Collaborative Parametric Overall Aircraft and Systems Design to Evaluate Hydrogen-Powered Regional Aircraft

In the collaborative aircraft design process, partners contribute to their respective area of focus, using, for example, established interfaces like the Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Schema (CPACS). However, the design of on-board systems is typically considered only superficially in the aircraft design process, as no standard for including system design parameters has been defined within CPACS. In CPACS v3.5, however, system design parameters can now be incorporated, allowing for a more direct mapping of the overall systems design to the aircraft design process. To this end, this paper presents the first design iteration between the overall aircraft and systems design disciplines, demonstrating it on a hydrogen-powered regional concept aircraft with ten fuel cell-powered propulsion units. Based on the initial aircraft design conducted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) performs physical design of the on-board systems. The resulting design parameters are then used to update the initial aircraft design, analyzing how relevant parameters, such as geometric features and masses, are affected. For instance, the mass of the on-board systems increases by approximately 2426 kg compared to the mass estimate of the initial aircraft design, resulting in an increased maximum take-off mass of 3034 kg. Despite the added mass, the redesigned aircraft remains a feasible concept.