Regional Turboprop aircraft model as a benchmark for future concept studies.

Abstract

The overall aircraft design process in a scientific environment is based on statistical and well-proven assump- tions. A reasonable reference model of an existing aircraft marks the starting point for further studies on aircraft level such as improvements on aerodynamics, mass, fuel-efficiency or overall climate impact. Therefore, the quality of a reference model depends on accurate but often proprietary aircraft manufacturer data. Generating overall performance characteristics from publicly available sources can lead to inaccuracies due to an unknown set of assumptions and correction factors. Therefore, a methodology of analyzing an existing regional turboprop transport aircraft with focus on aerody- namic coefficients and engine performance parameters is presented. Performance tables and torque charts for different flight regimes are used to derive the afore-mentioned coefficients and power offtakes. Those are used to improve a reference model within the DLRs conceptual aircraft design tool representing a DLR interpretation of the turboprop aircraft.