AVIATION:RESEARCHERS AT Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have unveiled two new aircraft designs, which they claim could use 70 per cent less fuel than existing planes, while cutting noise pollution and nitrogen oxide emissions by a similar amount.
Developed at the university’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and presented to NASA as part of a €1.9m research programme, the aim was to look three generations beyond existing designs to identify the key technologies that will enable greener aircraft to take to the skies around 2035.
Two designs emerged: the 180-passenger D “double bubble” series to replace the Boeing 737 class aircraft, currently used for domestic flights, and the 350 passenger H “hybrid wing body” series to replace the Boeing 777 now used for international flights.
The double bubble design features rear-mounted engines, longer, narrower wings and a smaller tail. This would significantly reduce drag, allowing the engines to burn less fuel for the same amount of thrust, according to its lead designer Mark Drela.
Independently, each tweak might not amount to much, but “little changes add up to one big change,” he said. Although it would be slightly slower than a 737, some of this time could be recovered because the wider size should allow for quicker loading and unloading, he added.
Drela and his team also provided a design that could be built sooner than 2035 which would still be twice as fuel efficient as existing jets.
The larger hybrid wing body concept also places the engines at the rear of the aircraft, featuring longer, thinner wings. But the design also consists of a triangular shaped body that blends a wider fuselage with the plane’s wings that improves its aerodynamics and allows it to carry more passengers. The researchers acknowledge that some propulsion system technology still needs to be explored and have proposed evaluating the interactions between it and the new aircraft using a large-scale NASA wind tunnel.
Even if their designs are not chosen for the second phase of NASA’s programme, they hope to continue to develop them by testing smaller models at MIT’s Wright Brothers’ Wind Tunnel and collaborating with manufacturers to explore how to make the concepts a reality.
