TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE AERONAUTICAL SCIENCES

This paper outlines the conceptual design of a fan-in-wing (FIW) short take off and landing (STOL) regional-jet for 50 passengers and a range of 1000 nautical miles with a take off field length (TOFL) of 300m (ground roll). The approach chosen was to first examine realized lift-fan aircraft and to subsequently derive conclusions for a civil FIW concept. Based on these conclusions parametric design studies for thrust to weight ratio (T0/W), wing-loading (W/S) and lift-fan thrust were performed in a performance constraint chart to find advantageous combinations that meet the performance requirements. These results were used to design a basic layout including the calculation of component masses. Different hybrid propulsion system concepts for the lift-fans were investigated within this basic configuration. In this context “hybrid ” means that the lift-fans are driven by power extracted from the aircraft’s main engines and that the lift during take off and landing is produced by the wing and lift-fans. The investigated propulsion systems include mechanical, electrical and pneumatical power transmission and extraction. The concepts were compared in a mission calculation module.