Design Guidelines for High Capacity Innovative Regional Turboprop Aircraft

This paper deals with the Multi-Disciplinary Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) of an innovative high capacity regional turboprop aircraft. To cope with the Top-Level Aircraft Requirements (TLARs), different design solutions have been analyzed and compared in terms of weights, balance, aerodynamics, performance, emissions and Direct Operating Costs (DOC). Response surfaces and Pareto fronts have been generated for each aircraft configuration assuming different values of lifting surfaces and geometrical design parameters. Optimal solutions have been selected from Pareto fronts according to specific performance, emissions and DOC objective functions. Those have been compared to illustrate relative benefits and drawbacks. This kind of innovative regional platform is supposed to be competitive on the short/medium range with regional jets. A regional jet similar to the Airbus A220 has been chosen as the reference regional jet aircraft to which compare all optima configuration coming from the MDAO process. Comparisons have been made in terms of block fuel, block time and DOC. The three-lifting surfaces configuration has been identified as the most promising choice for the higher gain in terms of block fuel and direct operative costs.