Fuel Burn and Emissions Reduction Potential of Low Power/Low Drag Approaches
Name
ATIO2011_LPLD paper vfinal-2.pdf
Size
943.72 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2d23a7c0802333ddfe0cc4752d5ff016
Author(s)
Dumont, Jean-Marie
Hansman, Robert J., Jr.
Reynolds, Thomas G.
Hansman, Robert J., Jr.
Hansman, Robert J., Jr.
Date Issued
September 2011
Journal
Proceedings of the 11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Citation
Dumont, Jean-Marie, Tom Reynolds, and R John Hansman. “Fuel Burn and Emissions Reduction Potential of Low Power/Low Drag Approaches.” 11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference (September 20, 2011).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Changing aircraft operational procedures is one strategy that can be used to reduce fuel burn and mitigate environmental impacts of aviation in relatively short timeframes with existing aircraft types. This study quantifies the fuel burn and emissions reduction potential of delayed deceleration approaches, where the aircraft is kept fast and in clean aerodynamic configuration for as long as possible during the approach phase of flight. This reduces the drag and thrust requirements and these procedures are therefore called Low Power/Low Drag approaches. Operational data is used to characterize approach profiles, together with their fuel burn and emissions properties correlated to airspeed and configuration for a selection of aircraft types. Aircraft that were observed to decelerate and configure flaps later in the approach had 30-40% lower fuel burn and carbon dioxide emissions below 10,000 ft compared to those that did not. Estimates of US system-wide fuel burn and emissions reduction potential from Low Power/Low Drag approaches are provided: if only 1% of the total operations used these approaches, savings across all operators would amount to 2.9 million US gallons ($5.8-11.6 million at $2-4/US gallon) of fuel and 28,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. A discussion is provided on the implementation barriers which need to be addressed if benefits are to be realized.
MIT Department
Lincoln Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2011-6886
