Technology Identification for a High Performance Tailsitter VTOL Aircraft

A sensitivity study on the performance of a 10,000 lb, dual rotor tailsitter aircraft was conducted. A data set of 72 unique configurations was constructed using manual design space exploration, a screening design of experiments, and a response surface design of experiments. The performance of each configurations was analyzed using the FLIGHTLAB rotorcraft simulation software for low speed flight from 0–100 kts and high speed flight from 150-300 kts. The resulting data was used to construct eleven surrogate performance models using the JMP statistical analysis software. The sensitivity of the performance models to the variability of multiple design parameters is shown. For low speed flight, rotor design parameters affect aircraft performance the greatest. In high speed flight, the rotor and fixed wing design parameters influenced the performance to a similar degree. The analyses shown prototype a process to quantify the impact of design decisions on the vehicle effectiveness and guide investments in future performance enhancing technologies.