This paper describes assumptions, goals, methods, results and conclusions related to fuel tank arrangement of a flying wing passenger airplane configuration. A short overview of various fuel tank systems in use today of different types of aircraft is treated as a starting point for designing a fuel tank system to be used on very large passenger airplanes. These systems may be used to move fuel around the aircraft to keep the centre of gravity within acceptable limits, to maintain pitch and lateral balance and stability. With increasing aircraft speed, the centre of lift moves aft, and for trimming the elevator or trimmer must be used thereby increasing aircraft drag. To avoid this, the centre of gravity can be shifted by pumping fuel from forward to aft tanks. The lesson learnt from this is applied to minimise trim drag by moving the fuel along the airplane. Such a task can be done within coming days if we know the minimum drag versus CG position and weight value. The main part of the paper is devoted to wing bending moment distribution. A number of arrangements of fuel in airplane tanks are investigated and a scenario of refuelling – minimising the root bending moments – is presented. These results were obtained under the assumption that aircraft is in long range flight (14 hours), CL is constant and equal to 0.279, Specific Fuel Consumption is also constant and that overall fuel consumption is equal to 20 tons per 1 hour. It was found that the average stress level in wing structure is lower if refuelling starts from fuel tanks located closer to longitudinal plane of symmetry. It can influence the rate of fatigue.

This paper describes a design process of HALE PW-114 sensor-craft, developed for high altitude (20 km) long endurance (40 h) surveillance missions. Designed as a blended wing (BW) configuration, to be made of metal and composite materials. Wing control surfaces provide longitudinal balance. Fin in the rear fuselage section together with wingtips provide directional stability. Airplane is equipped with retractable landing gear with controlled front leg that allows operations from conventional airfields. According to the initial requirements it is twin engine configuration, typical payload consists of electro-optical/infra-red FLIR, big SAR (synthetic aperture radar) and SATCOM antenna required for the longest range. Tailless architecture was based on both Horten and Northrop design experience. Global Hawk was considered as a reference point – it was assumed that BW design has to possess efficiency, relative payload and other characteristics at least the same or even better than that of Global Hawk. FLIR, SAR and SATCOM containers were optimised for best visibility. All payload systems are put into separate modular containers of easy access and quickly to exchange, so this architecture can be consider as a „modular”. An optimisation process started immediately when the so-called “zero configuration”, called PW-111 was ready. It was designed in the canard configuration. A canard was abandoned in HALE PW-113. Instead, new, larger outer wing was designed with smaller taper ratio. New configuration analysis revealed satisfactory longitudinal stability. Calculations suggested better lateral qualities for negative dihedral. These modifications, leading to aerodynamic improvement, gave HALE PW-114 as a result. The design process was an interdisciplinary approach, and included a selection of thick laminar wing section, aerodynamic optimisation of swept wing, stability analysis, weight balance, structural and flutter analysis, many on-board redundant systems, reliability and maintability analysis, safety improvement, cost and performance optimisation. Presented paper focuses mainly on aerodynamics, wing design, longitudinal control and safety issues. This activity is supported by European Union within V FR, in the area Aeronautics and Space.

The article presents the analyses of the flights carried out the by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) named PW-ZOOM used to perform a photogrammetric mission and monitoring of fauna in Antarctic areas. The analyses focus on the deviations of the optical axis of the photo-camera which occurred during photogrammetric flights carried out on the same route but during several Antarctic expeditions performed in subsequent years (2014 and 2015). The results were subjected to correlation tests with weather conditions (wind speed and variability). The basis for these analyses are the data from the onboard signal recorder integrated with an autopilot.

This paper presents the design of digital controller for longitudinal aircraft model based on the Dynamic Contraction Method. The control task is formulated as a tracking problem of velocity and flight path angle, where decoupled output transients are accomplished in spite of incomplete information about varying parameters of the system and external disturbances. The design of digital controller based on the pseudo-continuous approach is presented, where the digital controller is the result of continuous-time controller discretization. A resulting output feedback controller has a simple form of a combination of low-order linear dynamical systems and a matrix whose entries depend nonlinearly on certain known process variables. Simulation results for an aircraft model confirm theoretical expectations.

Development of new or upgrading of existing airplanes requires many different analyses, e.g., thermal, aerodynamical, structural, and safety. Similar studies were performed during re-design of two small aircrafts, which were equipped with new turboprop engines. In this paper thermo-fluid analyses of interactions of new propulsion systems with selected elements of airplane skin were carried out. Commercial software based numerical models were developed. Analyses of heat and fluid flow in the engine bay and nacelle of a single-engine airplane with a power unit in the front part of the fuselage were performed in the first stage. Subsequently, numerical simulations of thermal interactions between the hot exhaust gases, which leave the exhaust system close to the front landing gear, and the bottom part of the fuselage were investigated. Similar studies were carried out for the twin-engine airplane with power units mounted on the wings. In this case thermal interactions between the hot exhaust gases, which were flowing out below the wings, and the wing covers and flaps were studied. Simulations were carried out for different airplane configurations and operating conditions. The aim of these studies was to check if for the assumed airplane skin materials and the initially proposed airplane geometries, the cover destruction due to high temperature is likely. The results of the simulations were used to recommend some modifications of constructions of the considered airplanes.

This paper considers the feasibility of different technologies for an electromagnetic launcher to assist civil aircraft take-off. This method is investigated to reduce the power required from the engines during initial acceleration. Assisted launch has the potential of reducing the required runway length, reducing noise near airports and improving overall aircraft efficiency through reducing engine thrust requirements. The research compares two possible linear motor topologies which may be efficaciously used for this application. The comparison is made on results from both analytical and finite element analysis (FEA).

The paper presents a numerical study of an aircraft wheel impacting on a flexible landing surface. The proposed 3D model simulates the behaviour of flexible runway pavement during the landing phase. This model was implemented in a finite element code in order to investigate the impact of repeated cycles of loads on pavement response.

In the model, a multi-layer pavement structure was considered. In addition, the asphalt layer (HMA) was assumed to follow a viscoelastoplastic behaviour.

The results demonstrate the capability of the model in predicting the permanent deformation distribution in the asphalt layer.

This paper presents the results of Pilot Assisting Module research performed on two light aircraft flight simulators developed in parallel at Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic, and Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland. The first simulator was designed as an open platform for the verification and validation of the advanced pilot/aircraft interface systems and inherited its appearance from the cockpit section of the Evektor SportStar. The second flight simulator, the XM-15, has been built around the cockpit of a unique agriculture jet Belfegor. It introduced a system architecture that supports scientific simulations of various aircraft types and configurations, making it suitable for conceptual testing of Pilot Assisting Module. The XM-15 was initially designed to support research on advanced flight control systems, but due to its continuing modernization it evolved into a hardware-in-the-loop test-bed for electromechanical actuators and autopilot CAN based controller blocks. Pilot-in-the-loop experiments of proposed Pilot Assisting Module revealed favorable operational scenarios, under which the proposed system reduces the cockpit workload during single pilot operations.