Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MOREandLESS (MDO and REgulations for Low-boom and Environmentally Sustainable Supersonic aviation)
Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-12-31
The request for a faster, greener and quieter civil aviation is urging the worldwide scientific community and aerospace industry to develop a new generation of supersonic aircraft, which are expected to be environmentally sustainable and to guarantee a high-level protection of citizens. Thanks to a considerable number of research activities carried out in the last decades, some innovative supersonic aircraft concepts have now the potential to assure technically viable solutions to fly beyond the speed of sound at higher altitudes with respect to current civil aviation, but no commonly agreed regulations and procedures to support they eventual operations do exist. To pursue this challenging goal, MORE&LESS (MDO and REgulations for Low boom and Environmentally Sustainable Supersonic aviation), answering to the EC call “Towards global environmental regulation of supersonic aviation” (LC-MG-1-15-2020), aims at supporting Europe to shape global environmental regulations for future supersonic aviation: recommendations are established on the basis of the outcomes of extensive high-fidelity modelling activities and test campaigns that merge into the multi-disciplinary optimization framework to assess the holistic impact of supersonic aviation onto environment. To seek this goal, MORE&LESS addresses the following objectives:
1) To assess near and far-future supersonic aviation paradigms, considering low and high-supersonic aircraft and missions;
2) To contribute maintaining citizens and environmental protection at local, regional and global levels, by thoroughly assessing pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as noise generated by supersonic aircraft;
3) To support the definition of regulations and procedures for the future supersonic aviation, by suggesting practical implementation actions based on the results obtained within the Project in different disciplines;
4) To contribute maintaining world-class knowledge and skills in Europe in the field of supersonic aviation, by creating synergies among the most important partners and key players;
5) To foster international cooperation, paving the way towards the definition of global and internationally agreed regulations, by involving partners within a proper advisory board supporting the Project in maintaining a worldwide vision;
6) To engage and inspire new generations of students, scientists and engineers through dedicated dissemination actions and initiatives.
1) To assess near and far-future supersonic aviation paradigms, considering low and high-supersonic aircraft and missions;
2) To contribute maintaining citizens and environmental protection at local, regional and global levels, by thoroughly assessing pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as noise generated by supersonic aircraft;
3) To support the definition of regulations and procedures for the future supersonic aviation, by suggesting practical implementation actions based on the results obtained within the Project in different disciplines;
4) To contribute maintaining world-class knowledge and skills in Europe in the field of supersonic aviation, by creating synergies among the most important partners and key players;
5) To foster international cooperation, paving the way towards the definition of global and internationally agreed regulations, by involving partners within a proper advisory board supporting the Project in maintaining a worldwide vision;
6) To engage and inspire new generations of students, scientists and engineers through dedicated dissemination actions and initiatives.
The work performed within the Project and the main results achieved up to this reporting period, with reference to the established objectives can be summarized as follows:
1) Conceptual design of different supersonic aircraft is performed and a first set of reference vehicles configurations, ranging from Mach 1.5 to Mach 5 has been identified. Exploitation of sustainable fuels such as bio-fuels and liquid hydrogen has been taken into account and comparisons with potential subsonic competitors have been performed in terms of main key performance and environmental indicators;
2) Analytical estimations, coupled with high-fidelity simulations and test campaigns, are at basis of an integrated multi-fidelity approach. Tests have been performed in the following domains: small scale flight experiments to measure sonic boom (Mach 5), combustion and emissions tests (LH2, ramjet conditions) jet noise (Mach 2 conditions). Impact of supersonic aviation has also been studied in terms of global climate impact.
3) A comprehensive analysis of environmental regulations and standards for supersonic aircraft, both existing and under development, has been done, identifying where an evolution of rulemaking process is needed, including adaptation of subsonic standards to the supersonic regime. MORE&LESS aircraft performance data have been used to describe reference flight profiles of supersonic aircraft, allowing to develop recommendations for adaptation of the CO2-metric value formulation (in close collaboration with EASA) and noise standards to supersonic aircraft, with synergies with the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO);
4) Enhancements on the understanding of the phenomena associated to sonic boom, jet noise, pollutant emissions from new fuels combustion as well as related environmental impact have been achieved and the work is in progress to complete relevant analyses in the different scientific fields. Improvements to the modelling accuracy within aerodynamics and propulsion systems analyses, as well as a wider comprehension of atmosphere mechanisms have been achieved. Examples include, but are not limited to, the development of new models for the evaluation of kinetic mechanisms able to describe combustion of new fuels (including liquid hydrogen and biofuels), as well as algorithms for the sensitivity analysis of ozone response to supersonic emissions of several chemical species at different altitudes.
5) Initial comparison of EU and US rulemaking processes and contents was performed in the field of supersonic aviation. The involvement of international partners coming both from the European and American contexts allowed for a fruitful cooperation and discussions with reference to key environmental and societal aspects of supersonic aviation, with promising outcomes envisaged for the end of the Project;
6) Dissemination actions, including summer schools, new doctoral courses, the MORE&LESS Academy, dedicated sessions to main technical conferences and relevant open access publications
7) Communication actions, including the development and periodic update of Project profiles on social networks and creation of videos of storytelling for our project.
1) Conceptual design of different supersonic aircraft is performed and a first set of reference vehicles configurations, ranging from Mach 1.5 to Mach 5 has been identified. Exploitation of sustainable fuels such as bio-fuels and liquid hydrogen has been taken into account and comparisons with potential subsonic competitors have been performed in terms of main key performance and environmental indicators;
2) Analytical estimations, coupled with high-fidelity simulations and test campaigns, are at basis of an integrated multi-fidelity approach. Tests have been performed in the following domains: small scale flight experiments to measure sonic boom (Mach 5), combustion and emissions tests (LH2, ramjet conditions) jet noise (Mach 2 conditions). Impact of supersonic aviation has also been studied in terms of global climate impact.
3) A comprehensive analysis of environmental regulations and standards for supersonic aircraft, both existing and under development, has been done, identifying where an evolution of rulemaking process is needed, including adaptation of subsonic standards to the supersonic regime. MORE&LESS aircraft performance data have been used to describe reference flight profiles of supersonic aircraft, allowing to develop recommendations for adaptation of the CO2-metric value formulation (in close collaboration with EASA) and noise standards to supersonic aircraft, with synergies with the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO);
4) Enhancements on the understanding of the phenomena associated to sonic boom, jet noise, pollutant emissions from new fuels combustion as well as related environmental impact have been achieved and the work is in progress to complete relevant analyses in the different scientific fields. Improvements to the modelling accuracy within aerodynamics and propulsion systems analyses, as well as a wider comprehension of atmosphere mechanisms have been achieved. Examples include, but are not limited to, the development of new models for the evaluation of kinetic mechanisms able to describe combustion of new fuels (including liquid hydrogen and biofuels), as well as algorithms for the sensitivity analysis of ozone response to supersonic emissions of several chemical species at different altitudes.
5) Initial comparison of EU and US rulemaking processes and contents was performed in the field of supersonic aviation. The involvement of international partners coming both from the European and American contexts allowed for a fruitful cooperation and discussions with reference to key environmental and societal aspects of supersonic aviation, with promising outcomes envisaged for the end of the Project;
6) Dissemination actions, including summer schools, new doctoral courses, the MORE&LESS Academy, dedicated sessions to main technical conferences and relevant open access publications
7) Communication actions, including the development and periodic update of Project profiles on social networks and creation of videos of storytelling for our project.
(1) Development of the integrated multifidelity approach that combines novel analitical formulations with high-fidelity simulations validated against test campaigns in the field of chemical emissions, jet-noise emissions and sonic boom.
(2) Accomplishment of Hydrogen combustion and emission tests in ramjet mode
(3) Completion of multifidelity simulations of hydrogen combustion and emissions in ramjet mode
(4) Definition of new analytical formulations for cruise NOx estimation for hydrogen combustion in turbojet and ramjet modes
(5) Accomplishment of small scale flight experiments to measure sonic boom in open field at Mach 5 representatve of two different aircraft configurations (CS-2/HTB and CS-3/MR5)
(6) Completion of high-fidelity simulations of near field and far field sonic boom (CS1a/Mach2, CS-2/HTB and CS-3/MR5)
(7) Identification of strategies for the update of analytical formulations to estimate sonic boom for non-conventional aircraft configuration and non-standard atmosphere.
(8) Preliminnary results of jet noise test for Mach 2 propulsive technologies in laboratory environment
(9) Completion of high-fidelity simulations of jet-noise for CS-1a
(10) Progresses towards the update of semi-empirical models (Stone’s model) to better capture the peculiarities of the case-studies.
(11) Accomplishment of WT tests for CS-2/HTB in low-speed and high-speed regimes
(12) Completion of high-fidelity aerodynamic simulations for all configurations
(13) Accomplishment of cross-sensitivities studies on ozone response and development of simplified response models
(14) Identification of strategies for the development and integration of surrogate models into the holistic framework.
(2) Accomplishment of Hydrogen combustion and emission tests in ramjet mode
(3) Completion of multifidelity simulations of hydrogen combustion and emissions in ramjet mode
(4) Definition of new analytical formulations for cruise NOx estimation for hydrogen combustion in turbojet and ramjet modes
(5) Accomplishment of small scale flight experiments to measure sonic boom in open field at Mach 5 representatve of two different aircraft configurations (CS-2/HTB and CS-3/MR5)
(6) Completion of high-fidelity simulations of near field and far field sonic boom (CS1a/Mach2, CS-2/HTB and CS-3/MR5)
(7) Identification of strategies for the update of analytical formulations to estimate sonic boom for non-conventional aircraft configuration and non-standard atmosphere.
(8) Preliminnary results of jet noise test for Mach 2 propulsive technologies in laboratory environment
(9) Completion of high-fidelity simulations of jet-noise for CS-1a
(10) Progresses towards the update of semi-empirical models (Stone’s model) to better capture the peculiarities of the case-studies.
(11) Accomplishment of WT tests for CS-2/HTB in low-speed and high-speed regimes
(12) Completion of high-fidelity aerodynamic simulations for all configurations
(13) Accomplishment of cross-sensitivities studies on ozone response and development of simplified response models
(14) Identification of strategies for the development and integration of surrogate models into the holistic framework.