THEA-CODE: a design tool for the conceptual design of hybrid-electric aircraft with conventional or unconventional airframe configurations

• Published in: Mechanics & industry : an international journal on mechanical sciences and engineering applications Vol. 22; p. 19
• Main Authors: Palaia, Giuseppe, Zanetti, Davide, Abu Salem, Karim, Cipolla, Vittorio, Binante, Vincenzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Villeurbanne EDP Sciences 2021
• Subjects: Aircraft; Aircraft design; Airframes; Aviation; climate change; Conceptual design; Configurations; Design; Electric propulsion; Emissions; Emissions control; Energy management; Flux density; Fly by wire control; Fuels; green aviation; Greenhouse gases; hybrid-electric configuration; Hybridization; prandtl plane; regional aircraft
• ISSN: 2257-7777; 2257-7750
• DOI: 10.1051/meca/2021012

The aviation world is dealing with the development of new and greener aviation. The need for reducing greenhouse gas emission as well as the noise is a critical requirement for the aviation of the future. The aviation world is struggling with it, and a compelling alternative can be the electric propulsion. This work aims to present THEA-CODE, a tool for the conceptual design of hybrid-electric aircraft. The tool evaluates the potential benefits of the electric propulsion in terms of fuel burnt and direct and indirect CO 2 emissions. THEA-CODE is suitable not only for conventional “wing-tube” configurations but also for unconventional ones, such as the box-wing. The results show a significant reduction of fuel burnt adopting batteries with energy density higher than the current state of the art. A procedure to find the potential best compromise configurations is presented as well.