Model Development for a Comparison of VTOL and STOL Electric Aircraft Using Geometric Programming
Name
ICAT-2019-09_STOL_VTOL_Comparison.pdf
Size
2.4 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
95009a99635144f6b96bc04174892f14
Author(s)
Courtin, Christopher B.
Hansman, R. John
Date Issued
September 4, 2019
Series/Report no.
;ICAT-2019-09
Abstract
There is widespread interest in the use of electric aircraft for short missions in and around
urban areas. Most of the vehicle configurations proposed for these missions are electric Vertical
Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) configurations, due to perceived limitations on the available
infrastructure. Several recent studies have proposed electric Short Takeoff and Landing
(STOL) aircraft with externally blown flaps as viable alternatives for urban operations. One
of the claimed benefits of STOL aircraft is increased mission performance (in terms of range,
payload, or speed) compared to an VTOL aircraft of the same weight. This study discusses
the development of the models necessary to investigates this claim for a variety of possible
missions, available infrastructure sizes, and levels of technology. Preliminary mission spaces
where STOL or VTOL aircraft are the most weight-efficient choice are identified. The analysis
is done using geometric programming, a convex optimization framework that enables rapid
design re-optimization over a broad mission space.
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