Comparison of Pollutants Emission for Hybrid Aircraft with Traditional and Multi-Propeller Distributed Propulsion

Abstract

Due to the dynamic development of environmentally friendly aircraft propulsion, the paper describes the effect of distributed propulsion on the emission and fuel consumption changes of aircraft in comparison to aircraft with traditional propulsion. A distributed propulsion is a propulsion composed of a set of units located on the leading edges of the wings or on the fuselage, generating a thrust symmetrically distributed on both sides of the fuselage. The analysis was based on the technical data of AOS H2 motor glider. During the tests for the adopted geometry of distributed propulsion, the improvement of airframe aerodynamic parameters was determined by conducting a CFD flow analysis. Based on the energy method, the flight range and duration were determined for the aircraft with distributed propulsion. It occurred that they increased by 19% compared to the initial variant—traditional propulsion. For the adopted energy source—Wankel AG-407TGi engine, the emissions of CO, CO2, and NO in the exhausts were measured. After the application of distributed propulsion, the emissions and fuel consumption were reduced by 16%. The research conducted showed that the application of distributed propulsion instead of traditional propulsion can bring measurable environmental benefits. Conducting further research on multi-criteria optimization of aircraft structures may bring further benefits in terms of improving aircraft performance and environmentally friendly indicators.