Innovative Turboprop Transport Design

This paper describes the results from several modifications on a baseline turboprop transport design to assess how altering the wing, nacelles, landing gear, and fairings affect the performance envelope. The different versions... [ view full abstract ]

This paper describes the results from several modifications on a baseline turboprop transport design to assess how altering the wing, nacelles, landing gear, and fairings affect the performance envelope. The different versions of the components included a braced versus an un-braced composite wing, nacelles with and without space for landing gear stowage, wing versus belly-mounted landing gear, and three belly-fairing configurations. Each permutation of the variations listed above was investigated to determine what role the design would be best suited for. Roles considered were regional airliner, utility aircraft, and maritime patrol aircraft. The configurations usually traded weight for drag, and the variants that best fit the available roles are presented. Airliners benefited the most from having the low-drag solutions, while the advantage of minimizing drag was less pronounced for the utility and maritime patrol roles.