall aircraft efficiency is a prerequisite to achieve the vision of a future climate-neutral air transport system. Consistently continued development of aircraft and propul-sion technologies will contribute significantly to this target. The synergies associated with a highly in-creased integration of the propulsion systems into future transport aircraft contribute to this target to a similar degree with a potential of 10 to 20 % additional energy savings. Main pillars of this integration are Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI), Distributed Propulsion (DP), the combination of thrust generation and air-craft control as well as the manifold aspects of integration of the propulsion systems into the airframe. The comprehensive assessment of the synergies and the optimally balanced application of the main pillars re-quire a truly cross-disciplinary, cross-system view of the entire aircraft and its systems. The synergies arise from physical processes and phenomena at the manifold interfaces between aircraft and propulsion systems. These make the interfaces between the associated disciplines as well as their physical models and methods fluent to an unprecedented extent. This raises the main research question of SynTrac: Which means of interaction and integration of physical models as well as experimental and numerical methods beyond the current state of the art are successful in realizing the synergies and potentials of highly integrated transport aircraft, and how large are these potentials? SynTrac embraces the engineering disciplines Aerodynamics, Acoustics, Flight Physics, Structural-Mechanics and Thermodynamics. A central aspect of the approach is a novel and comprehensive assessment of the synergies and potentials comprising not only energy savings and thermodynamics but also the important aerodynamic couplings, flight dynamics, handling and control allocations as well as the acoustic signatures. It is based on attuned, in-depth research of cross-discipline and cross-system integration aspects defining the most promising space of optimization. They include aerodynamic, functional, design, structural-mechanical and environmental aspects of aircraft and propulsion system integration. The detailed investigation of physical processes of high impact which only become relevant at very high levels of integration of aircraft and propulsion system constitute novel fundamentals and enablers for cross-system integration and assessment. They comprise the physical description of multi-functional structures, phase transition phenomena enabling exhaust gas treatment, active flow control for the inhomogeneous flows entering the propulsors and advanced acoustic modelling.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios

Current projects

• A01 - Experimental methodology for aircraft flow losses (Project Head Friedrichs, Jens )
• A02 - Simulation of aircraft flow losses (Project Heads Radespiel, Rolf ;  Weigand, Bernhard )
• A03 - Aerodynamic coupling of propulsion, airframe, and control surfaces for aircraft with distributed and inte-grated propulsion systems (Project Heads Grabe, Cornelia ;  Rudnik, Ralf )
• A04 - Distributed energy-efficient flight control — control allocation methods (Project Heads Ahmad, Ph.D., Aamir ;  Fichter, Walter )
• A05 - Flight dynamics models and handling qualities (Project Head Steen, Meiko )
• A06 - Conceptual design, assessment and optimization of highly integrated transport aircraft (Project Heads Hanke-Rauschenbach, Richard ;  Strohmayer, Andreas )
• A07 - Aircraft Systems Engineering and Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (Project Head Staack, Ph.D., Ingo )
• B01 - Functional integration and preservability of propulsors — waste heat recovery (Project Heads Bode, Christoph ;  Koch, Christian )
• B02 - Exploitation of aerodynamic propeller-airframe interactions by integrated design (Project Head Lutz, Thorsten )
• B03 - Flow control by morphing for future integrated propulsion systems (Project Head Hühne, Christian )
• B04 - Integrated flow simulation for thrust vectoring propulsion systems (Project Heads Friedrichs, Jens ;  Staudacher, Stephan )
• B05 - Cabin noise of integrated and distributed propulsion (Project Head Langer, Sabine C. )
• B06 - Structural design space and interfaces of aft-mounted engines — methodological framework, structural design and optimization (Project Heads Haupt, Matthias ;  Ricken, Tim )
• C01 - Composite materials with thermo-mechanical functionality for future integrated propulsion systems (Project Heads Hühne, Christian ;  Middendorf, Peter )
• C02 - Exhaust gas treatment and thermal management in advanced propulsion systems by use of porous media (Project Heads Lamanna, Grazia ;  Schulte, Kathrin )
• C03 - Control of inhomogeneous inlet flows (Project Head Scholz, Peter )
• C04 - Vibration and vibroacoustic design for future integrated propulsion systems (Project Heads Groß, Johann ;  Ring, Tobias Paul )
• C05 - Excitation of aircraft cabin noise by tightly integrated propulsion systems (Project Heads Appel, Christina ;  Delfs, Jan Werner )
• C06 - Aeroacoustic aspects of distributed propulsion (Project Head Keßler, Manuel )
• INF - Management of Research Data and Sustainability of Research Software Development (Project Heads Koch, Christian ;  Langer, Sabine C. )
• MGK - Integrated Research Training Group (Project Heads Ring, Tobias Paul ;  Staudacher, Stephan )
• Z - Central tasks fo the Collaborative Research Centre (Project Head Langer, Sabine C. )
• Ö - Public Relations (Project Heads Schulte, Kathrin ;  Strohmayer, Andreas )

• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Braunschweig
• Co-Applicant Institution: Universität Stuttgart
• Participating University: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Sabine C. Langer