Abstract
As air travel continues to grow and evolve, noise heard by communities remains an important factor in environmental impact assessments. The recently introduced Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) concept has the potential to provide a mode of transportation that includes faster and more convenient routes for air transportation; however, it must be implemented while adhering to environmental regulations and without disrupting existing air traffic. A broad range of AAM aircraft are in development which will have different community noise footprints and energy use depending on the details of the departure and arrival flight trajectories which must be understood for airspace integration. In addition, previous research has indicated advanced operational flight procedures, where aircraft are flown strategically, are potential methods to reduce aircraft noise. This work presents a framework for analyzing AAM trajectory design, focusing on key performance characteristics including community noise impact, energy consumption, and flight duration. The framework can be applied to diverse AAM vehicle types, as demonstrated in this work on a Blown-Flap Short Takeoff and Landing vehicle, a Tilt-Rotor Vertical Takeoff and Landing vehicle, and a Lift Plus Cruise Vertical Takeoff and Landing vehicle. Results of comparing various takeoff procedures for each vehicle show trade-offs between community noise, energy consumption, and flight duration, highlighting the importance of strategic trajectory design for future AAM vehicles. Finally, discussion regarding ongoing work in noise modeling in the context of assessment methods such as the FAA’s Aviation Environmental and Design Tool, as well as validation of future advanced air mobility aircraft, is also presented.
Bio:
Dr. Jacqueline Huynh is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. She received her doctorate from MIT in aerospace engineering with a focus in aircraft acoustics and flight performance. Her research focuses on aircraft systems design and operations, aviation emissions and noise mitigation, and the integration of emerging technologies, such as electrified and hydrogen fuel powered propulsion, into the national airspace. She has 10 years of experience working on several FAA Aviation Sustainability Center of Excellence (ASCENT) projects, including in the role as the university PI on ASCENT84, noise modeling of advanced air mobility flight vehicles. She developed a framework for quantifying noise of advanced operational flight procedures and noise prediction validation for current aircraft and future hybrid-electric aircraft. Her framework was used to design one of her advanced noise abatement flight procedure concepts which was later flown on the 2019 Boeing 777 ecoDemonstrator. She teaches aircraft performance, wind tunnel laboratory, aircraft-related senior capstone, and aerospace and the environment at the grades 8-12, undergraduate, and graduate level at UCI.