Europe’s Aerospace Research Program Enters Demo Phase

As Clean Sky demonstrators enter the testing phase, the newly launched Clean Sky 2 European research program is building on earlier successes and stands to benefit from more than double the budget.

One of the first demonstrators to enter flight-test—Rolls-Royce's advanced low-pressure system—is operating on a Trent 1000 turbofan. Researchers have scheduled a number of other demonstrators for testing next year. For example, an electric test bench run by Labinal Power Systems and dubbed "copper bird" will support technology evaluations for all-electric system architectures.

A modified Airbus A340, arguably the most spectacular demonstrator, might lead to the production of a "passive laminar-flow wing." According to Clean Sky executive director Eric Dautriat, experts have been studying the principle of passive laminar flow, which eliminates turbulence and thus cuts drag, for decades. But despite its potential 7- to 8-percent drag reduction, the idea never went into production, partly because of the difficulty inherent in manufacturing a perfectly smooth, dust-repellant surface. Saab and GKN continue to work on two different structures, and the challenges have forced the companies to postpone first flight of the new wing sections on an Airbus-owned A340-300 from 2015 to late 2016.

Dautriat sees Clean Sky bridging a technology gap between pure research and actual product development. "Technology readiness levels between 4 and 6 used to be a death valley," he said. The daunting costs of flight-testing often stalled promising projects in the laboratory, he explained during a briefing organized by the AJPAE, an aerospace journalist association.

Clean Sky 2 embraces broader objectives. In addition to protecting the environment, it seeks greater competitiveness and improved mobility within Europe, Dautriat said. The budget is €4 billion ($5 billion), a major gain on Clean Sky's €1.6 billion ($2 billion). As a private-public partnership, Clean Sky 2 receives funding from industry (60 percent) and the European Commission (40 percent).

Schedules call for Clean Sky 2 to run to the end of 2024, thus overlapping Clean Sky's 2008 to 2017 time frame.

Clean Sky 2's goals, based on 2014 technology, include cutting fuel burn by up to 30 percent, similar or greater reductions in NOx emissions and up to a 75-percent reduction in noise footprint.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2014-11-27/europes-aerospace-research-program-enters-demo-phase