Contrail formation assessment for alternative propulsion technologies
Contrail formation assessment for alternative propulsion technologies
Contrail emission is the greatest non-CO2 contribution to global climate change from aviation. This study provides a consistent methodology for comparing the contrail propensity of alternative propulsion technologies, applicable to more-electric gas turbine systems, fuel cell systems with and without external cooling, and piston engines. The method accounts for distributed propulsion and boundary layer ingestion, and for alternative fuels such as liquid hydrogen. The Schmidt-Appleman theory for contrail formation is applied rigorously without invoking the perfect gas approximation. It is found that conventional use of the perfect gas approximation, neglect of fuel mass, and neglect of the latent heat of liquid fuels results in significant errors that are easily avoided with the new method. The analysis shows that several propulsion developments intended to reduce CO2 emission promote contrail formation: use of hydrogen fuel, introduction of efficient fuel cell power systems (especially low-temperature fuel cell technologies), and generation and distribution of electrical power all tend to increase condensation. Boundary layer ingestion however has the opposite effect, increasing the ceiling for contrail formation by around 500 m, providing a practical means to increase propulsive performance and to reduce contrail formation.
Contrail, Propulsion, Hydrogen, Fuel cell, More-electric, Turbo-electric, Boundary layer ingestion, Distributed propulsion, Cirrus, Schmidt-Appleman
Richardson, Edward
a8357516-e871-40d8-8a53-de7847aa2d08
Richardson, Edward
a8357516-e871-40d8-8a53-de7847aa2d08
Richardson, Edward
(2023)
Contrail formation assessment for alternative propulsion technologies.
Journal of Propulsion and Power.
(Submitted)
Abstract
Contrail emission is the greatest non-CO2 contribution to global climate change from aviation. This study provides a consistent methodology for comparing the contrail propensity of alternative propulsion technologies, applicable to more-electric gas turbine systems, fuel cell systems with and without external cooling, and piston engines. The method accounts for distributed propulsion and boundary layer ingestion, and for alternative fuels such as liquid hydrogen. The Schmidt-Appleman theory for contrail formation is applied rigorously without invoking the perfect gas approximation. It is found that conventional use of the perfect gas approximation, neglect of fuel mass, and neglect of the latent heat of liquid fuels results in significant errors that are easily avoided with the new method. The analysis shows that several propulsion developments intended to reduce CO2 emission promote contrail formation: use of hydrogen fuel, introduction of efficient fuel cell power systems (especially low-temperature fuel cell technologies), and generation and distribution of electrical power all tend to increase condensation. Boundary layer ingestion however has the opposite effect, increasing the ceiling for contrail formation by around 500 m, providing a practical means to increase propulsive performance and to reduce contrail formation.
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Theory of Contrails R1 20231108
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Submitted date: 6 November 2023
Keywords:
Contrail, Propulsion, Hydrogen, Fuel cell, More-electric, Turbo-electric, Boundary layer ingestion, Distributed propulsion, Cirrus, Schmidt-Appleman
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 484435
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/484435
ISSN: 0748-4658
PURE UUID: 63626d51-bb2c-4293-9fd6-b63a9551aac8
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Date deposited: 16 Nov 2023 12:07
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:17
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