Architectural Decisions in Commercial Aircraft from the DC-3 to the 787

Abstract

The volume of passenger air travel has increased rapidly since the first commercially viable passenger aircraft, the DC-3. Over this period, commercial aircraft increasingly appear to have consolidated around a dominant architecture. That is to say, aircraft designers have increasingly made the same architectural decisions (categorical choices such as high wing or low wing), while realizing performance gains in component technologies rather than from major architectural innovations. To quantify the assertion that a dominant architecture has emerged, we analyzed architectural decisions over time, finding a decrease in variation of these decisions in a data set of 157 historical aircraft architectures. We define an architectural performance metric based on passenger-carrying efficiency, technical performance, and market value, observing that in parallel with architectural consolidation, there has been a twofold increase in average performance since the inception of the DC-3. However, the performance trend is shown to follow a trajectory similar to that of a technology S-curve, implying that current improvements in performance with this dominant architecture may be reaching the stage of diminishing returns. Given current levels of activity in engine technology

Understanding Influence of Powerplant Component Connection Strategies on Aircraft Engine Structural Deformations

“…In such engines a large ratio of the air passing through the engine front fan does not pass through the hot engine core, but rather bypasses the engine core providing thrust. With a fixed aircraft configuration, increasing the fan diameter to increase the bypass flow has enabled significant aircraft efficiency improvements in recent decades [10][11][12]. Typically, engines are positioned beneath the wing which provides both access for maintenance and proximity to the wing, in which large volumes of fuel can be stored [1].…”

Divide et Impera: Efficient Synthesis of Cyber-Physical System Architectures from Formal Contracts

“…Many industrial systems are succumbing under the weight of their own complexity. Innovation is becoming increasingly risky, and architectural innovation in particular has actually decreased over time [11].…”

“…Not only does the system architecture have to be changed, but also all the models that are derived from it. Such redesign cycles are expensive, so architectures tend to closely follow older designs that were proven to work [11].…”

Simulated Pilot-in-the-Loop Testing of Handling Qualities of the Flexible Wing Aircraft

“…High AR unswept wings are usually seen in sailplane designs to provide very high lift-to-drag ratios, but could not be used for large transport aircraft in the past because of arising structural issues due to the much higher wing loading when compared to sailplanes. With the advent of composite materials and novel manufacturing technologies (Kellari, Crawley, & Cameron, 2018), previous structural issues have been solved. As AR increases, larger wing bending deformations develop.…”