Overall eVTOL aircraft design for urban air mobility

Abstract

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft have emerged as a potential alternative to the existing transportation system, offering a transition from two-dimensional commuting and logistics to three-dimensional mobility. As a groundbreaking innovation in both the automotive and aviation sectors, eVTOL holds significant promise but also presents notable challenges. This paper aims to address the overall aircraft design (OAD) approach specifically tailored for eVTOL in the context of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). In contrast to traditional OAD methods, this study introduces and integrates disciplinary methodologies specifically catered to eVTOL aircraft design. A case study is conducted on a tilt-duct eVTOL aircraft with a typical UAM mission, and the disciplinary performance, including initial sizing, aerodynamics, electric propulsion systems, stability and control, weight, mission analysis and noise, is examined using the OAD methodologies. The findings demonstrate that the current approach effectively evaluates the fundamental aircraft-level performance of eVTOL, albeit further high-fidelity disciplinary analysis and optimization methods are required for future MDO-based eVTOL overall aircraft design.