Unconventional Hybrid-Electric Aircraft – A CFD Study
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Background
VoltAero is a French aircraft company situated in Rochefort, south of France. The company is developing a unique general aviation airplane with electric-hybrid propulsion for safe, quiet, efficient and eco-friendly flight. The VoltAero flight demonstrator, the Cassio S aircraft, is validating Cassio’s powertrain configuration, de-risking it for airworthiness certification. Future evolution will consider an unconventional three lifting surfaces configuration offering improved flight performance and design qualities.
Cassio S – Hybrid-electric powertrain demonstrator Cassio 330 – hybrid-electric aircraft
Objective
The aim of this MSc project is to perform an aerodynamics study to improve the design of future three lifting surfaces configurations.
Description of work
The work will begin with an aerodynamic analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and can be extended to include aspects of flight mechanics or flight performance using in-house analysis tools.
The main task will be to study the vortex interaction of the foreplane (canard) wing tip vortex and its impact with the other lifting surfaces. The outcome should provide design guidelines for achieving desirable flight characteristics or improving the flight performance. This can include geometry modification to the current design or changes in installation angles and placements of the lifting surfaces.
CFD analysis will be performed using a RANS approach. Validation of results can be validated with wind tunnel test data.
Duration of project:
One semester
Location:
The design work and numerical simulations will take place at LTH, Lund University. The MSc thesis student will also be invited to visit and present on site in France.
Supervisors:
Philip Mansson, flight physics engineer, VoltAero.
Christer Fureby, Prof. Heat transfer, LTH
Voltaero Master's thesis proposal-1.pdf Download Voltaero Master's thesis proposal-1.pdf