Aircraft Design

The DAF research group has been involved in aircraft design activities for several years. The group cooperates with Tecnam Aircraft Industries on the design of light and general aviation aircraft. Research activities have been performed on all the Tecnam aircraft, focusing especially on the aerodynamic design and optimization and on the identification of optimal configuration arrangements. From 2006 to 2009 activities have been performed on the Tecnam P2006T. From 2012 intensive activities concern the design of new 11 seats Tecnam P2012 Traveller aircraft. Intensive research activity focused on others ultralight aircraft, G97 at the beginning of 2000 and the Easy-Fly aircraft. Some activities concerned the design of propeller UAV MALE category. In cooperation to the University of Delft (Prof. Boermans), activities on the aerodynamic design of high-performances gliders (airfoil and fuselage) have been performed by Prof. F. Nicolosi. From 2009 to 2012 the research group have cooperated with the ATR on the aerodynamic optimization of regional aircraft. Intensive activities have been conducted on the aerodynamic and performance optimization of ATR72 aircraft. During 2011, ever with ATR, design and performance evaluation activity of a new regional transport aircraft with 90 seats has been performed (NGTP). From 2013 the group cooperates with AleniaAermacchi preliminary design office on the aerodynamic analyses of several configurations of new regional aircraft, with the aims to investigate geometrical parameters effects on the aircraft aerodynamic and performance. From 2005 the research group is involved in the development of multidisciplinary analyses and optimization aircraft design software. A software named ADAS has been developed (also for teaching purpose), and a new JAVA class based software is under development. Activities dealing with aircraft design:

• General aviation, light, and ultra-light aircraft design
• UAV design
• Airfoil and aircraft components design (winglet, fairings, tails, etc.)
• Propulsive analysis and propulsive integration
• Innovative propulsive systems for aviation (design of hybrid and all-electric aircraft)
• Development of software for aircraft preliminary design, analyses and multi-disciplinary optimization.