Flight Simulation for Small Propeller Aircraft Noise Assessment

Kurzfassung

The déjà-vu project at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) aims to develop a low-noise conceptual aircraft based on the Reims Cessna F406. While DLR currently uses Flightpaths for Noise Analysis (FLIPNA) to generate standard departure and arrival trajectories for noise simulation, FLIPNA cannot replicate the complex procedural flight paths required at many small German airports. These airports implement with specific routing to avoid residential areas, requiring a more flexible trajectory generation method. This thesis proposes a flight simulator based approach to resolve this limitation. A FlightGear F406 model, using the JS-BSim flight dynamics model, is developed and validated against the real F406 with multiple configurations. Custom data logging and data handling software are implemented to record necessary flight parameters and convert them into a format the same as FLIPNA which is compatible with DLR’s Parametric Aircraft Noise Analysis Module (PANAM). Validation was conducted by comparing the FlightGear F406 model with the actual aircraft in two flight maneuvers, flyover and departure. Of the 16 configurations tested, 14 demonstrated strong agreement between simulated and real-world performance. This study contributes a novel flight simulation workflow that successfully generates procedural flight trajectories, such as the traffic pattern at Aachen-Merzbrück airport (EDKA), allowing noise emission and immission modelling for specific small airport procedures. This methodology provides a solution for noise simulation and assessment for aircraft operating at small airports with specific routing requirements. It can be applied to evaluate future low-noise conceptual propeller general aviation aircraft designs, offering researchers a flexible tool for noise analysis.