Advanced Propulsion System Evaluation for Real-World Short-Haul Operations: Open Rotor vs. UHBPR Turbofan

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the real-world benefits of two advanced propulsion system concepts through enhanced coupling of aircraft conceptual design and flight operations. Baseline aircraft models of the B737-NG and B737-MAX aircraft were developed using a combination of SUAVE and NPSS, and were subsequently validated and calibrated against real-world flight data using a novel real-world operations model. The baseline aircraft models yielded exceptional accuracy over a wide range of flights, yielding average total fuel burn errors between 1.5-1.0% for the B737-NG and B737-MAX aircraft, respectively. Numerical NPSS models of the UHBPR turbofan and CROR engine were developed and validated against numerical models in published literature, which were then integrated with the calibrated B737-MAX airframe model to develop the advanced aircraft configurations. The baseline B737-MAX, along with both advanced aircraft configurations were simulated over a full day of flight operations to and from Irish airports, where the fuel burn performance of each configuration was evaluated in a comparative analysis. Results show that the UHBPR and CROR propulsion systems could result in fuel burn reductions of 14.0% and 23.3%, respectively, when compared to the baseline B737-MAX aircraft. Furthermore, significantly increased performance benefits were observed for the CROR engine for mission ranges below 500 NM, increasing the impact of this configuration for short-haul and regional airlines