Conceptual Design of Electrically-Powered Urban Air Mobility Vehicles for Aeroacoustic Studies

Abstract

In order to provide an innovative form of urban air mobility, a new and versatile generation of small, highly automated aircraft is currently in development. This is made feasible by the development of new technologies such as electrified powertrains, vertical take-off and landing capabilities and distributed propulsion systems. The operation of these novel aircraft types will generate a new source of air traffic noise. Especially the noise perception and annoyance caused by these aircraft and their distributed propulsion systems are likely to deviate from those of conventional aircraft and will also depend on psychoacoustic effects. Thus, the noise emission and its subjective perception will be a key factor for the success of urban air mobility vehicles and their acceptance in society. In order to investigate acoustic effects that enable a low-noise aircraft design, a multi-disciplinary approach is applied to develop new aircraft concepts for urban air mobility. This approach includes the conceptual design of two vehicles, one vehicle with tilt-rotors and one with tiltable, ducted fans, the sizing of an electric powertrain, the design and manufacturing of a wingtip rotor as well as the design and manufacturing of the low-speed ducted fans. This paper presents the design of the two vehicle architectures including their electric powertrain as well as the rotor and fan aerodynamic and acoustic performance.