TY - JOUR A1 - Neu, Eugen A1 - Janser, Frank A1 - Khatibi, Akbar A. A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Orifici, Adrian C. T1 - Operational Modal Analysis of a wing excited by transonic flow JF - Aerospace Science and Technology N2 - Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) is a promising candidate for flutter testing and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of aircraft wings that are passively excited by wind loads. However, no studies have been published where OMA is tested in transonic flows, which is the dominant condition for large civil aircraft and is characterized by complex and unique aerodynamic phenomena. We use data from the HIRENASD large-scale wind tunnel experiment to automatically extract modal parameters from an ambiently excited wing operated in the transonic regime using two OMA methods: Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) and Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD). The system response is evaluated based on accelerometer measurements. The excitation is investigated from surface pressure measurements. The forcing function is shown to be non-white, non-stationary and contaminated by narrow-banded transonic disturbances. All these properties violate fundamental OMA assumptions about the forcing function. Despite this, all physical modes in the investigated frequency range were successfully identified, and in addition transonic pressure waves were identified as physical modes as well. The SSI method showed superior identification capabilities for the investigated case. The investigation shows that complex transonic flows can interfere with OMA. This can make existing approaches for modal tracking unsuitable for their application to aircraft wings operated in the transonic flight regime. Approaches to separate the true physical modes from the transonic disturbances are discussed. Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2015.11.032 SN - 1270-9638 VL - 49 SP - 73 EP - 79 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Götten, Falk A1 - Finger, Felix A1 - Havermann, Marc A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Gomez, Francisco A1 - Bill, C. T1 - On the flight performance impact of landing gear drag reduction methods for unmanned air vehicles JF - Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2018 N2 - The flight performance impact of three different landing gear configurations on a small, fixed-wing UAV is analyzed with a combination of RANS CFD calculations and an incremental flight performance algorithm. A standard fixed landing gear configuration is taken as a baseline, while the influence of retracting the landing gear or applying streamlined fairings is investigated. A retraction leads to a significant parasite drag reduction, while also fairings promise large savings. The increase in lift-to-drag ratio is reduced at high lift coefficients due to the influence of induced drag. All configurations are tested on three different design missions with an incremental flight performance algorithm. A trade-off study is performed using the retracted or faired landing gear's weight increase as a variable. The analysis reveals only small mission performance gains as the aerodynamic improvements are negated by weight penalties. A new workflow for decision-making is presented that allows to estimate if a change in landing gear configuration is beneficial for a small UAV. Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.25967/480058 PB - DGLR CY - Bonn ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Finger, Felix A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Bil, Cees T1 - Impact of electric propulsion technology and mission requirements on the performance of VTOL UAVs JF - CEAS Aeronautical Journal N2 - One of the engineering challenges in aviation is the design of transitioning vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Thrust-borne flight implies a higher mass fraction of the propulsion system, as well as much increased energy consumption in the take-off and landing phases. This mass increase is typically higher for aircraft with a separate lift propulsion system than for aircraft that use the cruise propulsion system to support a dedicated lift system. However, for a cost–benefit trade study, it is necessary to quantify the impact the VTOL requirement and propulsion configuration has on aircraft mass and size. For this reason, sizing studies are conducted. This paper explores the impact of considering a supplemental electric propulsion system for achieving hovering flight. Key variables in this study, apart from the lift system configuration, are the rotor disk loading and hover flight time, as well as the electrical systems technology level for both batteries and motors. Payload and endurance are typically used as the measures of merit for unmanned aircraft that carry electro-optical sensors, and therefore the analysis focuses on these particular parameters. Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13272-018-0352-x SN - 1869-5582 print SN - 1869-5590 online VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 843 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schildt, Ph. A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Marzocca, P. T1 - Metric evaluating potentials of condition-monitoring approaches for hybrid electric aircraft propulsion systems JF - CEAS Aeronautical Journal Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13272-019-00411-3 SN - 1869-5590 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Finger, Felix A1 - Bil, Cees A1 - Braun, Carsten T1 - Initial Sizing Methodology for Hybrid-Electric General Aviation Aircraft JF - Journal of Aircraft Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.C035428 SN - 1533-3868 VL - 57 IS - 2 SP - 245 EP - 255 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Götten, Falk A1 - Havermann, Marc A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Marino, Matthew A1 - Bil, Cees T1 - Airfoil drag at low-to-medium reynolds numbers: A novel estimation method JF - AIAA Journal N2 - This paper presents a novel method for airfoil drag estimation at Reynolds numbers between 4×10⁵ and 4×10⁶. The novel method is based on a systematic study of 40 airfoils applying over 600 numerical simulations and considering natural transition. The influence of the airfoil thickness-to-chord ratio, camber, and freestream Reynolds number on both friction and pressure drag is analyzed in detail. Natural transition significantly affects drag characteristics and leads to distinct drag minima for different Reynolds numbers and thickness-to-chord ratios. The results of the systematic study are used to develop empirical correlations that can accurately predict an airfoil drag at low-lift conditions. The new approach estimates a transition location based on airfoil thickness-to-chord ratio, camber, and Reynolds number. It uses the transition location in a mixed laminar–turbulent skin-friction calculation, and corrects the skin-friction coefficient for separation effects. Pressure drag is estimated separately based on correlations of thickness-to-chord ratio, camber, and Reynolds number. The novel method shows excellent accuracy when compared with wind-tunnel measurements of multiple airfoils. It is easily integrable into existing aircraft design environments and is highly beneficial in the conceptual design stage. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.J058983 SN - 1533-385X VL - 58 IS - 7 SP - 2791 EP - 2805 PB - AIAA CY - Reston, Va. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bergmann, Ole A1 - Möhren, Felix A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Janser, Frank T1 - On the influence of elasticity on swept propeller noise JF - AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum N2 - High aerodynamic efficiency requires propellers with high aspect ratios, while propeller sweep potentially reduces noise. Propeller sweep and high aspect ratios increase elasticity and coupling of structural mechanics and aerodynamics, affecting the propeller performance and noise. Therefore, this paper analyzes the influence of elasticity on forward-swept, backward-swept, and unswept propellers in hover conditions. A reduced-order blade element momentum approach is coupled with a one-dimensional Timoshenko beam theory and Farassat's formulation 1A. The results of the aeroelastic simulation are used as input for the aeroacoustic calculation. The analysis shows that elasticity influences noise radiation because thickness and loading noise respond differently to deformations. In the case of the backward-swept propeller, the location of the maximum sound pressure level shifts forward by 0.5 °, while in the case of the forward-swept propeller, it shifts backward by 0.5 °. Therefore, aeroacoustic optimization requires the consideration of propeller deformation. Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-0210 N1 - Session: Propeller, Open Rotor, and Rotorcraft Noise II AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum, 23-27 January 2023, National Harbor, MD & Online PB - AIAA ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Götten, Falk A1 - Havermann, Marc A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Marino, Matthew A1 - Bil, Cees T1 - Wind-tunnel and CFD investigations of UAV landing gears and turrets – Improvements in empirical drag estimation JF - Aerospace Science and Technology N2 - This paper analyzes the drag characteristics of several landing gear and turret configurations that are representative of unmanned aircraft tricycle landing gears and sensor turrets. A variety of these components were constructed via 3D-printing and analyzed in a wind-tunnel measurement campaign. Both turrets and landing gears were attached to a modular fuselage that supported both isolated components and multiple components at a time. Selected cases were numerically investigated with a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes approach that showed good accuracy when compared to wind-tunnel data. The drag of main gear struts could be significantly reduced via streamlining their cross-sectional shape and keeping load carrying capabilities similar. The attachment of wheels introduced interference effects that increased strut drag moderately but significantly increased wheel drag compared to isolated cases. Very similar behavior was identified for front landing gears. The drag of an electro-optical and infrared sensor turret was found to be much higher than compared to available data of a clean hemisphere-cylinder combination. This turret drag was merely influenced by geometrical features like sensor surfaces and the rotational mechanism. The new data of this study is used to develop simple drag estimation recommendations for main and front landing gear struts and wheels as well as sensor turrets. These recommendations take geometrical considerations and interference effects into account. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2020.106306 SN - 1270-9638 VL - 107 IS - Art. 106306 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Götten, Falk A1 - Havermann, Marc A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Marino, Matthew A1 - Bil, Cees T1 - Improved Form Factor for Drag Estimation of Fuselages with Various Cross Sections JF - Journal of Aircraft N2 - The paper presents an aerodynamic investigation of 70 different streamlined bodies with fineness ratios ranging from 2 to 10. The bodies are chosen to idealize both unmanned and small manned aircraft fuselages and feature cross-sectional shapes that vary from circular to quadratic. The study focuses on friction and pressure drag in dependency of the individual body’s fineness ratio and cross section. The drag forces are normalized with the respective body’s wetted area to comply with an empirical drag estimation procedure. Although the friction drag coefficient then stays rather constant for all bodies, their pressure drag coefficients decrease with an increase in fineness ratio. Referring the pressure drag coefficient to the bodies’ cross-sectional areas shows a distinct pressure drag minimum at a fineness ratio of about three. The pressure drag of bodies with a quadratic cross section is generally higher than for bodies of revolution. The results are used to derive an improved form factor that can be employed in a classic empirical drag estimation method. The improved formulation takes both the fineness ratio and cross-sectional shape into account. It shows superior accuracy in estimating streamlined body drag when compared with experimental data and other form factor formulations of the literature. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.C036032 SN - 1533-3868 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - AIAA CY - Reston, Va. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Finger, Felix A1 - Braun, Carsten A1 - Bil, Cees T1 - Comparative assessment of parallel-hybrid-electric propulsion systems for four different aircraft JF - Journal of Aircraft N2 - Until electric energy storage systems are ready to allow fully electric aircraft, the combination of combustion engine and electric motor as a hybrid-electric propulsion system seems to be a promising intermediate solution. Consequently, the design space for future aircraft is expanded considerably, as serial hybrid-electric, parallel hybrid-electric, fully electric, and conventional propulsion systems must all be considered. While the best propulsion system depends on a multitude of requirements and considerations, trends can be observed for certain types of aircraft and certain types of missions. This Paper provides insight into some factors that drive a new design toward either conventional or hybrid propulsion systems. General aviation aircraft, regional transport aircraft vertical takeoff and landing air taxis, and unmanned aerial vehicles are chosen as case studies. Typical missions for each class are considered, and the aircraft are analyzed regarding their takeoff mass and primary energy consumption. For these case studies, a high-level approach is chosen, using an initial sizing methodology. Only parallel-hybrid-electric powertrains are taken into account. Aeropropulsive interaction effects are neglected. Results indicate that hybrid-electric propulsion systems should be considered if the propulsion system is sized by short-duration power constraints. However, if the propulsion system is sized by a continuous power requirement, hybrid-electric systems offer hardly any benefit. Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.C035897 SN - 1533-3868 VL - 57 IS - 5 PB - AIAA CY - Reston, Va. ER -