16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
16.886 - Air Transportation Systems Architecting
Course Introduction
February 3, 2004
Prof. Earll Murman
(Image removed due to copyright considerations.)
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Course Information
16.886 Air Transportation Systems Architecting
Graduate (Spring) H-Level Grad Credit
Prereq: 16.885 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-2-7
Lecture: TR9.30-11 AM Lab: Wed 3-5 pm
Faculty:Earll Murman, John-Paul Clarke, John Hansman
Bob Liebeck, Al Haggerty, Guest lecturers
Accounts will be set up on workstations
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Agenda
? Drivers - Commercial and Military Cargo Transport
Needs
? Responses - Conventional and Advanced Concepts
? Formation Flight - A Possible Approach
– Basic concepts
– One flight result
– Other considerations
? Plan for the semester
? Questions and responses
– Turn in Student Profile and Preferences at end of class
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Commercial Drivers
? Globalization trends
– Longer distances between producers and consumers
– Emerging markets, e.g. China, South America, Africa
? Lean manufacturing
– Focus on “flow” to eliminate waste, e.g. JIT
– Faster response to market demands
? Air freight operators looking for new markets
– Most transoceanic freight shipped by surface
– Gap in capability- “middle market”
? Ship is inexpensive but takes 18-30 days
? Air is expensive but takes only 3-6 days
? Operating economics drive
– Increased capacity per air freighter
– Reduced crew and fuel costs
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Commercial Trends
? Bartowski (FedEx) “Future Concepts for Air Cargo
Delivery”, AIAA Paper 2003-2629
– Freighter fleet expected to double in 20 years
– 90% of fleet capacity in “wide-body” aircraft in 20
years leading to 23% grown in payload capacity
– Growth is in the “middle market” between air and
surface for world wide freight market.
? Jiang, et al (MIT ICAT), “Market and Infrastructure
Analysis of Future Air Cargo Demand in China”
– Air cargo growth through China airports expected to
grow at 11.2% per annum for next 20 years.
Includes both domestic and import/export.
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Commercial Trends - Cont’d
? Allison, et al “Expedited Transport Airlines”, Final Report for 16.899
Air Transportation System Architecting.
– World air cargo and freight to grow at 6.4-6.5% per year for next 10
years.
– Total worldwide freight shipping expected to go from 132 to 383 Freight-
Ton-Kilometers in 20 years.
– Freighter Fleet to grow from 1,775 to 3,078, including retirement of
1,228 old freighters, mostly narrow body.
– Long range freighter segment will be the fastest growing
– Standard shipments take 4-6 days with only 10-15% time in the air. Most
the time is ground transport, handling, waiting.
– Top 10 markets will generate 40% of global airfreight in next 10 years:
Intra Asia, China ? Europe, China ? North America, North America ?
Asia, Europe ? Asia, North America ? Europe, Domestic USA
Lots of good data in this report from last year’s class.
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Military Drivers
? Threats are global
? Reaction times are shorter
? Trends are towards US basing for security, economic and
political factors
? Result is US forces are becoming more expeditionary
? Rumsfeld’s Transformation goals for Army
– Deploy 1 division anywhere in the world in 5 days
– Deploy 5 divisions anywhere in the world in 30 days
? Division is 16,000 personnel and all their equipment
? Long range bombers based on continental US require
considerable tanker support which is expensive and
logistically complicated.
We need more information on military drivers
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Summary of Drivers
? Both commercial and military
– Need more weight and volume transported over
long distances.
– Mostly intercontinental
– Need “block times” in days rather than weeks
? Ground transport and handling is important
? Focus on integrated system, not just aircraft
– Need affordable costs
? More expensive than surface but less expensive than
current air
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Responses to Drivers
? Existing technology
– More wide body aircraft
? Many converted passenger aircraft
– Larger aircraft - A380
? Advanced technologies
– Blended Wing Body
– Wing in Ground Effect
– Other
– Formation flight
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
Courtesy of Boeing Corporation.
Used with permission.
Courtesy of Boeing Corporation.
Used with permission.
Image removed due to
copyright considerations.
Courtesy of AeroVehicles, Inc.
Used with permission.
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Blended Wing Body
? Principles - Low wetted
area, span loading,
composites, modular
layout
? Metrics for FedEx study*
– TOGW 1,350,000 lb
– Payload 525,000 lb
– Range 5000 nm
– Volume 51,000 ft
3
– 62 % payload and 15%
DOC advantage over
A380
? Limitations - Still a “paper”
airplane. No showstoppers.
* Barkowski, R, “Future Concepts for Air Cargo Delivery”, AIAA Paper 2003-2629. Also see Wakayama, S, Gilmore, R,,
Brown, D., “Design Trades for a Large Blended-Wing-Body Freighter”, AIAA Paper 2003-2503
A380F
Range
Payload (1000 lbs)
Payload/Range Comparison
BWB B747F DC10
Courtesy of Boeing Corporation. Used with permission.
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Wing In Ground Effect
? Principles - Interference with
ground reduces induced drag
substantially for very small
spacings
? Metrics for Pelican*
– 500 foot wing span
– 38 fuselage mounted landing
gears similar to B-52
– Payload 1,500,000 lbs
– Range
? 10,000 nm over water
? 6,000 nm over land @ 20,000 ft
? Limitations: Many technology and
operational issues
King, A and Gopalarathnam
* Barkowski, R, “Future Concepts for Air Cargo Delivery”, AIAA Paper 2003-2629
Boeing Phantom Works Pelican
1
0.8
C
D
i
I
G
E
C
D
i
O
G
E
Single Aircraft
Gopalarathnam, A. "Ideal Aerodynamics of
Formation and Ground-Effect Flight".
Formation of 3 Formation of 5 Formation of 25
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 2 4
h/b
6 8 10
Courtesy of Boeing Corporation. Used with permission.
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Formation Flight - Nature’s Solution
? Principles
– Favorable aerodynamic interference
– 1970 paper by Lissaman and Shollenberger
? Est 71% increase in range, 24 % reduction in V for 25 birds
– Modular approach to scaling
? Status
– Aerodynamic theory reasonably well developed
– Flight tests have demonstrated 12-18% less fuel burn
for 2 aircraft formations.
– Frequently used for military maneuvers
? Close aircraft spacing increases pilot workload
– Suggest autonomous or semi autonomous system
? Little exploration into long-haul applications and
systems issues.
(Image removed due to
copyright considerations.)
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Aerodynamic Basics of Formation Flying* - I
? Consider a formation of
different wings μ with
geometric parameters
–b
μ
, AR
μ
, S
μ
, etc
? Formation geometry
remains fixed - speed V is
the same for all wings.
? Level flight L
μ
= W
μ
? Let subscript 0 be wing μ
isolated, w/o formation
L
μ 0
= W
μ
= L
μ
Power = N
μ 0
= D
μ 0
V
Each wing flies in the downwash field of
all the other wings, represented here as
horseshoe vortices with span
′ b
μ
=
π
4
b
μ
* Hummel, “The Use of Aircraft Wakes to Achieve Power Reductions in Formation Flight”, AGARD CP-584, May 1966
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Aerodynamic Basics of Formation Flying* - II
Let the average downwash at wing μ be w
μ
Drag reduction for wing μ ; ?D
μ
=L
μ
w
μ
V
=L
μ0
w
μ
V
Power reduction; ?N
μ
=?D
μ
?V =L
μ0
?w
μ
Relative power reduction; e
μ
=
?N
μ
N
0μ
=
L
μ0
?w
μ
D
0μ
?V
For the formation; ?N =?N
μ
μ=1
n
∑
. And for all the wings w/o formation flight; N
0
= N
0μ
μ=1
n
∑
Relative power reduction for the formation; E=
?N
N
0
* Hummel, “The Use of Aircraft Wakes to Achieve Power Reductions in Formation Flight”, AGARD CP-584, May 1966
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Aerodynamic Basics of Formation Flying*-III
? Total power reduction of
formation of equal size wings as
a function of lateral spacing
between the wings.
? No vertical separation between
wings.
? Parasite drag assumed equal to
induced drag, i.e. maximum
range conditions
? Total power reduction 10-20% or
more based upon simple model.
? Munk’s stagger theorem says
that total power reduction does
not depend upon streamwise
spacing of wings.
* Hummel, “The Use of Aircraft Wakes to Achieve Power Reductions in Formation Flight”, AGARD CP-584, May 1966
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Aerodynamic Basics of Formation Flying*-IV
? Three different arrangements
of 15 wings swept 45
0
with
zero spanwise separation
? All have the same total
power reduction
? Distribution of power
reduction among the wings is
different for the three
formations
? Formation A is called a
Chevron
? Formations B, C called a “V”
? This is just one example of
the many various formation
geometries possible
* Hummel, “The Use of Aircraft Wakes to Achieve Power Reductions in Formation Flight”, AGARD CP-584, May 1966
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Aerodynamic Basics of Formation Flying*-V
? More elaborate vortex wake models agree well with simple horseshoe
model for two wings and span separations greater than approx 0.25
– Trends are ok even for smaller span separations
– Three rolled up sheet results are for three different vertical separations
? Deductions: Want small lateral separations, some vertical separation
* Hummel, “The Use of Aircraft Wakes to Achieve Power Reductions in Formation Flight”, AGARD CP-584, May 1966
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Flight Tests*
? Streamwise spacing kept
same by flight velocity
? Trail aircraft autopilot
used a “minimum power”
approach.
? Aileron angles and
measured upwash in
symmetry plane used as
inputs to autopilot
? Measured energy
reductions comparable
with theory
? Lots of scatter
* Hummel, “The Use of Aircraft Wakes to Achieve Power Reductions in Formation Flight”, AGARD CP-584, May 1966
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Variations on the Theme - I*
? Consider distribution of lift among
aircraft such that the total formation
induced drag is minimized.
? “Total [induced] drag is minimized
with an elliptical distribution of
weight across the formation”
? Other interesting results in paper
about practical implementation for
chevron formation
? Paper has nice formulation of
horseshoe vortex model.
* Blake and Multhopp, “Design, Performance and Modeling Considerations For Close Formation Flight” , AIAA 98-4343
2.5
2
2 ship formation
Aircraft Position within Formation
O
p
t
i
m
u
m
C
L
f
o
r
M
i
n
i
m
u
m
D
r
a
g
(
C
L
,
I
=
1
)
Solid Line: all included
Dashed Line: only
5 ship formation
12 ship formation
1.5
1
0.5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Distribution of Lift Within Formation for Minimum Induced Drag,
= 0.85, = 0.
zh
s
s
t
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Variations on the Theme - II*
? Considers both formation
and ground effects
? Calculated formation shape
yielding equal induced drag
for each aircraft.
? Near the tip of the “V” the
wings are more abreast than
near the back
– Agrees with Lissaman
and Shollenberger
? Not much influence of
ground effect on formation
geometry
* King, A and Gopalarathnam, A, “Ideal Aerodynamics of Ground-Effect and Formation Flight
0
-2
-4
X
-6
y/b
-8
-10
0 5
In Ground Effect Out of Ground Effect
10 15
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Variations on the Theme - II*
? Swarm is naturally stable. If an
aircraft moves ahead of the flock it
takes more power and if it moves
aft it takes less
? Stability diminishes at tip. Aircraft
? Significant ground effect only for
small heights above ground.
? Formation effects improve
ground effect for larger heights
more likely to “wander”
* King, A and Gopalarathnam, A, “Ideal Aerodynamics of Ground-Effect and Formation Flight
1
0.8
C
D
i
I
G
E
C
D
i
O
G
E
Single Aircraft
Gopalarathnam, A. "Ideal Aerodynamics of
Formation and Ground-Effect Flight".
Formation of 3 Formation of 5 Formation of 25
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 2 4
h/b
6 8 10
0.025
0.02
0.015
C
D
i
x
/
0.01
0.005
0
1
Aircraft No.
2 3 4
OGE IGE
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
?
?
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Other Formation Flight Considerations
? Aircraft stability and control, roll trim
? Formation influence on aircraft design
? Formation stability and control
? Pilot-autonomous tradeoff
? Communication
? Formation concepts
– Homogeneous or heterogeneous aircraft fleet
– Formation and dispersal
? Finding “best” solutions with so many parameters
– Formation geometry, number, velocity, altitude,
composition
? Operational issues, safety, weather effects,..
? And more….
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Class Charge
The Spring 2004 16.886 class will investigate the possibility of
exploiting formation flight for significant new capability for
long haul commercial and military cargo. All aspects related to
system concepts should be explored including, but not limited
to, the number and placement of aircraft in a formation, mix of
aircraft size and payload/fuel fractions, aircraft and formation
stability and control, degree of autonomy, concepts for
formation rendezvous and dispersal, economic, safety,
environmental factors, etc.. The size of the class will determine
the number of topics that will be explored in depth.
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Value Creation Framework
Value - how various stakeholders find particular
worth, utility, benefit, or reward in exchange for
their respective contributions to the enterprise.
Value
Identification
Value
Proposition
Value
Delivery
Value Phases
Enterprise
Employees
Customer
Acquirer
Partners
Shareholder
Corporation
Society
Suppliers
Union
End User
Consumer
Stakeholders
Identify the
stakeholders
and their value
expectations
Develop a
robust value
proposition to
meet the
expectations
Deliver on the
promise with
good technical
and program
performance
Murman et al., Lean Enterprise Value, 2002, Palgrave Macmillan. Reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.
http://www.palgrave.com/products/Catalogue.aspx?is=0333976975
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Class Deliverables
The final deliverables for the class will be a written report and
accompanying briefing which lays out the feasibility of
formation flight for long haul cargo aircraft, candidate system
specifications, and gaps in knowledge needed to realize the
proposed concept(s). The audiences for these deliverables are
decision makers in industry and government, and the engineering
community as represented by an AIAA technical conference.
The report should include a one page executive summary, a main
body of a length and content suitable for a conference paper, and
appendices as needed for detailed analysis.
Examples from past classes on course website
16.886 - Feb 3, 2004
Schedule for Semester
Background Needs Design Technology System Topics
Lecture Topics
February March April May
Interviews 5/13
Project Phase
Individual - Research
Oral Present 2/25
Class - Concepts Formulation
Class - Prelim Sys Des
Class - Final Sys Des
Oral Present 3/17
Oral Present 4/14
Oral Present 5/5
Final Written 5/11