Simple solutions are obtained for the fuel required by internal combustion engine airplanes on trajectories with a constant rate of climb or descent. Three modes of flight are considered: constant speed, constant Mach number and constant angle of attack. Starting from the exact solutions of the equations of motion for the modes of motion considered, approximate solutions are obtained that are much easier to compute while still being quite precise. Simpler formulas are derived for the weight of fuel, speed, altitude, horizontal distance, time to climb, and power required. These formulas represent a new important contribution since they are fundamental for the analysis of aircraft dynamics and thus have direct applications for the analysis of aircraft performances and mission planning.

Crashworthiness design and certification have been and will continue to be the main concern in aviation safety. The effects of roll angles on fuselage section crashworthiness for typical civil transport category aircrafts were investigated. A fuselage section with waved-plates under cargo floor is suggested, and the finite element model of fuselage section is developed to simulate drop test subjected to 7 m/s impact velocity under conditions of 0-deg, 5-deg, 10-deg and 15-deg roll angles, respectively. A comparative analysis of failure modes, acceleration responses, and energy absorption of fuselage section under various conditions are given. The results show that the change of roll angles will significantly affect fuselage deformation, seat peak overloads, and energy absorption. The crashworthiness capability of aircraft can be effectively improved by choosing appropriate landing way.

This work is focused on the definition and the analysis of both complete and incomplete similitudes for the dynamic responses of thin shells. Previous numerical and experimental investigations on both structural and structural-acoustic systems motivated this further analysis, mainly centred on the incomplete (distorted) similitudes. These similitudes and the associated scaling laws are defined by using the classical modal approach (CMA) and by invoking also the Energy Distribution Approach (EDA) in order to take into account both the cinematic and energetic items. The whole procedure is named SAMSARA: Similitude and Asymptotic Models for Structural-Acoustic Research and Applications. A brief summary of the procedure is herein given and the attention is paid to the analytical models of thin stiffened and unstiffened cylindrical shells. By using the well-known smeared model, the stiffened cylinder equations are used as general framework to analyse the possibility to define exact (replicas) or distorted similitudes (avatars). Despite the extreme simplicity of the proposed models, the results are really encouraging. The final aim is to define equivalent models to be used in laboratory measurements.

The present paper is the follow-on of a former work in which the influence of the gas-surface interaction models was evaluated on the aerodynamic coefficients of an aero-space-plane and on a section of its wing. The models by Maxwell and by Cercignani-Lampis-Lord were compared by means of Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) codes. In that paper the diffusive, fully accommodated, semi-specular and specular accommodation coefficients were considered. The results pointed out that the influence of the interaction models, considering the above mentioned accommodation coefficients, is pretty strong while the Cercignani-Lampis-Lord and the Maxwell models are practically equivalent. In the present paper, the comparison of the same models is carried out considering the dependence of the accommodation coefficients on the angle of incidence (or partial accommodation coefficients). More specifically, the normal and the tangential momentum partial accommodation coefficients, obtained experimentally by Knetchel and Pitts, have been implemented. Computer tests on a NACA-0012 airfoil have been carried out by the DSMC code DS2V-64 bits. The airfoil, of 2 m chord, has been tested both in clean and flapped configurations. The simulated conditions were those at an altitude of 100 km where the airfoil is in transitional regime. The results confirmed that the two interaction models are practically equivalent and verified that the use of the Knetchel and Pitts coefficients involves results very close to those computed considering a diffusive, fully accommodated interaction both in clean and flapped configurations.

The paper presents some details of the CFD modeling of a novel design where jet ignition devices replace the traditional spark plugs for a faster and more complete combustion. The numerical simulations show how the pre-chamber jet ignition in a Wankel engine differs from reciprocating piston engine applications. The jets issuing from the jet ignition pre-chamber have many different speeds in the different directions as the pressure build-up at the trailing edge of the rotating chamber makes extremely fast the ignition of the chamber mixture in the direction of rotation. Conversely it prevents the jet ignition in the opposite direction. Careful positioning along the periphery and design of the connecting pipes and the prechamber volume with the help of CFD simulations permits to achieve extremely fast and complete combustion as impossible with spark plugs. The paper proposes results of CFD simulations of the combustion evolution within a jet ignited Wankel engine rotor, detailing challenges and opportunities of the application, as well as a first assessment of the impact the faster and more complete combustion permitted by jet ignition may have on the performances of Wankel engines for unmanned aerial vehicles applications.

This study has the aim to develop a numerical design regarding the position and the inner performances of a heat exchanger in a light helicopter. the problem was to find first of all the best position of the heat exchanger inside the engine vane in order to maximize the air flow rate capable to pass through the heat exchanger section. It is to be said that the only air contribution in the vane comes from the opening present in the roof under the main rotor. The design has been performed by means of the commercial code Fluent and using the well known grid generator ICEM CFD. Different positions are first investigated so to establish the best one. Subsequently, different areas of the opening on the roof have been considered in order to maximize even more the flow rate in the heat exchanger that was not sufficient based on the first guess of velocity, as aforementioned. At the end interesting design results are presented and discussed by contours of fields and values.