AbstractsTransportation

This study explores the Systems Engineering involved in creating an environmentally green system for transporting cargo using aircraft. The study looked at using hydrogen and the resulting infrastructure to allow the system to function. The functionalities and then subsystems were defined for the aircraft that would be used by the system. After the level 0 Green Cargo Transport system was investigated, the level 1 flight system was investigated in a similar fashion. The functionalities and then subsystems were defined for the aircraft that would be used by the aircraft to fulfil the necessary functions of the level 0 system. Hydrogen fuel was investigated as the source of energy for the flight. The Aircraft Synthesis (ACS) tool from AVID was utilized to quickly run missions and design for a hydrogen powered aircraft vs. a Jet-A powered aircraft. The Hydrogen powered aircraft, while requiring a heavier fuel system, had a significantly lower takeoff weight than the Jet-A aircraft. The Hydrogen fuel was much lighter because the specific energy is much higher than Jet-A. However, hydrogen is much less dense than Jet-A, and as a result a higher aircraft volume was needed. A Hybrid Wing Body was approximated in ACS because of the excess volume in that particular configuration. That made a HWB an attractive candidate for hydrogen fuel. The hydrogen candidate was scaled down to two additional sized to accomplish the function of flying city to city; this is accomplished by enabling as many airports as possible. The mid-sized and small sizes had reduced Balanced Field Lengths allowing many airports to be serviced. Ultimately the Hydrogen powered option is cleaner and lighter, allowing for environmentally friendly transport of cargo.