Innovative turbopROp configuration (IRON)

A deep market analysis on the regional and commuter aircraft has revealed that nowadays the volatility of oil price (more and more prone to international political crises), the huge growth of air transport traffic and the increasing attention to the aircraft environmental footprint considerably lead the interest of specialists towards new configurations of regional and commuter transport aircraft. Also the major airlines in this segment have been addressing the replacement for many hundreds of heritage airplanes in the 20-150 seats categories currently in service around the world. Turboprop configuration could be the ideal answer to this request. An innovative turboprop configuration with a rear propeller installation can lead to a cleaner wing with possibilities to achieve laminar flow extension. In addition the wing without engine nacelle and free of propeller interference effects will be characterized by a more efficient high-lift system with a possible increase in aircraft maximum lift coefficient which will positively affect the ground performances. The analysis of the proposed innovative configuration with rear propeller installation, which is one of the main topics dealt by the IRON project proposal, is characterized by several aerodynamic, performance and propulsion feature that must be predicted with high accuracy and deep comprehension of involved phenomena in order to lead to a possible improved configuration respect to the classical configuration with wing-mounted engines. The IRON project will also address the conventional (wing mounted propeller) turboprop configuration. In this case one of the key element is the reduction of the perceived annoyance due to propeller noise emissions. A low-noise propeller system will be designed after exploring emerging technologies. This achievement will be attained while preserving the propulsion efficiency because of its high impact on economic, environmental and social issues.