Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:00:50.272Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Contrail avoidance in the aircraft design process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2016

F. Noppel
Affiliation:
School of Engineering, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK
R. Singh
Affiliation:
School of Engineering, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK

Abstract

As aviation is one of the fastest growing industrial sectors world wide, air-traffic emissions are projected to increase their stake in the contribution to global warming. According to studies, both carbon dioxide and contrails are the principal air-traffic pollutants, whereas the impact from contrails in terms of radiative forcing is possibly larger than that of all other air-traffic pollutants combined. New regulations with the objective of mitigating contrail occurrences might cause a change in the design requirements of aircraft. In light of this, a method considering contrail formation during the aircraft design process is presented in this paper. Aircraft performance and optimisation is carried out with NASA’s flight optimisation system. Combining historical meteorological data with air-traffic data enables an assessment regarding contrail formation. As an example, a particular aircraft type in terms of range, speed and payload is optimised for minimum block fuel consumption considering different altitudes. The change in contrail formation in terms of contrail-km formed is calculated. The results suggest that if aircraft of the considered class were designed for higher altitudes, contrail occurrences would diminish slightly at a non-negligible fuel burn penalty.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2008 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., , M.,T. and , L.M.H., Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, 2007, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Cambridge University Press, New York, USA.Google Scholar
2. Hansen, J., Sato, M. and Ruedy, R., Radiative forcing climate response, J Geophysical Research, March 1997, 102, (D6), pp 68316864.Google Scholar
3. Williams, V. and Noland, R.B., Variability of contrail formation conditions and the implications for policies to reduce the climate impacts of aviation, Transportation Research D, 2005, 10, (4), pp 169280.Google Scholar
4. Gierens, K., Are fuel additives a viable contrail mitigation option? Atmospheric Environment, 2007, 41, 10.1016, pp 45484552.Google Scholar
5. Noppel, F. and Singh, R., Contrail and cirrus cloud avoidance technology, J Aircr, 2007, 44, (5), pp 17211726.Google Scholar
6. Gierens, K., Lim, L. and Eleftheratos, K., A review on various strategies for contrail avoidance, Open Atmospheric Science J, 2008, 2, pp 17.Google Scholar
7. Fichter, C., Marquart, S., Sausen, R. and Lee, D.S., The impact of cruise altitude on contrails and related radiative forcing, Meteorologische Zeitschrift, August 2005, 14, (4), pp 563572.Google Scholar
8. Raedel, G. and Shine, K., Radiative forcing by persistent contrails and its dependence on cruise altitudes, J Geophysical Research, April 2008, 113, 10.1029/2007JD009117.Google Scholar
9. Schumann, U., On conditions for contrail formation from aircraft exhausts, Meteorol Zeitschrift, February 1996, 5, pp 423.Google Scholar
10. Stevenson, D.S., Doherty, R.M., Sanderson, M.G., Collins, W.J., Johnson, C.E. and Derwent, R.G., Radiative forcing from aircraft NOx emissions: Mechanisms and seasonal dependence, J Geophysical Research, 2004, 109.Google Scholar