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Prospects for reduced energy transports: A preliminary analysisThe recent energy crisis and subsequent substantial increase in fuel prices have provided increased incentive to reduce the fuel consumption of civil transport aircraft. At the present time many changes in operational procedures have been introduced to decrease fuel consumption of the existing fleet. In the future, however, it may become desirable or even necessary to introduce new fuel-conservative aircraft designs. This paper reports the results of a preliminary study of new near-term fuel conservative aircraft. A parametric study was made to determine the effects of cruise Mach number and fuel cost on the optimum configuration characteristics and on economic performance. For each design, the wing geometry was optimized to give maximum return on investment at a particular fuel cost. Based on the results of the parametric study, a nominal reduced energy configuration was selected. Compared with existing transport designs, the reduced energy design has a higher aspect ratio wing with lower sweep, and cruises at a lower Mach number. It has about 30% less fuel consumption on a seat-mile basis.
Document ID
19740026335
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Ardema, M. D.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Harper, M.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Smith, C. L.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Waters, M. H.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Williams, L. J.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 3, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1974
Subject Category
Aerodynamics
Report/Patent Number
NASA-TM-X-62383
Accession Number
74N34448
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 791-40-03-01-21
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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