Through an adequate preliminary design and analysis, the aero-propulsive effects present in DEP aircraft can be leveraged to increase the overall capacities and system efficiency. In this paper, the potential of DEP to increase lift is exploited to alleviate the existing compromise on the wing. In light airplanes, the sizing of this element is typically constrained by takeoff and landing requirements, which results in wings that are larger than optimal for cruise. While in a conventional aircraft lift can be augmented through hyper-lifting devices, which increase weight and complexity, DEP aircraft can increase the CLmax through the present synergistic aerodynamic effects. To do so, the minimization of the mass of an all-electric DEP airplane is proposed. As suggested in the literature, mass minimization leads to a reduction of the wing area and an increase in the aspect ratio to improve aircraft efficiency. The optimization is conducted with a distribution of FAST-OAD, a software based on OpenMDAO for preliminary design of aircraft. To model the aero-propulsive coupling, a built-in aerodynamic module is implemented within FAST-OAD, allowing for the estimation of the enhanced CLmax under the interaction. A comparison of this model with a CFD method is presented. To trim the aircraft while considering the aero-propulsive effects, a trim algorithm is integrated into the preliminary design code. An all-electric airplane, inspired by the Tecnam P2006T, is modelled and used as a baseline configuration. In the optimized configuration, the MTOM is decreased by 15.3%, the wing area is reduced by 45%, and the consumed energy is cut by 23.8%, all while maintaining the same climb, landing, and takeoff performance as the baseline configuration. DEP shows its capabilities as an enabler of such an optimization while allowing the airplane to meet low-speed manoeuvre requirements.


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    Title :

    Multi-disciplinary optimization of a distributed electric propulsion aircraft under aero-propulsive effects


    Subtitle :

    Multi-disciplinary optimization of a distributed electric... D. Planas et al.


    Additional title:

    CEAS Aeronaut J


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    CEAS Aeronautical Journal ; 16 , 2 ; 571-589


    Publication date :

    2025-04-01


    Size :

    19 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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