Propulsion Systems Laboratory

Practice 1 - Propulsion Systems Impact on Aircraft Range and Endurance

José Ignacio Rodrı́guez Rojas (1943518), Mauricio Iñaki Flores Cedillo (1858918)
Carlos Daniel Rodrı́guez Ramos (1671812), Yussif Said Mátar Lizcano (1661070)

Facultad de Ingenierı́a Mecánica y Eléctrica.- Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

Centro de Investigación e Innovación en Ingenierı́a Aeronáutica
Instructor: M.Sc. Christian Antonio Simental Estrello
Brigada: 408

Abstract—Using a MATLAB script, the performance range of fuel mass. However, this requires a much more complex
of a supersonic aircraft is analyzed, using the Range equation analysis since we look for the relationship between TSFC
depending on the flight Mach number and the aircraft TSFC. in conjunction with aerodynamic parameters such as lift
Index Terms—Range, TSFC, Mach, MATLAB.
coefficients and drag resistance.
A. Justification
For most unpowered aircraft, the maximum flight time is
The study of the engine behavior according to some de- variable, limited by available daylight hours, aircraft design
sign parameters can be a changing factor to develop new (performance), weather conditions, aircraft potential energy,
technologies to improve the generated efficiencies of some and pilot endurance. Therefore, the range equation can only
aircraft propulsion systems. The flight range also investigation be calculated exactly for powered aircraft. It will be derived
contributes to the world globalization as well. for both propeller and jet aircraft. If the total mass W of the
B. General objective aircraft at a particular time t is:
To calculate and analyze the performance of a supersonic W = W0 + Wf (1)
flight aircraft varying its design parameters such as TSFC and
lift-to-drag ratio. Where W0 is the zero-fuel mass and Wf is the mass of the
fuel.
I. I NTRODUCTION
As part of all the areas that surround the design of an So, we can make a relation between these two concepts,
aircraft and especially an aircraft engine there are multiple and, in a period, we calculate the Fuel consumption rate per
variables to consider, although I would think that the approach unit of mass flow F
of the components or the analysis of thermodynamic cycles
is of weight for the design, the reality is that an engine is dWf dW0
based on the maneuvers or objectives that the manufacturer − = (2)
dt dt
seeks to solve, and one of those variables is the ability of the
engine to operate in the air. dW
dW dt F
= dR
=− (3)
The factors or parameters of range and resistance are dW dt
V
important for the design of an engine, one could see that at
Clear R, we get that the range is the integral below, with t1
the end of the day they are calculations of time or distance,
and t2
these parameters are deeply related to the type of fuel and
the specific consumption of our engine. Z t2
dR
Z W2
V
Z W1
V
R= dt = − dW = dW (4)
t1 dt W1 F W2 F
Below is the development and what these parameters de-
scribe, as well as the applied case. The range of jet aircraft can be derived likewise. Now, quasi-
steady level flight is assumed. The relationship D = C CL W is
D
II. BACKGROUND
used. The thrust can now be written as:
A. Range
CD
Within the parameters to be taken into account for the T =D= W (5)
CL
design of an aircraft, as customers or service providers the
parameter of the autonomy or range of an aircraft becomes Where W is a force in Newton.
very relevant, since this indicates us in units of range per unit
Propulsion Systems Laboratory June 13th , 2022.

Assuming that the drag is proportional to the fuel flow and equation, where W1 and W2 are the initial and de final weights
matching with the lift equation: during cruise.
s
V 1 CL 2
= 2 ρSW (6)
F cT CD
Assuming only W is varying and using the equation 4,
solving the integral:
s
2 C L 2 p p 
R= 2 gρS W 1 − W2 (7)
cT CD
The equation 7 describes the range at fixed height during a
cruise stage, a fixed angle of attack and a constant specific D. Aircraft Engine Performance
fuel consumption.
According to Farokhi [1], the product of the engine thermal
B. Endurance and propulsive efficiency is called overall efficiency, repre-
Is the maximum length of time that an aircraft can spend sented by:
in cruising flight. In other words, it is the amount of time an ∆KE F · V0 F · V0
aircraft can stay in the air with one load of fuel. ηo ≡ ηth · ηp = ≡ (13)
ṁf QR ∆KE ṁf QR
Endurance is different from range because this parameter Then, the overall efficiency ηo is the ratio of the fuel thermal
measures the distance flown. power which produces the engine thrust power. Consider an
aircraft in level flight cruising at a V0 speed (Figure 1), which
Taking equation 4 as a starting point and disregarding the experiences a drag force countered by the engine thrust power.
change of velocity in time because this parameter considers
a constant cruising speed, we can obtain the change in the
amount of fuel proportional to the flow of this. Fengine = Daircraft (14)
Z t2 Z W2 Z W1
dW dW
E= dt = − = (8)
t1 W1 F W2 F
Endurance plays a prime factor in finding out the fuel fraction
for an aircraft. Endurance, like range, is also related to fuel
efficiency; with a good fuel efficiency we can assume a good
endurance characteristic
C. Breguet Range Equation
Knowing the relationship that exists between the change in Fig. 1. Un-accelerated level flight aircraft
the weight of the fuel with the amount of flow obtained from
the equation that writes the resistance, we can assume that Also, considering that the aircraft lift is balanced by the
the specific consumption of fuel quantity is also related to the weight to maintain level flight, we can multiply Eq. 14 by
characteristics of the resistance, thus we can start the analysis the flight speed V0 and replace the resulting thrust via the
from this. definition of the overall efficiency, we get:
ṁf
SF C = (9)
F F · V0 = ηo ṁf QR = D · V0 (15)
With this, we can add to the equation the characteristics of a The fuel rate is represented by ṁf = − −1 dW
, which is
g0 dt
cruise stage flight where we have a constant height and speed the representation of the aircraft lose of mass during the flight.
in changing the amount of weight of the fuel. Substituting this expression and dividing the RHS term in Eq.
dW 15 by Lift L, rearranging we get:
= −Dg(SF C) (10)
dt
ηo QR dW D dR
dW −W g(SF C) − = · V0 dt = (16)
= L
(11) g0 W L L/D
dt D
where g0 is the Earth’s gravitational acceleration and V0 dt
dW g(SF C) is the aircraft elemental range dR. Thus, integrating the Eq.
= − U L dx (12)
dt D 16, assuming that L/D, ηo are constant, we obtain:
If SF C, U and L/D are constant, this expression can be QR L Wi
integrated to give the equation known as the Breguet Range R = ηo · · · ln (17)
g0 D Wf

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Propulsion Systems Laboratory June 13th , 2022.

where Wi and Wf are the aircraft initial and final weight. The B. MATLAB Script
Eq. 17 is known as the Breguet range equation, and it may be Before we start writing the MATLAB script, we need to
expressed in terms of a product of flight Mach number and perform an unit conversion for the a0 and the g0 , having:
the speed of the sound, obtaining:
   

L

a0 /g0 Wi ft 3600
s ft
R = M0 ln (18) a0 = 1000 · = 3, 600, 000
D T SF C Wf
s 1hr hr

III. C ASE OF S TUDY

(3600
s)2
   
ft ft
With the equation showed previously, it is necessary to g0 = 32.174 · 2
= 416, 975, 040 2
perform a vary in the thrust specific fuel consumption between s2 1hr hr
1 and 2 (lbm /hr/lbf ) to graph R for flight Mach Number These conversions were performed to match the TSFC units
between 2.0 and 4.0. Assuming a0 =1000 fst and the initial in Eq. 21. And, once we have the new values, the MATLAB
Wi
-to-final weight ratio W f
= 2. developed script to calculate the aircraft range is:
A. Procedure
1 clear all
As established above, the aircraft endurance can be 2 clc
calculated using the next equation. [1] 3 a0=3600000;
4 g0=416975040;
5 WiWf=2;
  6 M0=(2:0.1:4);
L a0 /g0 Wi TSFC=1.0;
R= M0 ln (19) 7

D T SF C Wf 8 R=g0.*((3.*M0)+9).*((a0/g0)/TSFC).*(log(WiWf));
9 Rnmi=R*0.000164579;
where: 10 plot(M0,Rnmi)

R is the aircraft range The Mach number variation can be observed above in the
M0 is the flight Mach number line 6, increasing 0.1 from 2 to 4. In line 8, the R
L
D is the aircraft lift-to-drag ratio represents the aircraft range in feet units, and needed to be
a0 is the speed of the sound multiplied by the earth gravitational acceleration to convert the
g0 is the earth gravitational acceleration force pounds (lbf) into mass pounds (lbm). And the line 9,
T SF C is the thrust specific fuel consumption the aircraft range is multiplied by the conversion factor to
Wi is the aircraft initial weight obtain the same distance in nautical miles (nmi).
Wf is the aircraft final weight
C. Results
And for this case, of an hypothetically supersonic aircraft, Varying the TSFC between 1.0 and 2.0 (lbm/hr/lbf ), the
the lift-to-drag ratio is defined by: data given by MATLAB is plotted in the next figure:

L M0 + 3
≈3 (20)
D M0

This ratio can be implemented in Eq. 19, resulting in:

a0 /g0 Wi
R = (3M0 + 9) ln (21)
T SF C Wf

This way we can obtain an aircraft range equation based

on the Mach number.

Six different cases will be considered, varying the TSFC

between 1 and 2 (lbm/hr/lbf ) for a flight Mach number
between 2.0 and 4.0, in order to observe and analyze the
aircraft endurance behavior. Assuming a speed of sound
a0 = 1000f t/s, a gravitational acceleration g0 = 32.174f t/s2 Fig. 2. Aircraft Range vs Mach Number
and a initial-to-final weight ratio Wi /Wf = 2.

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D. Discussion
Observing Figure 2, we can conclude that the increasing
on the flight Mach number provides a longer aircraft range,
approximately between 6000 - 8600 nmi for a TSFC = 1.0,
and 3000 - 4200 nmi for a TSFC = 2.0. This also mean that
a higher aircraft TSFC reduces the range.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
We can note, as explained in the concepts of range and in the
description of the Breguet equation, the fact of TSFC is deeply
related to the autonomy of the aircraft, we can denote that from
a consumption factor above 1.2, the trend of autonomy adopts
the same behavior for different Mach numbers, which makes
us even assume that it is the relationship is linear and only
change the capacity of autonomy I feel this lower and lower
and with a good rhythm in the change of the Mach number.
However, for factors less than 1.2, we can denote that the
autonomy is considerably high and that there is a variation
in this that is very large with respect to the range since, in
a difference of 2 numbers of Mach we have a difference of
autonomy of almost 3000 nautical miles.
R EFERENCES
[1] S. Farokhi, Aircraft propulsion. John Wiley Sons, 2014.
[2] J. D. Mattingly, Aircraft engine design. AIAA, 2002.