Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming

There is widespread interest in the use of electric aircraft for short missions in and around urban areas. Most of the vehicle configurations proposed for these missions are electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) configurations, due to perceived limitations on the available infrastructure....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Courtin, Christopher B., Hansman, R. John
Published: 2019
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122036
_version_ 1811081021608689664
author Courtin, Christopher B.
Hansman, R. John
author_facet Courtin, Christopher B.
Hansman, R. John
author_sort Courtin, Christopher B.
collection MIT
description There is widespread interest in the use of electric aircraft for short missions in and around urban areas. Most of the vehicle configurations proposed for these missions are electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) configurations, due to perceived limitations on the available infrastructure. Several recent studies have proposed electric Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) aircraft with externally blown flaps as viable alternatives for urban operations. One of the claimed benefits of STOL aircraft is increased mission performance (in terms of range, payload, or speed) compared to an VTOL aircraft of the same weight. This study discusses the development of the models necessary to investigates this claim for a variety of possible missions, available infrastructure sizes, and levels of technology. Preliminary mission spaces where STOL or VTOL aircraft are the most weight-efficient choice are identified. The analysis is done using geometric programming, a convex optimization framework that enables rapid design re-optimization over a broad mission space.
first_indexed 2024-09-23T11:40:32Z
id mit-1721.1/122036
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
last_indexed 2024-09-23T11:40:32Z
publishDate 2019
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1220362019-09-04T17:29:42Z Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming Courtin, Christopher B. Hansman, R. John There is widespread interest in the use of electric aircraft for short missions in and around urban areas. Most of the vehicle configurations proposed for these missions are electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) configurations, due to perceived limitations on the available infrastructure. Several recent studies have proposed electric Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) aircraft with externally blown flaps as viable alternatives for urban operations. One of the claimed benefits of STOL aircraft is increased mission performance (in terms of range, payload, or speed) compared to an VTOL aircraft of the same weight. This study discusses the development of the models necessary to investigates this claim for a variety of possible missions, available infrastructure sizes, and levels of technology. Preliminary mission spaces where STOL or VTOL aircraft are the most weight-efficient choice are identified. The analysis is done using geometric programming, a convex optimization framework that enables rapid design re-optimization over a broad mission space. 2019-09-04T17:29:41Z 2019-09-04T17:29:41Z 2019-09-04 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122036 ;ICAT-2019-09 application/pdf
spellingShingle Courtin, Christopher B.
Hansman, R. John
Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming
title Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming
title_full Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming
title_fullStr Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming
title_full_unstemmed Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming
title_short Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming
title_sort model development for a comparison of vtol and stol electric aircraft using geometric programming
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122036
work_keys_str_mv AT courtinchristopherb modeldevelopmentforacomparisonofvtolandstolelectricaircraftusinggeometricprogramming
AT hansmanrjohn modeldevelopmentforacomparisonofvtolandstolelectricaircraftusinggeometricprogramming