MAAT – Promising innovative design and green propulsive concept for future airship's transport

Abstract

Airships were the first air vehicles, which had the ability to generate lift without the use of aerodynamic flow around wings, also to enable controlled, powered flight, providing long endurance at low energy consumption. They were widely used before the 1940s, but their use decreased as their capabilities were exceeded by those of the airplanes. Their decline continued with a series of several accidents, including the burning of the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg, and the destruction of the USS Akron.Nowadays, airships are used in certain applications: cargo transportation, tourism, aerial observations and many others, where the ability to hover in one place for an extended period of time is important.In Europe the reborn of airships is being supported by the European Union, recently providing financing for Project MAAT – Multibody Advanced Airship for Transportation, supported by 7 FP Program. This project, comprises twelve research institutions, introduces the concept of feeder–cruiser airship for transportation of people and goods. The main idea is to use a cruiser (PTAH)–feeder (ATEH) concept to allow transport of people and goods [9,10,47]. For this novel airship concept a new envelope and propulsion concept design is envisaged.The present study deals with the methodology and results for numerical modeling and research on airship with an innovative shape and implementation of its unconventional propulsion system.Attention has been paid to the logical sequence and obtained results for modeling and research of an airship with innovative shapes.The innovative design concept is analyzed and comprised with classic airship shape in point of aerodynamic and energetic needs. It was found that the classic airship shape provokes many problems, which are mainly referred to as high bending moments, in case of given buoyancy volume and optimal fineness ratio. The newly proposed shape needs an extensive research, which cannot rely on classic approach for drag coefficient calculations.Furthermore, based on the research results and conclusions for the airship shape, aerodynamic features at given altitudes and the propulsion needs, a feasible and innovative propulsion concept air-jets, is analyzed. Attention was focused on the performance of the air-jets working with high mass flow rates and low jet flow speeds.The outcome of the research highlights the opportunities for future developments of the propulsion concepts for airships with innovative shape as it is a very important and promising area in nowadays air-vehicles technology.