Influence of Cruise Altitude Variation on the Turbulence Loads of a Medium-Range Transport Configuration

Kurzfassung

For the cruise condition of transport aircraft, variations in the cruise altitude prove to be a promising way to reduce the generation of persistent condensation trails and their thermodynamic effects on the environment. At varied altitudes, however, the expected atmospheric turbulences and thus the loads acting on the aircraft might be different. In this work, the research question regarding the turbulence loads at varied altitudes is addressed. For that aim, a medium-range transport configuration is taken as reference. Subsequently, a method to calculate turbulence loads in the frequency domain is applied, and the transform into the time domain as well as the derivation of load collectives using the rainflow-counting method are explained. Results show that the largest fraction of variations in the loads and vertical accelerations emerge through the change in the turbulence intensities which are a function of the altitude. Beyond that, slight variations in the aircraft's dynamic responses among the altitudes are observable.