Conceptual Design Methodology for the Fan-in-Wing VTOL Aircraft

<p>The Fan-In-Wing (FIW) aircraft concept is one of the most compelling solutions for missions demanding jet-like cruise speeds and Vertical TakeOff and Landing (VTOL) capability. However, despite years of interest and documented improvements in lift-fan technology, there exists little in the way of an adequate theory for conceptual design of a fan-in-wing aircraft. To address this issue, a general conceptual design methodology has been developed as a source of guidance for the FIW designer. Through this work, the top-level requirements ranking the fan-in-wing concept above other VTOL aircraft have been defined, while a cross-comparison between the FIW concept and conventional aircraft reveals major discrepancies in their design philosophies, constituting the need for a separate design algorithm. The final conceptual design methodology emerges from an elaborate technique of relating the FIW concept’s major cruise and hover performance metrics to a physical disk area constraint imposed by the size of its wing reference area. Out of this process, a theoretical and practical design space for sizing the FIW concept has been defined, and as a result, the FIW aircraft designer is given an effective means of iterating on the initial size of their wings and lift fans to meet a set of cruise and hover performance requirements. A final demonstration of how the conceptual FIW design methodology is implemented in practice has been included using an example case study.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Year

2024

Author dc:creator

• Steinfeldt, Brock

• Fan-in-Wing
• Lift-Fan
• HSVTOL
• XV-5
• F-35B
• Airplane
• Jet
• Helicopter
• Rotorcraft
• Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
• Aerospace Engineering
• Aviation

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.erau.edu/edt/818

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.erau.edu:edt-1846