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Low noise engine design for the Silent Aircraft Initiative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2016

C. A. Hall
C. A. Hall*
Affiliation:
Whittle Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Abstract

The Silent Aircraft Initiative was a Cambridge-MIT Institute programme involving a large team of researchers from both the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The aim of the project was to produce a concept aircraft design that would be so quiet it would be imperceptible in the urban environments around airports.. This paper gives an overview of how all the sources of engine noise were carefully addressed within the Silent Aircraft design. Novel technologies, a new engine configuration, improved airframe integration, new operational procedures and advanced component design were all required in order to reduce the overall engine noise level to the Silent Aircraft target. The study suggests that in order to dramatically reduce the noise of future aircraft engines a number of major design changes must be combined.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 113 , Issue 1147 , September 2009 , pp. 599 - 607
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2009 

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