Citation:
Chrissy Smith, Vassilios Pachidis, Alejandro Castillo Pardo, Ezanee Gires, Jos Stevens, Laurent Thevenot and Roberto d’Ippolito. Achieving rotorcraft noise and emissions reduction for 'Clean Sky' - The measurement of success. 5th CEAS Air & Space Conference–Challenges in European Aerospace. 7-11 September 2015, Delft, Netherlands.
Abstract:
This paper describes the work done and strong interaction between
Cranfield University as member of
the
Technology Evaluator (TE)
team
, Green Rotorcraft (GRC) Integrated Technology Demonstrator
(ITD) and Sustainable and Green Engine (SAGE) ITD of the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative
(JTI). The aim of Clean Sky is to develop and integrate new and innovative technologies that will hel
p
meeting the emission and noise reduction targets set by the Advisory Council for Aviation Research
and Innovation in Europe (ACARE) for aircraft of next generation. The GRC and SAGE ITDs are
responsible for developing new helicopter airframe and engine t
echnologies respectively, whilst the
TE has the distinctive role of assessing the environmental impact of these technologies at single flight
(mission), airport and Air Transport System levels (ATS).
Cranfield University as a member of the TE
is responsibl
e for the mission trajectory definition and for conducting the environmental performance
assessments
.
The assessments reported herein have been performed by using a GRC
-
developed
multi
-
disciplinary simulation framework called PhoeniX (Platform Hosting Oper
ational and
Environmental Investigations for Rotorcraft) that comprises various computational modules. These
modules include a rotorcraft performance code (EUROPA), an engine performance and emissions
simulation tool (GSP) and a noise prediction code (HELE
NA). PhoeniX can predict the performance of
a helicopter along a prescribed 4D trajectory offering a complete helicopter mission analysis. In the
context of the TE assessments reported herein, three helicopter classes are examined, namely a Twin
Engine Lig
ht (TEL) configuration, for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and Police missions, and a
Single Engine Light (SEL) configuration for Passenger/Transport missions, and a Twin Engine Heavy
(TEH) configuration for Oil & Gas missions. The different technologies
assessed reflect three
simulation points which are the ‘Baseline’ Year 2000 technology, ‘Reference’ Y2020 technology,
without Clean Sky benefits, and finally the ‘Conceptual’, reflecting Y2020 technology with Clean Sky
benefits. The results of this study i
llustrate the potential that incorporated technologies possess in
terms of improving performance and gas emission metrics such as fuel burn, CO2, NOx as well as the
noise footprint on the ground.