Abstract
Open rotor technology is currently a major topic of research in civil aviation as the need for more fuel efficient aircraft in the future becomes increasingly urgent. Increase in fuel cost and a concern for aviation’s impact on the environment has re-ignited the interest in open rotor engines. Open rotor engines have the capability of providing civil transport with greater fuel efficiency which could potentially help reduce the cost of flying. However, with this increase in fuel efficiency comes a penalty of higher noise levels for the vehicle when compared to modern turbofan aircraft. The objective of this study was to develop and utilize an open rotor model that is grounded in physics and can be used in parametric studies. This model was then used to assess open rotor fuel burn and noise generated from the counter rotating propellers. The results from this model were then used to optimize an open rotor enabled aircraft to determine the costs and benefits of the technology on an aircraft basis. The optimized aircraft was then introduced to different notional fleets and run through an assortment of different daily operations to assess the impact of open rotor technology on fleet-level fuel burn and airport noise levels. The results of this study provide an insight on the performance of the open rotor technology and how to potentially mitigate an increase in noise on an operational basis.
Published Version
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