Parametric investigation of the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of a low-boom supersonic airliner

Abstract

In the present work, a parametric design study in the conceptual design phase of a low-boom supersonic airliner (LBSSA) is presented. The low-boom constraint is of great importance to the near future supersonic airliners, in order for them to be certified for overland operation, but is also usually associated with a penalty in their aerodynamic performance (e.g. increased drag) and subsequently a higher fuel consumption. In this work, a dedicated low-fidelity design tool for the conceptual and early preliminary design of a LBSSA is developed which includes both Class-I and Class-II weight calculations. The design tool is also capable of predicting the aircraft’s aerodynamic performance in both the subsonic and supersonic cruise segments of its mission. The aerodynamic behavior of the LBSSA is then compared against the results obtained from high fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. Regarding the acoustic behavior of the LBSSA, Carlson’s simplified method is employed, which is based on the equivalent area distribution of the aircraft, in order to provide representative trends and results in the conceptual design phase. Finally, the contribution of the examined design parameters, in the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the resultant LBSSA is presented and clear trends are indicated.