Greener Aviation with Advanced Propulsion Systems (GAAPS)

在今后十年中，可能会研制出许多新的飞机构型。这些新飞机将几乎完全依靠先进的螺旋桨，因为它们解决了传统燃气涡轮机发动机不可行的飞行条件。首先，存在着比例问题，因为新车辆的目标是从小规模（无人驾驶）到全规模（载人运输）。其次，混合动力或全电动推进器也有机会，它们在低功率输出下可以很好地扩展，但需要变速螺旋桨。目前在航空中使用的螺旋桨以恒定的转速运行，并且是完全可逆的。在这项研究中，新的螺旋桨在很宽的转速范围内运行，并且大多是不可逆的（固定螺距）。因此，该提案的战略目标是建立对这些新螺旋桨系统的理解，创建一个不依赖于特定飞行平台的实验数据数据库，并可用于该行业的进一步发展。该提案针对设计、仿真模型、先进制造、风洞测试、露天飞行测试的组合，并建立在多年的旋翼系统经验的基础上。

A number of novel aircraft configurations is likely to be developed in the next decade. These new aircraft will rely almost exclusively on advanced propellers, because they address flight conditions that are not viable with conventional gas turbine engines. First, there are issues of scaling, as the new vehicles target sub-scale (unmanned) to full scale (manned transport). Second, there are opportunities with hybrid or fully electric propulsions, which scale well at the low power outputs, but require variable-speed propellers. Propellers currently used in aviation operate at constant rpm and are fully reversible. The new propellers addressed in this research operate over a wide range of rpm and are mostly non-reversible (fixed-pitch). Thus, the strategic aims of the proposal is to build understanding of these new propeller systems, to create a database of experimental data that do not depend on a specific flight platform and can be used for further development in the industry. The proposal targets a mix of design, simulation models, advanced manufacturing, wind tunnel testing, open-air flight testing, and builds on several years of experience with rotary-wing systems.