PRELIMINARY TAKE-OFF ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION FOR A PRANDTLPLANE COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT

The paper describes the take-off performances and characteristics of an unconventional aircraft, called PrandtlPlane. The PrandtlPlane has a box-wing architecture, founded on the “Best Wing System” concept due to L. Prandtl, that minimizes the induced drag once wingspan and lift are given. This configuration has the potential to be a more efficient alternative to conventional tube-and-wing aircraft, and it is under investigation in the framework of the PARSIFAL project, funded by the European Union in the Horizon 2020 program. A numerical simulation tool for the take-off dynamics of the aircraft, based on the non-linear equations of motion, has been developed in order to evaluate the performance of the aircraft in take-off condition. The VLM solver has been integrated into this tool in order to evaluate the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft in ground effect at each moment of the manoeuvre. The same assessments have been made for a conventional tube-and-wing reference aircraft, with the aim of conducting a performance comparison with the reference PrandtlPlane. The preliminary results obtained show the aerodynamic and aeromechanical advantages of the reference PrandtlPlane, in terms of runway length and passenger comfort