Pugh Analysis for Configuration Selection of a Hybrid Buoyant Aircraft

In comparison with traditional aircraft design, the configuration design phase of a hybrid buoyant aircraft is quite complex due to the augmentation of aerostatic and aerodynamic lift. The first step in assessing the optimal configuration for such aircraft is to approach the design in a number of different ways with different shapes of hull and diversed empennage arrangements. Concept selection methods like Pugh concept selection charts can assist to rank the population of different concepts of such aircraft. In the present work, an effort was done to explore the potential usage of Pugh's method in a comprehensive manner and to establish a basis for choosing a particular design concept. Driving factors of such design concepts were reviewed alongwith the selection of figure of merits, which were further evaluated by taking Megalifter as a reference with which all other configurations under consideration were compared. The initial set of concept generation was obtained on some initial requirements. Based on the design requirement analysis, a configuration containing lifting canard and twin tail attached with hybrid lifting hull was selected from the population of concepts. Exercise of selecting a design using the Pugh Matrix had provided an optimal configuration without doing any tedious quantitative calculations.