SECONDARY POWER SYSTEM EVALUATIONS FOR ADVANCED AIRCRAFT

A computerized analytical program is being developed to help investigate the impact of power system requirements on aircraft performance. The program has an user interface that operates in MS-EXCEL, linking several subsystems analysis programs for execution and data transfer in the power systems analysis. The program presently includes an encoded propulsion engine cycle code, which allows the inspection of power extraction effects on engine performance. To validate the results of the encoded engine program, a study was conducted to investigate the separate effects of shaft power extraction and pneumatic bleed. The selected engine cycle was that for a standard tactical fighter, with a flight condition of varied altitude (sea level to 40,000 ft) and constant Mach Number (0.9). As expected the resultant data showed that the engine performance was more sensitive to pneumatic bleed than to shaft power extraction. The paper's efficiency comparisons between shaft power and bleed air power helps indicate the higher efficiency for the power system of a more-electric type aircraft. Present efforts on the analytical interface are to incorporate a fuel thermal management analysis capability.