scholarly journals Multi-Objective Flight Altitude Decision Considering Contrails, Fuel Consumption and Flight Time

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dabin Xue ◽  
Kam K. H. Ng ◽  
Li-Ta Hsu

The rapid growth of air travel and aviation emissions in recent years has contributed to an increase in climate impact. Contrails have been considered one of the main factors of the aviation-induced climate impact. This paper deals with the formation of persistent contrails and its relationship with fuel consumption and flight time when flight altitude and true airspeed vary. Detailed contrail formation conditions pertaining to altitude, relative humidity and temperature are formulated according to the Schmidt–Appleman criterion. Building on the contrail formation model, the proposed model would minimise total travel time, fuel consumption and contrail length associated with a given flight. Empirical data (including pressure, temperature, relative humidity, etc.) collected from seven flight information regions in Chinese observation stations were used to analyse the spatial and temporal distributions of the persistent contrail formation area. The trade-off between flight time, fuel consumption and contrail length are illustrated with a real-world case. The results provided a valuable benchmark for flight route planning with environmental, flight time, sustainable flight trajectory planning and fuel consumption considerations, and showed significant contrail length reduction through an optimal selection of altitude and true airspeed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 179 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-101
Author(s):  
Marta GALANT ◽  
Paula KURZAWSKA ◽  
Marta MACIEJEWSKA ◽  
Monika KARDACH

The article discusses the issue of the impact of wind force and direction on fuel consumption and the emission of harmful exhaust gases on the selected flight route. The focus was on percentage changes in fuel consumption and emissions of individual harmful exhaust gas compounds depending on the wind speed and the direction from which it interacts with the aircraft. The analysis was carried out for three different flight levels, in order to compare changes in fuel consumption and emissions also in terms of flight altitude, however the following article focuses only on one level – FL240.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Saito ◽  
Navinda Kithmal Wickramasinghe ◽  
Tatsuhiko Sato ◽  
Daikou Shiota

AbstractA solar energetic particle (SEP) event generates a shower of secondary generated particles in the Earth’s atmosphere down to lower altitudes to cause an atmospheric radiation storm (ARS). The high-energy secondary particles cause additional radiation dose at altitudes where aircraft flies. The space weather information provided by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) designated space weather centers includes advisories on the solar radiation storm. The Warning System for AVIation Exposure to Solar energetic particle (WASAVIES), we can estimate the effective dose rate (EDR) along the flight path of the aircraft. However, it has not been well established how the operators of aircraft should react with the space weather advisories on the solar radiation storm. By using a flight trajectory generation algorithm and the global EDR distribution, the economic impacts of ARS associated with SEP events on aircraft operation, namely the flight path length, flight time, and fuel consumption, are estimated. The conditions of the peak of the ARS event on 20 January 2005 are used. The economic impacts for a flight route from New York, US to Tokyo, Japan, are estimated with constraints in flight routes to avoid the hazard of radiation and compared with those of the reference case without the ARS effects. The fuel consumption is shown to increase by 39–69 tons (33–58%) for a twin-engine, wide-body jet passenger aircraft, when a constraint is imposed on the flight altitude only. When the constraints are set on the aircraft altitude and the latitude, the flight time and the fuel consumption are both increased by 2.2–2.8 h (17–20%) and 32–48 tons (27–41%), respectively. If the ARS event duration is limited for 3 h, the increase in the fuel consumption is about 7.6–14 tons (6.4–12%). This economic impact may be reduced, if the space weather nowcast and forecast for the ARS and an optimal flight trajectory generation algorithm are used together. Setting more flexible constraints on the flight route and generating optimal flight trajectories with minimal economic impacts by fully utilizing the global EDR distribution is the next step.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Dinc ◽  
Yousef Gharbia

Abstract In this study, exergy efficiency calculations of a turboprop engine were performed together with main performance parameters such as shaft power, specific fuel consumption, fuel flow, thermal efficiency etc., for a range of flight altitude (0–14 km) and flight speeds (0–0.6 Mach). A novel exergy efficiency formula was derived in terms of specific fuel consumption and it is shown that these two parameters are inversely proportional to each other. Moreover, a novel exergy efficiency and thermal efficiency relation was also derived. The relationship showed that these two parameters are linearly proportional to each other. Exergy efficiency of the turboprop engine was found to be in the range of 23–33%. Thermal efficiency of the turboprop engine was found to be around 25–35%. Exergy efficiency is higher at higher speeds and altitude where the specific fuel consumption is lower. Conversely, exergy efficiency of the engine is lower for lower speeds and altitude where the specific fuel consumption is higher.


Author(s):  
Ekene Gabriel Okafor ◽  
Osaretin Kole Uhuegho ◽  
Christopher Manshop ◽  
Paul Olugbeji Jemitola ◽  
Osichinaka Chiedu Ubadike

In this study, airline planning optimization problem based on ferry strategy was considered. Cost was the study objective function subject to forty equality and inequality constraints. Regression analysis as well a genetic algorithm (GA) was used to solve the problem. The mathematical relationship between flight fuel consumption and flight time was established using regression analysis, while GA was used for the optimization. The established mathematical model was used to predict the fuel consumption for the twenty scheduled flight consider based on their respective flight time. The result was found to be satisfactory, as optimal fuel lift plan was achieved in approximately twenty seconds of program run time, as against the large time usually spend using human effort to solve the fuel planning problem. The optimized fuel lift plan was compared with the actual fuel lift plan executed by the airline for the twenty scheduled flight considered. The result revealed thirty percent savings using the optimized plan in comparison to the actual fuel lift plan executed by the airline.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Yong Tian ◽  
Dawei Xing ◽  
Lili Wan ◽  
Bojia Ye

With the rapid development of the air transport industry, the problem of airspace congestion and flight delay in the terminal area (TMA) becomes more and more serious. In order to improve the efficiency of flight operations in TMA, point merge procedure had been devised. This paper takes the approach routes in TMA as the research object, taking into account such conditions as obstacle clearance, flight interval, and procedure area. Based on the flight time, fuel consumption, pollutant emission, and noise impact, an optimization model of point merge procedure is constructed. Genetic algorithm is used to optimize the structure of procedure. The Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is selected for simulation verification, and the actual flow distribution of the airport is analyzed as an example. The results show that the average flight time was reduced by 0.26 min, the average fuel consumption was reduced by 1,240.64 kg, the average NOx emissions were reduced by 1.09 kg, and the noise impact range was contracted by 55 km2 after optimization. The point merge procedure optimization method can be expected to reduce the flight time, fuel consumption, and environmental impact of flights in TMA, so as to optimize the aircraft approach trajectory.


2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ozlem Sahin ◽  
Oznur Usanmaz ◽  
Enis T. Turgut

Purpose Metroplex is a system of two or more airports, in physical proximity, with highly interdependent arrival and departure operations. The purpose of this study is the construction of an efficient and effective air route model based on the point merge system (PMS) to reduce aircraft fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for three metroplex airports in Istanbul terminal control area (TMA). Design/methodology/approach A PMS arrival route model is constructed for metroplex airports. In the proposed model, two situations are taken into consideration: for delay which can be defined as flying on sequencing legs (PMSdel) and for no delay (PMSno del). An empirical model is developed using a data set including the flight data records of ten actual B737-800 domestic flights. With this empirical model, both the baseline and the PMS models (PMSdel and PMSno del) are compared in terms of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and flight distance and time as a theoretical computation. Findings In the proposed PMSno del arrival route model, according to different entry points for Istanbul Ataturk International Airport (LTBA), the analyses show an average reduction of 26 per cent in flight time, 24.5 per cent in flight distance, 17 per cent in fuel burned and CO2 emissions; in addition, for Sabiha Gökcen International Airport (LTFJ) there are 34, 23 and 32 per cent average savings for flight time, flight distance and fuel burned together with CO2 emissions obtained, respectively. Even if the PMSdel model, for LTFJ except only one entry point, for LTBA except two entry points, better results are obtained than baseline. Practical implications The point merge model for metroplex airports in this paper can be applied by airspace designers and Air Navigation Service Providers to perform efficient and effective arrival routes. Originality/value In this study, a point merge model is constructed for metroplex airports. Quantitative results, using an empirical model, are achieved in terms of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and flight distance and time at metroplex airports.


1988 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 450-454
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Laviana ◽  
Frederick H. Rohles

The cabin of an inflight aircraft contains approximately 10% relative humidity (rh). To investigate the impact of this environment on eye comfort, an inflight humidity profile was simulated in a controlled laboratory setting. The experiment was replicated 3 times using a group of 4 subjects (2 males; 2 females) per test. Participants served in both control and experimental roles by wearing a hydrophilic contact lens on one eye and no lens on the other. Subjects provided evaluations of “eye comfort” for both eyes (contact and naked) at specified intervals during the 10 hour test. The results indicated that at 10% rh, there was no significant difference in eye comfort for either wearers or nonwearers of soft contact lenses. However, comfort decreased with the length of exposure (flight time), and for durations of six hours or longer a significant annoyance was reported.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Haigen Min ◽  
Yukun Fang ◽  
Runmin Wang ◽  
Xiaochi Li ◽  
Zhigang Xu ◽  
...  

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have attracted much attention of researchers because of its potential to improve both transportation network efficiency and safety through control algorithms and reduce fuel consumption. However, vehicle merging at intersection is one of the main factors that lead to congestion and extra fuel consumption. In this paper, we focused on the scenario of on-ramp merging of CAVs, proposed a centralized approach based on game theory to control the process of on-ramp merging for all agents without any collisions, and optimized the overall fuel consumption and total travel time. For the framework of the game, benefit, loss, and rules are three basic components, and in our model, benefit is the priority of passing the merging point, represented via the merging sequence (MS), loss is the cost of fuel consumption and the total travel time, and the game rules are designed in accordance with traffic density, fairness, and wholeness. Each rule has a different degree of importance, and to get the optimal weight of each rule, we formulate the problem as a double-objective optimization problem and obtain the results by searching the feasible Pareto solutions. As to the assignment of merging sequence, we evaluate each competitor from three aspects by giving scores and multiplying the corresponding weight and the agent with the higher score gets comparatively smaller MS, i.e., the priority of passing the intersection. The simulations and comparisons are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Moreover, the proposed method improved the fuel economy and saved the travel time.


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