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For the exploration and validation of the integration of efficient propulsion concepts and new technologies for future large passenger aircraft, it is necessary to establish suitable design, evaluation and measurement tools. Therefore, as one major activity of the Large Passenger Aircraft (LPA) Platform 1 of the Clean Sky 2 initiative, the so-called Cross-Capability Demonstrator (XDC), has been set up to develop and demonstrate powerful numerical and experimental methods for aerodynamic, aeroacoustics, and aeroelastic simulation and measurement tasks. The paper will give an overview of the activities to be performed within the XDC and present some of the latest achievements related to this demonstrator.

Extracts from life cycle assessment (LCA) results and environmental impact projections for are cabin interior demonstrator are presented.

New Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) of materials used in the production of composite aircraft structures have been developed by Fraunhofer in the Eco-Design Transversal Activity (ECO-TA) Platform of Clean Aviation. With a view to ensure the environmental improvement of the new materials and technologies, Fraunhofer performs life cycle assessments (LCA) of aircraft demonstrators, such as thermoplastic fuselage, thermoset wing panel, and cabin interior parts (i.e., seats and furniture). The lack of LCI data is, however, one of the main challenges to be faced. Dataset is the core of an LCA and more than 100 new LCIs are being modelled by the Fraunhofer ICT, as a database to enable the performance of LCA of these aircraft demonstrators.

Extracts from life cycle assessment (LCA) results and environmental impact projections for are thermoplastic fuselage demonstrator are presented.

The main challenge of a sustainable and recyclable product is currently the step between product end-of-life and the new product generation - the recycling step. Fraunhofer ICT is developing a sustainable seating structure for aviation. The majority of parts used in the seating structure, from foam cushions to the composite seat structure, are based on polyurethane (mono-material approach). A holistic product development is used, taking into account all phases of the product‘s life cycle - from raw material extraction to end-of-life. In addition to economic advantages and product properties, the ecological impact is integrated into the product development as a third optimization parameter - so a demonstrably sustainable product is developed.

Extracts from life cycle assessment (LCA) results and environmental impact projections for the surface treatment of a metallic fuselage demonstrator are presented.

One of the ongoing paradigm-shifts in manufacture of civilian aerostructures is the gradual departure from classic prepreg-autoclave manufacturing, and the identification of less energy intensive manufacturing routes. To that end, a set of innovative technologies and alternate materials were implemented in a novel unified thermoset composite manufacturing scheme based on Liquid Resin Infusion by ecoTECH core partner consortium. • Novel automated preforming strategies with dry unidirectional fabrics • Optimized infusion processes at room temperature, with sustainable polymer resin and corresponding infusion strategies • A novel smart mold with micro-vibrations for improved fiber wetting and integrated sensors. Each technology was developed and matured, both independently and in confluence with the others. Finally, a 1700 mm x 700 mm stabilizer panel, with slight curvature and integrated omega stiffener elements, was manufactured – demonstrating and validating the various technology developments.

Extracts from life cycle assessment (LCA) results and environmental impact projections for a thermoset wing panel demonstrator are presented.

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are used for aviation and other sectors with a wide range of thermoplastic and thermoset resin components. This generates a high variety of applications, but also leads to different and complex recycling streams. Globally, this generates about 62,000 t per year of end-of-life (EoL) CFRP and CFRP production waste. Due the ongoing landfill legislation and due to the increasing raw material and energy costs, recycling is becoming more mandatory. A variety of different primary and secondary recycling routes are therefore being investigated in the Clean Sky 2 programme.

Carbon fibers are widely used in carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) for aviation, automotive, windmills, sport and many more application due to their outstanding material properties. Annually, this generates about 62,000 tonnes of end-of-life (EoL) CFRP and CFRP production waste. Current EoL scenarios for CFRPs show some disadvantages: Landfilling and incineration are not sustainable and environmentally friendly. Carbon fiber recovery by pyrolysis damages the carbon fibers and incinerates the plastic material. Mechanical recycling shortens the carbon fibers and is of limited value for thermosets. However, chemical recycling routes like solvolysis offers the great potential to recover damage-free carbon fibers as well as useful monomers for a new generation of plastics. This presentation provides an overview about the solvolysis of carbon fiber reinforced polyurethane material for aviation applications. Additionally, first life cycle assessment results will be presented.

Research for Recycling and Circular Economy has a long tradition in Fraunhofer; e.g. are the Circular Economy Symposia in the early 90-ies and the new Aircraft Recycling Symposia starting 2013. What are the main tasks at the aircraft end of life? 1. decommissioning, 2. careful disassembly and 3. dismantling. For economic and ecological reasons, the aim is to achieve the highest possible percentage of reuse and recycling rate. In the case of recycling, a distinction is “differentiate between the use of secondary components and secondary raw materials”. Accordingly, a distinction can also be made between a component recycling quota and a material recycling quota. Current aircraft achieve a recycling rate, based on mass, of between 60 % and 85 %, and the aim is to achieve more. In the presentation several Clean Sky projects were introduced to develop and improve the recycling routes of the various materials used in aircraft components. The presentation will show how the projects are linked to a central cooperation recycling.

The analysis of environmental impacts of aviation should include the full life cycle of an aircraft and its parts and should go beyond use-phase emissions. Environmental impacts of the manufacturing stages e.g. related to consumption of resources, pollutions and the use of hazardous materials like environmentally toxic chemicals as well as environmental impacts of end-of-life scenarios for an aircraft must be considered. Based on a case example on polyurethane flexible foams for aircraft seating cushions, an analysis of the environmental impacts supported by the life cycle assessment methodology has been conducted. This analysis covers the production of polyurethane flexible foams with a particular focus on three perspectives being: (a) use of biomaterials instead of fossil based material, (b) reduction and replacement of hazardous chemicals like heavy metal catalysts and flame retardants, (c) use of recycled polyol obtained by chemical solvolysis of flexible polyurethane foam. Selected results of an LCA will be presented for these to show improvement potentials.

Safe aviation operations rely on the flight crews’ adherence to operating procedures for normal, abnormal and emergency situations. Crew operations can be enhanced by applying a certain automation level to procedures (both on commanded actions and monitoring aspects), thus reducing pilot workload and increasing the crews’ mental spare capacity. Succeeding in partial automation of flight procedures is deemed a first step towards flight autonomy substantiated on ArtificialIntelligence (AI) based systems in the long term. It also paves the way towards reduced crew or unmanned operations. This paper presents Cockpit Automation Procedures System (CAPS) as an initial prototype of this kind of automation. This technology, developed as contributor to Enhanced Flight Operations and Functions within the Clean Sky 2 framework, is capable of automatically executing crew procedures with an adjustable automation level and authority delegation and enables monitoring of pilot actions on cockpit controls. This project has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 945583. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Clean Sky 2 JU members other than the Union. The results, opinions, conclusions, etc. presented in this work are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily represent the position of the JU; the JU is not responsible for any use made of the information contained herein.

The integration of advanced propulsion systems into the aircraft, and the assessment of their benefits related to e.g. fuel burn, noise emission and potential further measures, is one of the major activities of the Large Passenger Aircraft (LPA) Platform 1 of the Clean Sky 2 initiative. In order to optimize and assess the potential of advanced propulsion integration, it is necessary to establish suitable design, evaluation, and measurement tools. The so-called Cross-Demonstrator-Capabilities (XDC-) activities have been set up to develop and demonstrate powerful numerical and experimental methods for aerodynamic, aeroacoustics and aeroelastic simulation and measurement tasks, supporting the dedicated demonstrators of LPA. The paper will give an overview of the XDC activities and some examples of the developments related to this demonstrator.

This paper describes the current activities at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and an associated consortium related to conceptual design studies of an aircraft configuration with hybrid electric propulsion for a typical short range commercial transport mission. The work is implemented in the scope of the European Clean Sky 2 program in the project “Advanced Engine and Aircraft Configurations” (ADEC) and “Turbo electric Aircraft Design Environment” (TRADE). The configuration analyzed incorporates parallel hybrid architecture consisting of gas turbines, electric machines, and batteries that adds electric power to the fans of the engines. A conceptual aircraft sizing workflow built in the DLR’s “Remote Component Environment” (RCE) incorporating tools of DLR that are based on semi-empirical and low level physics based methods. The TRADE consortium developed a simulation and optimization design platform with analysis models of higher fidelity for an aircraft with hybrid electric propulsion architecture. An implementation of the TRADE simulation and optimization design platform into the DLR’s RCE workflow by replacing the DLR models was carried out. The focus of this paper is on the quantitative evaluation of the “Boosted Turbofan” configuration utilizing the resulting workflow. In order to understand the cooperation between the DLR and TRADE consortium, a brief overview of the activities is given. Then the multi-disciplinary overall aircraft sizing workflow for hybrid electric aircraft built in RCE is shown. Hereafter, the simulation and optimization models of the TRADE design platform are described. Subsequently, an overview of the aircraft configurations considered in the scope of this work is given. The design space studies of the “Boosted Turbofan” configuration are presented. Finally, the deviations of the results between the workflows with and without the TRADE modules are discussed. This project has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 807097 . The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Clean Sky 2 JU members other than the Union. The results, opinions, conclusions, etc. presented in this work are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily represent the position of the JU; the JU is not responsible for any use made of the information contained herein.

This special issue of the CEAS Aeronautical Journal summarizes articles describing results of the work package 'Load Control', which was part of the Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft (SFWA) project, taking place in the framework of the European Clean Sky research programme. The editorial first gives a short overview over the Clean Sky framework and the SFWA project. Second, the articles of the special issue are shortly introduced.

This manuscript describes a collaborative research effort between members of the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (JTI), within the broader area of novel rotorcraft engine technology and rotorcraft operations. The Clean Sky JTI was created as a public/private partnership between the European Commission and the aeronautical industry. The paper assesses the impact of innovative engine technologies to be integrated into the next generation of rotorcraft and evaluates their potential towards meeting the ACARE 2020 goals. The focus is on the lower segment of the light helicopter class with a particular interest in the performance of two innovative powerplants: an advanced turboshaft with Lean Premixed Prevaporised (LPP) combustor design and a supercharged diesel cycle engine. In order to evaluate their benefits alongside other Clean Sky technologies, a multi-disciplinary rotorcraft performance analysis framework (PhoeniX) is employed. Two variants of the same light helicopter platform with year 2020 technology plus Clean Sky innovations are modelled, named hereafter as Single Engine Light (SEL) Y2020 and High Compression Engine (HCE) Y2020, respectively. A turboshaft engine-powered helicopter, representative of year 2000 technology (SEL Y2000) is also modelled and used as reference. Payload-Range diagrams (PR) of the three vehicles were generated. The HCE Y2020 reached a maximum range 83% greater than the SEL counterparts. The gaseous emissions of the helicopters were also evaluated over three notional scenarios representative of light helicopter activities. The HCE Y2020 emitted 60% less carbon dioxide (CO2) and 63% less nitrogen oxides (NOx) than the SEL Y2000. The SEL Y2020 emitted on average 19% and 49% less CO2 and NOx, respectively, compared with the SEL Y2000. It was also observed that the NOx production rate of the LPP technology integrated in the SEL Y2020 combustor depends strongly on engine power setting. At certain power settings, the SEL Y2020 emitted less NOx than the HCE Y2020 even though the HCE Y2020 emitted less NOx over the complete mission. The direct comparison between SEL Y2020 and HCE Y2020 highlighted the superior performance of the HCE engine over the gas turbine for the mission types and rotorcraft class simulated.

Europe has a strong and proud tradition in aerospace and astronautics, which indeed is a very important area for Europe. It represents a substantial business domain, but maybe equally important, it is also a driver for technology development and innovation that benefits the society as a whole. One of Europe’s greatest challenges is about independence, in order to keep and maintain capabilities within the complete set of technologies needed as a foundation for a sustainable aerospace industry in Europe. This is important when Europe has to look at the next generation of Air Power. It is also fundamental for Europe to be an attractive partner in international projects conducted with global collaboration. CEAS – Council of European Aerospace Societies – is an organisation bringing European national aerospace organisations together for increased international strength. Today, CEAS comprises sixteen member organisations with roughly 35,000 individual members. CEAS hosts biennial conferences on aeronautics in Europe where CEAS 2013 in Linköping is the fourth after Venice 2011, Manchester 2009 and Berlin 2007.