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Master Thesis subjects of BruFacE Electromechanical Engineering: “PROPOSAL ONE” Title: Adaptation of existing software already partly enhanced from general aviation to civil airliners. Following both Yoni Molly’s (VUB, 2011/2012) and Frederic Dewandel’s theses (KHBO, 2012/2013, promoted through BruFace), improving design software from FAR/CS 23 to FAR/CS 25 specifics. Promotor(s): JJ Speyer, Professor, Aircraft Specifications & Certification Research Group: Mechanical Engineering Description thesis work: As per a building block-‐approach inaugurated 2 years ago the main objective of this master thesis is to continue extending the ADS software (initially created according to FAR/CS 23 for General Aviation) towards its application to commercial jet aircraft (certificated under FAR/CS 25). The ADS software belongs to Namur-‐based OAD, headed by Mr Didier Breynne, who developed this software for GA , the plan being evidently to upgrade ADS to airliners. -‐
The modifications that were performed by Yoni Molly’s work in 2011/2012 were validated by reverse-‐engineering specifications of the Fokker F100 and its applicability was subsequently tested by using the updated software to help optimizing the F100 towards the F100NG-‐design. This involved recalculating aerodynamics’ drag and lift polars and re-‐
engineering the derivative aircraft with High By-‐Pass Ratio engines, winglets, electric taxiing devices, light seats to improve passenger capacity. -‐ The renewed ADS-‐airliner version was further improved by Frederic Dewandel (KHBO in cooperation with Patrick Hendrick) in 2012/2013 with the incorporation of performance calculations relative to take-‐off, climb, descent and approach to further enhance payload-‐
range predictions as per FAR/CS25 airworthiness requirements. Another major improvement also focused on a better prediction of aircraft weight taking into account structural and material characteristics using an improved version of an internship promoted by JJ Speyer during his tenure at Airbus. Reverse engineering was performed based on the specifications of the A321 design prior to re-‐engineering its preliminary design towards a geared fan version as per the case study of JJ Speyer’s course in 2012/2013. For 2013/2014 the objective will be to improve structural repercussions related to requirements stemming from respective maneuver and gust loads specified in FAR/CS 25 Airworthiness Regulations as well as ensuing predictions of critical design airspeeds of the basic flight envelope. We also plan to include direct operating cost based on AEA /Fokker/Airbus methods in order to improve payload range analyses and integrate economic projections in airline route studies. If at all possible, thrust calculations at altitude conditions would be incorporated as per a current project carried out under Patrick Hendrick depending on the state of advancement of that project. The main requirements for such preliminary design methods are that they should be: reliable, accurate, fast and convergent. This last criterion drives to iterative solutions for aircraft design provided calculations converge in time. Enhanced capabilities to perform optimal trade-‐offs typical to any design process (according to representative figures of merit) go along with this basic idea. Requirements: ability to treat vast amounts of different pieces of knowledge, quantitative and analytical abilities, ability to derive an overall synthetic conclusion with practical recommendations, creative use of existing ADS programs from the OAD company, to be tested with FOKKER 100/F100NG data from Rekkof and with A321 data from the European manufacturer. Proficiency with Excell/MatLab/Visual Basic to transfer work towards ADS software is welcome. Number of possible students: 1 or 2 Assistant/PhD student that will guide the student: JJ Speyer For thesis in cooperation with industry: aircraft designer, software specialist, design lecturer Name company: OAD based in Namur, NG Aircraft based in Amsterdam, Airbus in Toulouse Name, e-‐mail address, tel. contact person industry: Didier Breynne, CEO, [email protected], 0497.90.96.96/081.21.26.87 Rudi Den Hartog, chief engineer, [email protected] +31.653.39.08.04/+3120540.03.04 Françoise Keller, airline analyst, [email protected], +33.561.93.34.06/+3356193.33.33 E-‐mail and tel. contact person(s): [email protected], 0489.39.42.11 Master Thesis subjects of BruFacE Electromechanical Engineering: “PROPOSAL TWO” Title: Development of a new cost index algorithm adapted to link ATM, weather and Airline constraints. Promotor(s): JJ Speyer, Professor, Aircraft Specifications & Certification Research Group: Mechanical Engineering Description thesis work (5 to 10 lines): Since the advent of Flight Management Systems that compute aircraft trajectories with regard to aircraft performance characteristics and navigation constraints the cost index is most instrumental in determining economy, climb and descent speeds. In order to optimize a flight’s costs it defined as the ratio of time cost to fuel cost. This formulation was set up to minimize any flight’s variable costs and is variable from airline to airline, route to route and aircraft to aircraft depending on cost calculations and aircraft performance. Ample thought should be given to reformulate existing cost functions according to flight phases and ATM context. Different requirements govern climb, cruise and descent and the description of any flight by means of specific excess power graphs opens the door for different formulations according to the phase of flight and associated flight profiles. As shown in Sam Peeters’ MS thesis (2012/2013) on Continuous Descent (CDO) and Continuous Climb Operations (CCO) Discussions there is untapped potential to improve the cruise segment of a flight by integrating wind information in the Breguet Equation and hence optimize concurrent aircraft trajectories. The idea of developing alternative flight economy algorithms different from the cost index has prevailed at Airbus ever since early discussions around the A30X, the would-‐be successor to the highly successful A320 family. Having recently shared this opinion with a retired Boeing test pilot and also former MIT student-‐colleague, it is about the right time to transform this idea into a thesis topic in cooperation with SESAR projects at Eurocontrol where we have excellent connections. Requirements: ability to treat vast amounts of different pieces of knowledge and of data, quantitative , analytical and software treatment abilities (e.g. EXCELL, ACCESS, MATLAB) , ample contact qualities to interview airline dispatch, weather forecasting and ATC personnel of different backgrounds, ability to derive overall synthetic conclusions with practical recommendations. This topic is ideally suited for candidate(s) aspiring for a flying career or for a future in flight operations management. Number of possible students: 1 student Assistant/PhD student that will guide the student: JJ Speyer For thesis in cooperation with industry: Fuel experts / Airline Captain / ATC Management Name company: Thomas Cook Airlines, Eurocontrol, Name, e-‐mail address, tel. contact person industry: Captain Philippe Charlier, Thomas Cook Airlines, [email protected], 0478.96.26.65 Peter Griffith, Eurocontrol, [email protected], +32.2.729.35.76 E-‐mail and tel. contact person(s): [email protected], 0489.39.42.11 Master Thesis subjects of BruFacE Electromechanical Engineering : “PROPOSAL THREE” Title: Calculation of factored take-‐off and landing distances by means of improved evaluation of runway friction coefficients and braking conditions for wet and contaminated runways. Promotor(s): JJ Speyer, Professor, Aircraft Specifications & Certification Research Group: Mechanical Engineering Description thesis work (5 to 10 lines): After many years of runway overrun accidents, the FAA has come up with the Take-‐off and Landing Performance Assessment Aviation Rule Making Committee (TALPA), ICAO has come up with a dedicated Friction Task Force and EASA with a Rule Making on Airport Operations, Friction and Braking, and Contaminated Runways. The aim of this MS Thesis is to review work proceedings, compare corresponding methods, develop and validate Factored Operational Landing Distance Methods in cooperation with EASA, airlines and Airbus Performance & Operations Engineering to better reflect runway conditions. The idea is to do this without unduly penalizing aircraft performance capabilities but by warranting better safety standards. For the landing case, verification of outcome results would be done by assessing risk reduction through computation with Flight Data Monitoring data that are close to critical outcomes (aircraft too high, too fast and touching down too late on runway). It is indeed well known that 4% of approaching aircraft are in such an unstable condition, only 4.5% of which considering going around for a renewed landing attempt. An equivalent procedure could be performed for the take-‐off case as per TALPA provisions. The outcome of this may also be beneficial for the computation algorithms of the ADS Software for preliminary aircraft design. Requirements: ability to treat vast amounts of different pieces of knowledge, quantitative and analytical abilities, ability to derive an overall synthetic conclusion with practical recommendations, creative use of existing performance programs from the industry, to be tested within a cooperative exercise with at least one airline, Airbus as well as cooperation with EASA. Proficiency with Excell/ACCESS/MatLab/Visual Basic is welcome. Number of possible students: 1 Assistant/PhD student that will guide the student: JJ Speyer For thesis in cooperation with industry: Name company: Thomas Cook Airlines, Airbus, EASA Name, e-‐mail address, tel. contact person industry: Captain Philippe Charlier, Thomas Cook Airlines, [email protected], 0478.96.26.65 Mr Lars Kornstaedt, Airbus, [email protected], +33561.93.36.75 Dr Michel Masson, EASA, [email protected],+49.221.89990.20.24 E-‐mail and tel. contact person(s): [email protected], 0489.39.42.11 Master Thesis subjects of BruFacE Electromechanical Engineering “PROPOSAL FOUR” Title: Development of a Fuel and Flight Efficiency evaluation toolbox to optimize Flight Operations Promotor(s): JJ Speyer, Professor, Aircraft Specifications & Certification Research Group: Mechanical Engineering Description thesis work (5 to 10 lines): This work will pertain to the development of fuel & flight efficiency software to evaluate the running of an airline with the aim of optimalizing operations by means of a systematic follow-‐up of all facets and factors relative to flight operations, flight dispatch and maintenance. In particular the project will concentrate on comparing planned fuel/time flight predictions with realized flights, bundling blocks of flights to explain discrepancies and consecutively act on flight conduct and planning. An existing toolbox will be made available but the objective will be to develop an automated software to facilitate the treatment of vasts amount of data. The project will hence require to decypher and treat digital flight data recorder information and will need to dig into flight manuals, flight crew operating manuals and economic data. Ample information will be available including the Airbus “Getting to Grips Series” such as Aircraft Performance, Aerodynamic Deterioration, Aircraft Performance Monitoring, the IATA Fuel Book, the Airline’s Flight Planning Programs, the Aircraft Performance Programs (Airbus) and Engine Condition Software (CFM). Requirements : ability to treat vasts amount of different pieces of knowledge, quantitative , analytical and software treatment abilities (e.g. EXCELL, ACCESS, MATLAB) , ample contact qualities to interview airline personnel of different backgrounds, ability to derive overall synthetic conclusions with practical recommendations. This topic is ideally suited for candidate(s) aspiring for a flying career or for a future in flight operations management. Number of possible students: 1 to 2 Assistant/PhD student that will guide the student: JJ Speyer For thesis in cooperation with industry: Fuel expert / Accountable Manager / Airline Captain Name company: Thomas Cook Airlines based in Brussels Name, e-‐mail address, tel. contact person industry: Captain Philippe Charlier, [email protected], 0478.96.26.65 E-‐mail and tel. contact person(s): [email protected], 0489.39.42.11, +33.671.91.58.33 Master Thesis subjects of BruFacE Electromechanical Engineering: “PROPOSAL FIVE” Title: Development of the WheelTug system as a device for electric nose-‐wheel taxying through increase of APU-‐generated power and the impact of WheelTug Twist for concepts of airport operations. Promotor(s): JJ Speyer, Professor, Aircraft Specifications & Certification Research Group: Mechanical Engineering Description thesis work: A particularly creative innovation for Fuel and Flight Efficiency is about to break through with the introduction of engines-‐off taxiing: applying electric power on the nose-‐gear to achieve automotive motion on ground delaying the need for engine start-‐up until the take-‐off runway. This will spare taxi fuel costs, reduce push-‐back and startup assistance on the apron, increase airport traffic capacity, alleviate aircraft maintenance costs and foreign object damage. Besides applications to the rejuvenated A320 NEO and Boeing 737NG families, the Wheeltug system will also be fitted to other larger aircraft types. After an MS thesis by Geoffrey Dumoulin in 2013 concentrated on the large variety of weight (MTOW) and runway conditions (e.g. slope and turn, operating parameters), next year’s thesis should focus on computing the ideal APU capability and on addressing the need to upgrade APU electrical generators without replacing the APUs themselves. Work would be performed with one of the main APU manufacturers. The thesis shall also address WheelTug Twist development benefits for the Airports. Whereas the MS thesis of Geoffrey Dumoulin evaluated the impact of the WheelTug device on airport throughput (by means of queing theory with mixes of aircraft types on airport taxiways), next year the theme of WheelTug Twist is to be developed: model airport terminal configurations and evaluate the consequences of Wheeltug Twist on airport capacity. The “Twist” is when the airplane parks “parallel” to the terminal. This enables 2-‐door passenger loading and unloading. It also removes the need for ground marshalls to taxi out. Eliminating the delays from pushback, since the airplane would always drive forward turning on the electrically-‐powered nosewheel after the jetways pivot away from the aircraft. This would also enable more densily-‐packed aircraft parking without issues from jetblast. Requirements: This topic will be ideally suited for candidate(s) with mechanical engineering clout interested in participating to the dynamic drive spearheaded by an American entrepreneur, creative innovator , talented marketeer, extremely attentive to technical detail. This will require sound engineering talent: wide-‐ranging abilities from electro-‐mechanical engineering to civil engineering to review and develop concepts. But this project also requires analytical talent for economic appraisals to evaluate the system’s cost-‐benefit potential according to ranges of possible airport configurations. Number of possible students: 1 with a clout for the technical-‐economical nature of this project Assistant/PhD student that will guide the student: JJ Speyer Thesis in cooperation with industry: CEO/Entrepreneur, Technical Director & Coordinator, Lead Engineer Name company: Wheeltug based in Gibraltar Name, e-‐mail address, tel. contact person industry: Isaaih Cox, CEO, [email protected], www.wheeltug.com Joseph Cox, [email protected] Jan Vana, [email protected], +420 724 276 506, +1-‐503-‐957-‐8662, Allan Steves, Lead Engineer, Honeywell, [email protected] European Airport Authority, TBD E-‐mail and tel. contact person(s): [email protected], 0489.39.42.11, +33.671.91.58.33 DISCLAIMER NOTE: Bearing in mind that for some information releases Wheeltug will need to have an NDA in place with the University and that they (Wheeltug) also will have to have a final say on what can be published and made publicly available. The possibility of this was confirmed by Prof. Patrick Hendrick making the thesis proposal all the more interesting & relevant for candidate(s). Master Thesis subjects of BruFacE Electromechanical Engineering: ”PROPOSAL SIX” Title: Comparative study of Aircraft Winglets based on aerodynamic simulation and wind-‐tunnel tests/data Promotor(s): JJ Speyer, Professor, Aircraft Specifications & Certification Research Group: Mechanical Engineering Description thesis work (5 to 10 lines): Whether raked wingtips, wingtip fences, winglets, blended winglets, raked wingtips, sharklets or hybrid designs of these various types of wing extensions all aim to increase efficiency by reducing vortex interference with laminar airflow near the tips of the wing. They hereby move the confluence of under-‐pressured (above the wing) and over-‐pressured (under the wing) air away from the surface of the wing. Some features are more effective than others: a blended winglet is attached to the wing with smooth curves instead of sharp angles and is intended to reduce interference drag at the wing/winglet junction. A sharp interior angle in this region can interact with the boundary layer flow causing a drag inducing vortex, going against the benefit of the device. Sometimes termed as having marketing clout, to look slender and modern, there is nonetheless more to a feature largely inspired by birds. Back-‐to-‐back tests on B737 aircraft having been equipped with the device after an initial period without have confirmed at least a 2.5% fuel consumption improvement on identically flown routes. The purpose of this thesis would be to clarify some of this by: -‐
Reviewing the theory through the abundant literature, some of which is genuinely scientific, some of which is less foolproof, developing an overall sound theoretical review, to account amongst other factors for altitude, aspect ratio, wing loading effects, -‐
Reconstituting the nature of pressure field for several types of winglets, with mathematical developments from fluid dynamics, possibly (we will look for it) working on data available from wind-‐tunnel testing (since we don’t expect to build and test models…) to test theory, -‐
Cater for additional thrust: The angle at which the winglets' airfoils diverge from the relative wind direction, determine the magnitude and orientation of the lift force generated by the winglet itself. By adjusting these so that the lift force points slightly forward, additional thrust is achieved, -‐
Cater for reduced drag : A properly cambered and angled surface can reduce the strength of trailing vortices which is a particular aspect of any wing-‐induced drag and in itself accounting for about 50% of the total drag of any subsonic aircraft, -‐
Attempt to model the documented theory and accompanying effects on aircraft data to explain the back-‐to-‐back impact of blended winglets with the aim to formulate an algorithm destined for preliminary aircraft design, including wing-‐bending moment effect. Requirements: The promotor of this thesis performed his own MS thesis on secondary flow performance losses of small axial turbines through a process that bears some similitude with this thesis, combining theory, experimental testing and numeric analysis with flow simulations to ultimately develop algorithms for design. -‐
ability to treat vasts amount of different pieces of knowledge, quantitative, analytical and software treatment abilities (e.g. EXCELL, ACCESS, MATLAB) and computational fluid dynamics, -‐
This topic is ideally suited for candidate(s) aspiring for an applied R&D career with practical spinoffs, having a clout for objective, impartial, evidence-‐based reviews of design concepts, Number of possible students: 1 Assistant/PhD student that will guide the student: JJ Speyer For thesis in cooperation with industry: Name company: CleanSky {and Von Karmann Institute or NLR (existing experimental data)} Name, e-‐mail address, tel. contact person industry: E. Daudriat, +32.2.221.81.62 E-‐mail and tel. contact person(s): [email protected], 0489.39.42.11, +33.671.91.58.33 DISCLAIMER NOTE: Bearing in mind that for some information releases we will need to have an NDA in place with the University and that the R&D organizations {with or without wind-‐tunnel facilities ]also will have to have a final say on what can be published and made publicly available.