Conceptual Design of a Next Generation Supersonic Airliner for Low Noise and Emissions

The development of an innovative, medium-range supersonic airliner to meet low drag, low emissions and LTO noise requirements is presented in this paper, including a multi-disciplinary design framework targeting firstly to meet at least the current noise regulations for subsonic aircraft during take-off and landing and secondly to reduce the emission levels. The aircraft is designed to fly 4000 nm at Mach 2.2, carrying 100 passengers. The work contributes to the EU SENECA ((LTO) noiSe and EmissioNs of supErsoniC Aircraft) project, which aims to design different SST (SuperSonic Transport) aircraft platforms to investigate the emissions, the noise and the global environmental impact of supersonic aviation. Results from SENECA can support ICAO in the process of creating future certification requirements as well as form legislation guidelines specifically for the future supersonic commercial aircraft. The technical work includes the assessment of different aircraft-engine configurations, in terms of engine number and positions, on typical flight missions. This enables the evaluation of the baseline layouts that represent the best compromise among payload-range capability, aerodynamic performance, weight and noise. A multi-disciplinary airframe-engine integrated design is carried out in order to pursue a comparative analysis focusing on take-off noise for the different aircraft-engine combination platforms. Lastly, the investigation of the potential use of variable noise reduction systems (VNRS), such as a FADEC controlled thrust reduction during take-off, called Programmed Lapse Rate (PLR) is carried out to study their impact in the mitigation of the resultant noise in the airport environment.