Design, manufacture and deliver a high performance, low cost, low weight Nacelle Structure for Next Generation Tilt-Rotor (NGCTR)

Project Information

TRAIL

Grant agreement ID: 864726

DOI

10.3030/864726

Project closed

EC signature date 12 September 2019

Start date 1 October 2019

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 6 091 140,33

EU contribution

€ 5 199 438,13

Coordinated by

SIEC BADAWCZA LUKASIEWICZ-INSTYTUT LOTNICTWA
Poland

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - TRAIL (Design, manufacture and deliver a high performance, low cost, low weight Nacelle Structure for Next Generation Tilt-Rotor (NGCTR))

Reporting period: 2022-04-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main goal of the project is to introduce novel structural solutions into aerospace industry through design, manufacturing and testing of Nacelle Structure of Next Generation Tiltrotor providing reduction in weight, number of parts and environmental impact (noise, vibration).

Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor demonstrator will help to improve industrial and scientific capabilities in the field of tiltrotors, giving Europe opportunity to stay on a predominant position in the rotorcraft industry across the globe. It is worth to emphasize, that within completion of the Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor project not only industrial, but also societal and environmental aspects shall be taken into account. Continuously increasing number of flights and predicted further growth of air travel, results in increased impact on environment and is a challenge facing aviation industry in terms of finding new and more environmental-friendly solutions that can enter into service in a relatively short period of time, taking into account dynamic (observed and predicted) congestion increase in the airspace.
The above is confirmed by the Clean Sky 2 Factsheet: "Air transport contributes today about 3% to global greenhouse gas emissions, with traffic expected to triple by 2050. Although other sectors are more polluting (electricity and heating produces 32% of greenhouse gases), this expected growth makes it necessary to address aviation’s environmental impact. Meeting the EU’s climate and energy objectives will require a drastic reduction of the sector’s environmental impact by reducing its emissions. Maximising fuel efficiency, using less to go farther, is also a key cost-cutting factor in a very competitive industry – and as air traffic increases, better noise reduction technologies are needed." Moreover, increasing expectations in terms of door-to-door mobility underlines the need of searching for more affordable solutions of improved performance.
Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor – synergy of modern airplanes and helicopters capabilities, which would outdistance them in terms of fuel consumption, impact on environment, cost and performance shall fulfill these expectations.

Realisation of the project will include searching for cutting-edge solutions in aviation engineering field, allowing for reaching the Main Objectives of the project:
- Weight reduction
- Reduction of number of parts
- Environmental impact reduction (noise, vibration etc.)
- Manufacturing cost and time reduction

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the third reporting period the TRAIL consortium focused on detailed design and preparation of data set for the Topic Manager. It was devoted to following activities:
- Finishing of detailed design and completion of technical documentation
- Manufacturing supervision
- Design support of the production
- Bird Strike Test and Analysis
- Preparation of documentation necessary to obtain Permit to Fly
- Design and manufacturing of production tooling
- Design and manufacturing of test tooling
- Manufacturing of Nacelle Parts and Assembly
- Completion of Engine Mount Test
- First Article Inspection
- Delivery of Nacelle Parts
- Reporting
- Update of FEM Analysis
- Completion of R&D activities including:
a) Tests and analysis of prepreg samples with SMAC damping layers and flax fibre based composites for vibration and noise damping
b) Testing and manufacturing of lightweight firewalls with Firestop fire lining
c) High temperature composites testing - BMI VARTM technology, innovative fire/temperature linings and 3D printed tooling for high temperature composites
It is worth mentioning that the design process included many iterations to assure most optimal strength to weight ratio and to comply to given interfaces. In this period the Consortium struggled with unexpected circumstances, which impacted the project (post COVID-19 outbreak, War in Ukraine).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Proposed herein project realisation, will strongly contribute to the established goals and expected impact of the NGCTR aircraft. Not only will it improve innovation capacity and knowledge integration, but will strengthen the European competitiveness as well. Also it will have strong impact on every Partner of the TRAIL Consortium.

Through the Project strengthening of cooperation between research and manufacturing centres in Poland, France, Netherlands, Italy and Czech Republic was possible. It results also in design processes improvement and new technologies introduction through transferring know-how, experience and guidelines between Partners. Realisation of the project contributes also to the cooperation between the participants, strengthening European competitiveness of the general aviation sector. Planned research on new technologies carried out in parallel with design activities focused on searching for solutions providing the best performance will develop innovations meeting the needs of the European and global markets.

Reducing CO2 emissions - TRAIL impact towards reduction of the aircraft’s CO2 emissions will be based on providing low weight and low drag Nacelle what will have impact on the fuel consumption: reduction of weight with comparison to typical metallic structure will be provided by use of composite materials characterized by higher strength to weight ratio and also use of novel lighter materials for firewalls, while use of precise machined composite moulds will allow for achieving better geometrical accuracy of the composite parts than in case of use of standard manufacturing process.

Reducing Noise emissions - In case of NGCTR the noise cut is expected to come from improved prop-rotor design and flight trajectory management, however reduction of other noise sources is also crucial to reduce the overall aircraft noise emission, therefore TRAIL will focus on reduction of the noise propagation outside the nacelle. Planned to be used viscoelastic materials aimed to reduce the structure born vibration will also be tailored to mitigate and reduce the nacelle interior noise propagation. TRAIL tested several combinations of prepreg with SMAC damping layers and flax fiber based composites.

Industrial Leadership – TRAILs impact towards achieving higher standards and favour a leading position in rotorcraft industry by NGCTR are listed below:
Reduced cost of ownership - TRAIL Consortium plan to develop low cost vacuum infusion process of BMI resins, as well as plan to use OoA composite materials, allowing for manufacturing cost reduction and therefore reduction of cost of final product.
Low operating costs and fast forward speed - can be achieved by reduction of the cost of fuel consumed, this can be done by weight and drag reduction.
High efficiency and high productivity – each of these features can be described by a specific factor, respectively, EI – Efficiency Index and PI – Productivity Index. As described in Clean Sky 2 Joint Technical Programme (V4): “EI may be defined as transported payload P over a range R divided for fuel used, thus providing the transported payload times distance per unit fuel burn” while “PI may be defined as the transported payload P at a distance and per unit time, hence at which speed”.

Improving Mobility - Planned by TRAIL’s weight and drag reduction will strongly impact the aircraft performance allowing the reach higher speeds by the NGCTR, therefore contributing to FlightPath 2050 goal for 4-hours door-to-door travel across Europe.

NGCTR Leonardo