Structural design space and interfaces of aft-mounted engines

The transformation of the aviation industry towards sustainability depends on the utilization of various opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of air travel. Achieving sustainable and socially acceptable air transport involves meeting the needs of both local and global stakeholders. To accomplish this, it is crucial to improve the overall efficiency of aircraft systems, minimizing gaseous, liquid, and solid emissions, noise inside and outside the cabin, and waste heat. The highly integrated design of novel propulsion systems in equally innovative aircraft promises unique potential to achieve these objectives.

The central question of the Collaborative Research Center SynTrac - Synergies of Highly Integrated Transport Aircraft is how to effectively integrate physical models, experimental techniques, and numerical methods beyond current standards to unlock the full potential of highly integrated transport aircraft and realize the associated synergies.

The  Collaborative Research Center  aims at answering the central research question by integrated projects realising cross-discipline and cross-system interaction. The research efforts are structured into three main project areas: A - Cross-System Assessment, B - Cross-System Integration and C - Fundamentals and Enablers for Cross-System Integration and Assessment.

At the ISD, we are working together with the Institut für Flugzeugbau und Leichtbau in the subproject B06: Structural design space and interfaces of aft-mounted engines — methodological framework, structural design and multidisciplinary optimisation.

To achieve these goals, the project involves joint research considering the integration of multi-physical models in a multidisciplinary approach. A design optimization framework is developed to address various research questions related to representing the design space, modeling multi-physical interactions, handling uncertainties, and making optimal design decisions. Engineering research questions focus on finding reasonable structural topologies, optimizing material properties, utilizing micro-structure designs, and exploring tail morphing for overall aircraft improvement.

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Seyedpour, S.M. et al. "Optimal Remediation Design and Simulation of Groundwater Flow Coupled to Contaminant Transport Using Genetic Algorithm and Radial Point Collocation Method (RPCM)." Science of The Total Environment, 669 (2019), S. 389–399. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.409.

Seyedpour, S. M. et al. "Optimization of the Groundwater Remediation Process Using a Coupled Genetic Algorithm-Finite Difference Method." Water, 13.3 (2021), S. 383. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030383.

• A01 - Experimental methodology for aircraft flow losses (Project Head Friedrichs, Jens )
• A02 - Simulation of aircraft flow losses (Project Heads Radespiel, Rolf ;  Weigand, Bernhard )
• A03 - Aerodynamic coupling of propulsion, airframe, and control surfaces for aircraft with distributed and inte-grated propulsion systems (Project Heads Grabe, Cornelia ;  Rudnik, Ralf )
• A04 - Distributed energy-efficient flight control — control allocation methods (Project Heads Ahmad, Ph.D., Aamir ;  Fichter, Walter )
• A05 - Flight dynamics models and handling qualities (Project Head Steen, Meiko )
• A06 - Conceptual design, assessment and optimization of highly integrated transport aircraft (Project Heads Hanke-Rauschenbach, Richard ;  Strohmayer, Andreas )
• B01 - Functional integration and preservability of propulsors — waste heat recovery (Project Heads Bode, Christoph ;  Koch, Christian )
• B02 - Exploitation of aerodynamic propeller-airframe interactions by integrated design (Project Head Lutz, Thorsten )
• B03 - Flow control by morphing for future integrated propulsion systems (Project Head Hühne, Christian )
• B04 - Integrated flow simulation for thrust vectoring propulsion systems (Project Heads Friedrichs, Jens ;  Staudacher, Stephan )
• B05 - Cabin noise of integrated and distributed propulsion (Project Head Langer, Sabine C. )
• B06 - Structural design space and interfaces of aft-mounted engines — methodological framework, structural design and optimization (Project Heads Haupt, Matthias ;  Ricken, Tim )
• C01 - Composite materials with thermo-mechanical functionality for future integrated propulsion systems (Project Heads Hühne, Christian ;  Middendorf, Peter )
• C02 - Exhaust gas treatment and thermal management in advanced propulsion systems by use of porous media (Project Heads Lamanna, Grazia ;  Schulte, Kathrin )
• C03 - Control of inhomogeneous inlet flows (Project Head Scholz, Peter )
• C04 - Vibration and vibroacoustic design for future integrated propulsion systems (Project Heads Groß, Johann ;  Ring, Tobias )
• C05 - Excitation of aircraft cabin noise by tightly integrated propulsion systems (Project Heads Appel, Christina ;  Delfs, Jan Werner )
• C06 - Aeroacoustic aspects of distributed propulsion (Project Head Keßler, Manuel )
• INF - Management of Research Data and Sustainability of Research Software Development (Project Heads Koch, Christian ;  Langer, Sabine C. )
• MGK - Integrated Research Training Group (Project Heads Ring, Tobias ;  Staudacher, Stephan )
• Z - Central tasks fo the Collaborative Research Centre (Project Head Langer, Sabine C. )
• Ö - Public Relations (Project Heads Schulte, Kathrin ;  Strohmayer, Andreas )