Design of a box-wing aircraft proposed as a more efficient alternative for future air transport.

What is it about?

The paper aims to present the conceptual design of a box-wing aircraft, called PrandtlPlane, proposed as an efficient alternative for future air transport. Activities and results described here are part of a research project called PARSIFAL (“Prandtlplane ARchitecture for the Sustainable Improvement of Future AirpLanes”), which has been funded by European Union under the Horizon 2020 Program. The paper deals with the definition of Top Level Aircraft Requirements adopted for such aircraft, including the market-related factors behind them, and the design activities carried out in the first year of project. These activities include the conceptual design of the cabin, a preliminary sizing of the lifting system, CFD investigations on the aerodynamic behavior of wings and fuselage in transonic regime, the definition of a FEM model for the sizing of main structural components and a detailed study of the landing gear.

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Why is it important?

The main challenges to be faced in the project PARSIFAL are: increment of air traffic, cutting emissions, drastic reduction of noise per passenger, comfort improvement, reduction of turnaround time, reduction of landing speed, more safety on board and, also, to set up of tools for the design of a wide spectrum of PrP aircraft with different cruise speed/payload/range. PARSIFAL aims at facing these challenges by studying the application of the “PrandtlPlane” configuration to medium size commercial aircraft.

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