TailSurf will contribute to the design, testing, integration and optimisation of ARE for the improvement of performance at component level of 20% weight reduction, 20% recurring cost reduction and 50% lead time reduction. It is also expected that 1.5% reduction of fuel burn at aircraft level will be achieved from the optimal rear end configurations.
Modern vertical tails for large passenger aircraft are oversized in design to overcome an emergency situation of an engine-out during take-off and landing under crosswind conditions. Airframe manufacturers usually use a common vertical tail for an entire family of passenger aircraft, adding drag and weight, especially for stretched versions, which increases the fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. The Advanced Rear End (ARE) concept (WP1.2 of Clean Sky 2 Large Passenger Aircraft (LPA) Programme) addresses this very issue by trying to reduce the size of empennage of commercial aircraft, reducing its weight by 20% and improving fuel consumption by 1.5% over the previous goals. Through this initiative, CS2 expects to improve the manufacturing process by reducing the recurring costs and the lead time by 20% and 50%, respectively.
The objective of this proposal is to study innovative flow control devices, such as plasma actuators, leading-edge undulations and passive blown control, reduce the size of empennage of LPA. This study will be accompanied by an investigation of flexible tail surfaces to improve the aeroelastic efficiency through aeroelastic tailoring and platform-induced favourable bending torsion coupling using CFD and wind tunnel tests. We also propose to test alternative tail configurations, such as V-tails and the family of cross-tails, which satisfies the topic requirements in JTI-CS2-2018-CfP09-LPA-01-63.
The specific objectives and the associated work packages to achieve this aim are:
1. WP1: To define and test technologies and shapes to delay the flow separation, leading to stall of the tail surface and saturation of the control surfaces (WP1 – deliverable DX in MX). Thee control effect of these technologies and devices will be verified by both wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on high performance computing (HPC) facilities.
2. WP2: To study means and concepts to increase aeroelastic efficiency of tail surfaces using computational and experimental means.
3. WP3: To study the integration of all technologies on an advanced rear-end configuration and numerical prediction and post-test calibration.
4. WP4: To investigate the applicability of plasma actuators (DBDs) for de-icing and delaying stall experimentally.
5. WP5: To carry out management and administration required over the course of the whole project. It will serve to administer and manage the project in accordance with the Clean Sky 2 Management Manual, including the management of risks, finances and administrative tasks. It will also be essential to promote the project results and scientific and technical outcomes through targeted dissemination and communication activities.
