Engineless Aiplane
An "Eengineless" new concept aircraft based on co-flow jet airfoil is studied. The ``Eengineless" means that it does not use the conventional jet propulsion engines or propellers. It relies on the co-flow jet (CFJ) on the suction surface. The CFJ has the features to enhance lift, generate thrust, and increase stall margin. The preliminary 3D CFD simulation proves the feasibility. It is expected that the ``Eengineless" CFJ airplane would be more efficient than the conventional airplane and may dramatically change the aircraft concept in future. Further study is in progress.
The computed pressure contours of an "Engineless" flying wing airplane powered by CFJ airfoil based on CFD simulation.
The computed drag polar of the "Engineless" flying wing airplane. When CL < 1.0, the airplane has negative drag, that is the thrust.
The computed lift coefficient vs angle of attack of the "Engineless" flying wing airplane.
A flying robot called Mars Intelligent Reconnaissance Aerial and Ground Explorer (MIRAGE) is designed based on CFJ airfoil to achieve high stall margin at low Reynolds number environment on Mars.
The CFJ airfoil is also used to redesign B777 to achieve the extremely short take-off/landing(ESTOL) performance.
PUBLICATIONS:
- P. X. Coronado, B. Cuffie, D. Saer and G.-C. Zha, "Conceptual Design of a Personal Aerial Vehicle Using Co-Flow Jet Airfoil", AIAA Paper 2007-4442 25th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, June 25-28, 2007
- John Aguirre, Baoyuan Wang and G.-C. Zha, "Conceptual Design and Study of ``Engineless'' Airplane Using Co-Flow Jet Airfoil",AIAA Paper 2007-4441 25th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, June 25-28, 2007
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- J. Aguirre, V. Casado, N. Chamie, and G. Zha, "Mars Intelligent Reconaissance Aerial and Ground Explorer (MIRAGE)",AIAA Paper 2007-0244 AIAA 45th Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, NV, Jan. 8-11, 2007