Publications

Optimal nacelle placement is critical to commercial or transport aircraft designs that use engines mounted with nacelles. Over-wing nacelle (OWN) configuration has a high potential to improve upon the conventional under-wing nacelle (UWN) configuration. OWN configurations have two critical benefits when compared to the conventional UWN configuration: 1. they ease the integration of high BPR and ultra-high BPR engines by alleviating ground clearance issues, and 2. they provide a significant amount of noise reduction because the wing blocks the noise of the fan and the jet. Despite their advantages, the OWN technology is not used in practical aircraft designs due to the difficulties in the aeropropulsive integration of the propulsion system. In this work, we propose using a coupled aeropropulsive design optimization framework to study the aeropropulsive integration for OWN configurations. The coupling behavior between the aerodynamics of the wing and the propulsion system is extremely important. Especially in OWN configurations, the propulsion system is highly influenced by the aerodynamic performance of the wing. In this paper, we address the design problem of coupling between the aerodynamic and the propulsion system. We also explore wide range of design space to achieve the best practical design. The changes in wing shape are insignificant when the OWN configuration is optimized for different FPR. Wing in OWN performs better when the propulsor is close to the wing’s root; however, the overall drag increases when the propulsor is close to the root. This increases the shaft power need. In addition, nacelle placement at the aft of the trailing edge shows better performance than forward of the trailing edge of the wing. These advancements in design optimization capabilities will be critical in the future design of OWN configurations to achieve more environmentally sustainable aircraft designs.