Optimized Powerplant Configurations for Improved Rotorcraft Operational Performance

This paper presents an integrated multidisciplinary rotorcraft design and optimization framework, deployed for the design and assessment of a conceptual rotorcraft powerplant configuration at mission level. The proposed approach comprises a wide-range of individual modeling theories applicable to rotorcraft flight dynamics, gas turbine engine performance and weight estimation as well as a novel physics-based, stirred reactor model for the rapid estimation of gas turbine gaseous emissions. A novel Single-Objective and Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimizer is coupled with the aforementioned integrated rotorcraft multidisciplinary design framework. The combined approach is applied to the multidisciplinary design and optimization of a reference Twin Engine Light civil rotorcraft modeled after the Eurocopter Bo105 helicopter, operating on representative mission scenario. Through the application of Single-Objective optimization, optimum engine design configurations are acquired in terms of mission fuel consumption, engine weight and gaseous emissions at constant technology level. Multi-Objective studies are carried out in order to quantify the optimum interrelationship between mission fuel consumption and gaseous emissions for the representative Twin Engine Light rotorcraft operation and a variety of engine configurations. The proposed approach essentially constitutes an enabler in terms of focusing the multidiscipalinry design of rotorcraft powerplants to realistic, three-dimensional operations and towards the realization of associated engine design tradeoffs at mission level.