Multiobjective optimisation of flight paths for noise level mitigation and sound quality improvement

Abstract

The present work deals with the multiobjective, multidisciplinary optimisation of takeoff and approach operations of a commercial aircraft aimed at the mitigation of the impact of aviation noise on the population. The innovative approach used here couples the minimisation of the aircraft noise level at the certification points with the improvement of the sound quality. The latter objective represents the main novelty of the present work and is addressed using a spectral–matching approach to make the aircraft noise as close as possible to a target sound. The rationale underlying the research is the development of a community–oriented approach to the assessment airport operations in view of the complete redefinition of the future airport scenarios. Indeed, the air traffic growth, the rapid expansion of urban areas around airports, and the expected advent of urban air mobility, are transforming the aviation noise into a serious hazard to the sustainable development of society. The sound–quality–based objective imposes a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach also in the procedural optimisation, due to the detail required to estimate the noise spectrum composition. Two merit factors are minimised, specifically the EPNL at the noise certification points and the Lp –norm of the difference between the noise produced by the configuration under analysis and a target sound. The target sounds are obtained by using sound engineering techniques aimed at the sound quality improvement, on the basis of the results of the psychometric tests campaigns performed within the projects SEFA and COSMA. The minimisation is achieved adopting a global evolution method, and the results are presented in terms of approximated Pareto frontiers for a single–aisle aircraft in both takeoff and landing conditions.

Experimental characterisation and data-driven modelling of unsteady wall pressure fields induced by a supersonic jet over a tangential flat plate

“…Therefore, the norm in the space can be used as a metric to be minimised to match the model of the spectra with the available data. Furthermore, since low values of enhance the contribution of distributed differences and high values of emphasise local differences, the choice of can drive the modelling process towards the minimisation of broadband or tonal component differences (low and high values of , respectively); such an approach has been successfully used in both the aircraft conceptual optimal design and the low-noise flight path optimization (Diez & Iemma 2012; Centracchio, Burghignoli & Iemma 2021 a ; Iemma & Centracchio 2022). Tailored objectives based on the norm are currently under analysis for active modelling problems that involve spectra with significant tonal components (preliminary results can be found in Iemma et al.…”

Flyover noise evaluation of low-noise technologies applied to a blended wing body aircraft

“…The initial layout was derived based on the experience acquired by the research group over the past years using the in-house MCRDO (Multidisciplinary Conceptual Robust Design Optimisation) framework FRIDA (FRamework for Innovative Design in Aeronautics), developed by the Aerospace Structures and Design group of Roma Tre University [9]. The tool FRIDA is capable to deeply describe the aircraft from a multidisciplinary point of view, and is suitable for all those applications that require the aircraft configuration definition, the environmental impact estimation [10] combined with financial metrics [11,12]. It must be pointed out that FRIDA was developed to assess the conceptual design of both conventional and innovative aircraft [13], thus the employed algorithms are, whenever possible, prime-principle based.…”

Sound-Quality-Based Decision Making in Multiobjective Optimisation of Operations for Sustainable Airport Scenarios

“…It is worth noting that the choice of p can be exploited by the designer to focus the metric on tonal broadband or tonal component dissimilarities (low and high values of p, respectively); indeed, low values of p enhance the contribution of distributed differences and high values of p emphasise the local ones. Optimisation problems involving I SM have been successfully used in both the aircraft conceptual design and single-point low-noise flight path optimisation [16,22].…”

“…Since the Multi Objective Optimisation (MOP) solution is composed of a set of non-dominated points, the sound quality assessment is applied to select the optimal trajectories. The aircraft operations have been optimised within the in-house Multidisciplinary Conceptual Robust Design Optimisation (MCRDO) framework FRIDA (Framework for Innovative Design in Aeronautics [12,15,16,18,[20][21][22]). The two objectives to be minimised are the Sound Exposure Level (SEL) 60 dBA contour area and the amount of fuel burnt during the entire airport operation.…”