Design and Sizing of an Electrified Lift-Plus-Cruise Ducted Fan Aircraft

Abstract

This paper demonstrates parametric definition and sizing of all-electric and hybrid-electric variants of a dual-purpose ducted fan lift-plus-cruise aircraft configuration. The dual roles include passenger transportation for urban air mobility as well as transportation of supplies and personnel for military applications. The impact of battery technology on the characteristics of the sized all-electric and hybrid-electric variants is analyzed. For the latter, turboshaft engines are incorporated to satisfy cruise power requirements and offset peak power requirements during vertical flight, at the expense of additional propulsion system weight. The net impact of this penalty is investigated as a function of battery technology and range. The aircraft is sized and analyzed using the Parametric Energy-based Aircraft Configuration Evaluator, a sizing framework utilizing a parametric geometry definition and resizing rule set for the aircraft, strip-theory-based aeropropulsive models, energy-based mission performance analysis, and a combination of empirical and physics-based mass properties analyses.