The project is carried out

in a Partnership...

University of
Cambridge, UK

...between Cambridge University and

Massachusetts Institute of
MIT and a ‘Knowledge Integration Technology, USA
Community’ (KIC) of aerospace
partners, which include industry,
airline and airport operators, policy
makers and other academics. The
partners listed below have provided
access to industry software tools,
and have been involved in reviews of
the emerging designs. In addition to
the KIC, other research collaborators
include Georgia Institute of
Technology, KTH Sweden, ISVR, NASA
and NLR.

KIC Partners include:

• BAA • Lufthansa Cargo
• Boeing • Luton Airport
• Bruel & Kjaer (B&K) • Marshall Aerospace
• Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) • Messier Dowty
• DHL • Met Office
• easyJet • National Air Traffic Services (NATS) will be
• ecotec • Nottingham East Midlands Airport (NEMA) t u a l design
ep se
t conc n. Plea
• HACAN • Rolls-Royce plc a l aircraf in Londo
The fi n
the Au
tu m n wo ld
u
• ITP • United Parcel Service (UPS) e d in t . o r g if you
t f
• Lochard • Wyle Labs presen entair
cra
a il in fo@sil
e-m .
attend
like to
For more information see
www.silentaircraft.org

www.silentaircraft.org
 Integrated Design of a ‘Silent’ Aircraft

Research Challenge: Develop the Integration Engines

conceptual design of a new aircraft which
is no louder than the background noise
outside a typical urban airport perimeter.
The aircraft should have competitive fuel
burn and the design must be credible in
terms of in-depth reviews by industry.
Airframe
• Integrated Design: the blended wing design
has high lift/drag ratio (~22-26) which makes
the aircraft very efficient and enables a low
speed approach
• Embedded Engines: embedding the engines
in the airframe reduces the drag on the ultra-
high bypass ratio engines
• Shielding: the large centre-body shields the
engine noise from listeners on the ground and
provides room for extensive acoustic liners
• Vectored Thrust: enables aircraft control
without noisy flight control surfaces
• Ingesting: some of the aircraft boundary
layer flow is ingested into the engines,
increasing propulsive efficiency and reducing
fuel burn
• Ultra-High Bypass Ratio: 20 at take-off for low jet noise, 13.6 at top of
climb
• Multiple-Fan Geared Engine Configuration: three cores and nine fans are
easier to embed in airframe, reduce weight and nacelle drag, enhance
boundary layer ingestion, and the low fan tip speeds lead to low noise
• Variable Area Nozzle: reduces jet noise at take off with maximum
efficiency at cruise
• Extensive Acoustic Liners: attenuate rearward noise

• Noise: airframe noise from current large

civil aircraft now exceeds engine noise on
approach. All airframe noise contributions
are cut by reducing approach speed and
increasing approach angle. The low-noise
design has no flaps, a drooped leading edge
rather than slats, and a simplified and
streamlined undercarriage
Economics
• Airline Operators: an airline business model
considers the relative profitability of a silent
aircraft under a range of regulatory and
environmental scenarios
• Regional Growth: a regional econometric
input-output model simulates the catalytic Operations
industrial benefits from aviation
• Design for Low Noise Operations: the ‘Silent’ Aircraft exploits a slow,
steep approach and an optimised departure profile to reduce noise on the
ground
• Continuous Descent Approaches (CDAs): these reduce noise and fuel
burn by eliminating level segments, keeping aircraft higher and at lower
thrust levels for longer than traditional step-down approaches

The team is developing conceptual designs for an
integrated wing-body aircraft to carry 215 passengers
in a typical 3-class configuration at distances of up to 5,000
nautical miles. This design and the one overleaf are two of the
concepts currently being considered.
• Flight Tests: the team is working with an airport, air traffic control and
local airlines to certify and flight test new CDA procedures with current
aircraft types

www.silentaircraft.org