Life-Cycle Cost Estimation for High-Speed Vehicles: from the engineers’ to the airline’s perspective

This paper aims at upgrading the holistic Cost Estimation methodology for High-Speed Vehicles already developed by Politecnico di Torino and the European Space Agency (ESA) to encompass different stakeholders’ perspectives. In details, the presented methodology combines International Air Transport Association (IATA) best practices with a detailed Life- Cycle Cost (LCC) assessment, which includes the evaluation of Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDTE) Costs, Production costs and of Direct and Indirect Operating Costs (DOC and IOC). The integrated approach allows to further extend the capabilities of the inhouse developed HyCost tool to support all the actors of the product value-chain (including engineers, manufacturers, airlines and customers) in assessing the economic sustainability of a newly under-development high-speed vehicle. However, considering the need of providing all these cost analyses perspectives since the early design stages, the derived Cost Estimation Relationships are mainly derived on statistical bases. To cope with the uncertainties that affect the initial statistical population and consequently, the CERs, this paper presents each cost item together with the estimation of related prediction intervals. Finally, results of the application of the upgraded cost estimation methodology and of the upgraded tool to the LAPCAT MR2.4 high-speed civil transport are reported and discussed

TRAJECTORY SIMULATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE LAPCAT-MR2 HYPERSONIC CRUISER CONCEPT

To show the feasibility of high-speed aircrafts, one needs to have reliable performance indicators and figures of merit. As high-speed vehicles only make sense on long-haul routes, various trajectories and related optimizations were evaluated, covering classical transatlantic routes up to antipodal flights from Europe to Australia. The latter is actually the reference mission for the EC-funded projects LAPCAT I and II [1, 2] enabling the potential reduction of antipodal flight times to about 4 hours without stopover. As these trajectories are different to classical routes, due to the imposed constraints of over-land flights due to sonic boom, the necessary information on range extension is then used in the as well EC co-funded project HIKARI [3]. This enabled a more reliable dataset for a market analysis carried out by AIRBUS but is not part of study presented in this paper. The trajectory simulations and optimizations presented here are performed for the Mach 8 LAPCAT-MR2 hypersonic cruiser concept, given the GTOW and the amount of fuel on-board. This evaluation is based upon detailed aerodynamic and propulsion databases which on their turn are composed from experiments and numerical simulations.status: publishe

Layout and Design Verification of a Small Scale Scramjet

One of the major objectives of the EC-co funded research project LAPCAT II is demonstrating positive aero-propulsive balance of a scramjet propelled vehicle in a wind tunnel. For this, the LAPCAT MR2 hypersonic cruiser needed to be scaled to wind tunnel scale. An optimization of the internal flow path was necessary, to cope with the different flight conditions and constraints in the wind tunnel environment. Therefore, a study featuring reactive CFD simulations was carried out. It was found that the best way to achieve a high combustion efficiency is to use a staged injection scheme in the combustor. The results were verified with nose-to-tail simulations of the small-scale configuration under wind tunnel conditions, showing that positive net thrust can be expected from the experimental campaigns.status: publishe

Design and Optimization of a Small Scale M=8 Scramjet Propulsion System

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Overview of a supersonic probe for solid propellant rocket CCP collection

The present work aims at giving a comprehensive overview of the current development status of an intrusive probe, capable of collecting the condensed combustion products present in the exhaust of a solid rocket motors. The innovative technique was conceived in the EMAP (Experimental Modelling of Alumina Particulate in Solid Booster) framework, a project aiming at characterizing the alumina in terms of size, temperature and spatial distribution to gain detailed information for climatological impact assessment. A supersonic probe was sized to handle a progressive deceleration and cooling of the exhaust gas, as well as the quenching and collection of the suspended particles in a pressure-controlled chamber. The task was achieved by through a quasi 1D gas dynamics code based on the Shapiro method and the normal shock wave theory, which was verified against a hybrid 2D axial-symmetric mesh whose turbulent flow field was solved using the DLR-TAU CFD code. The robustness of the system has been investigated performing a sensitivity and an uncertainty analysis, exploring uncertainties propagation through the numerical code based on Shapiro equations. The sensitivity analysis enabled to define a ranking of importance for the uncertainties on the probe behavior; the uncertainty analysis allowed to estimate failures of the system and/or of the code. Cold flow tests carried out at the vertical facility of DLR-Cologne enabled to gain a proof of concept for both fluid dynamic behavior and collection methodology

Particle Size in SRM Plume: Assessment of Collection Method

The present work aims at giving an overview of the current experimental activity status of an intrusive technique for particles capturing in supersonic-high temperature flows for the use in solid rocket motors plume. The innovative technique was conceived in the EMAP (Experimental Modelling of Alumina Particulate in Solid Booster) framework, an initiative financed by the European Space Agency aiming at the characterization of the alumina exiting from rocket nozzles in terms of size, temperature, and spatial distribution. This kind of information are of paramount importance for the environmental impact assessment of space launch activity. Experimental tests are still ongoing and the present paper discusses some of the critical aspects, solutions, and open questions arising during the hot fire testing of this innovative intrusive technique

Particle Size in Solid Rocket Motor Plume: New Experimental Method

Solid propellant rocket boosters release metal oxide particulate in the atmosphere, as a result of the combustion of the aluminum powder contained in the energetic material. The characterization of these particles is still an open question regarding the environmental impact of space launch activities. For this reason an innovative collection technique was conceived in the frame of the EMAP (Experimental Modelling of Alumina Particulate in Solid Booster) project, an activity financed by the European Space Agency. The method consists in an intrusive probe capable of quenching and capturing the particles exiting from the nozzle, thus enabling size measurement, chemical characterization, and morphology observation. This paper presents an overview of the activity and reports some preliminary results obtained from the initial particle size characterization

Clinical relevance of immersive virtual reality in the assessment and treatment of addictive disorders: A systematic review and future perspective

(1) Background: Virtual reality (VR) has been investigated in a variety of psychiatric disorders, including addictive disorders (ADs); (2) Objective: This systematic review evaluates the current evidence of immersive VR (using head-mounted displays) in the clinical assessment and treatment of ADs; (3) Method: PubMed and PsycINFO were queried for publications up to November 2020; (4) Results: We screened 4519 titles, 114 abstracts and 85 full-texts, and analyzed 36 articles regarding the clinical assessment (i.e., diagnostic and prognostic value; n = 19) and treatment (i.e., interventions; n = 17) of ADs. Though most VR assessment studies (n = 15/19) showed associations between VR-induced cue-reactivity and clinical parameters, only two studies specified diagnostic value. VR treatment studies based on exposure therapy showed no or negative effects. However, other VR interventions like embodied and aversive learning paradigms demonstrated positive findings. The overall study quality was rather poor; (5) Conclusion: Though VR in ADs provides ecologically valid environments to induce cue-reactivity and provide new treatment paradigms, the added clinical value in assessment and therapy remains to be elucidated before VR can be applied in clinical care. Therefore, future work should investigate VR efficacy in randomized clinical trials using well-defined clinical endpoints