Page 13 - AAA JULY - AUGUST 2014 Online Magazine

INTERVIEW AIRBUS

Stealth Cladding for
Buildings - Patented
by Airbus Group
Innovation Works and
Airbus, specially-shaped
aluminium “diffraction
grating” panels prevent
the building from
scattering signals
broadcast by an airport’s
Instrument Landing
System (ILS). Without
these panels the ILS
signals would scatter,
potentially making the
landing system unreliable
The result of the studies was that we regards to propulsion units for the next Innovations with regards to reducing
could on an average reduce the duration generation of commercial airliners? the impact on the environment
of all flights by 13 mins (long and When you look at the evolution of from aviation related activities?
medium haul). For short hubs this would propulsion systems, the A 310 had With regards to reducing the impact
be significant and save approximately 9 engines with a bypass ratio of five, today’s on the environment from aviation
million tonnes of fuel which equates to A350 has engines with a bypass ratio of 10 related activities, E-FAN is one of our
28 million tonnes of avoidable CO2 and and tomorrow’s A320 NEO offers engines most important projects. But of course,
huge time savings for the passenger. with a bypass ratio of 12. Increased bypass we have several other initiatives and
Therefore, we will have to advance our Ratio results in increased propulsive research projects ongoing.
studies as to how such results can be efficiency and we can expect the next With regards to the environment
obtained. generation of engines that arrive to have aspect, there are two ways to reduce the
For zero emission we could consider bypass ratios of 14-16. environmental footprint of an aircraft
electric taxiing on small aircraft and However, with increased bypass ratio that is either by reducing the drag or
low noise approaches where the aircraft more air is required and as a result the the aircraft weight. With advanced
glides rather than using its own power engine will need to be much bigger and this materials we can look at something
for the approach. will add to weight and drag. To reduce the like Aluminium- Magnesium –Scandium
Could we use formation flying where weight and drag penalties we would have to alloy which reduces the material density
aircraft fly like migrant birds in formation look at removing the nacelle completely. But by 4 percent while still having the same
on an express skyway? This is another we would have then to deal with the level of strength and having great corrosion
question we will have to evaluate. The noise generated. Can we have an open rotor resistance, it can be used for skin
aircraft would fly in the wake of each and fly at the same speed as current aircraft? stiffening for instance.
other. The aircraft that are flying in yes, but such configuration would be ideally Research in materials is important
formation behind the lead aircraft would suited to flights at a little slower speed, with and this will continue for the High
save money. However, this would require associated complexity for air traffic control. Speed Transport especially with
very advanced air traffic management. We could look at higher bypass ratios regards to thermal management
Airbus conducted a study where an with ducts and acoustic treatments for for materials. Coatings also have a
A-340 flew as the lead aircraft with an noise absorption. At the moment we are detrimental effect on the environment
A-330 flying behind and ascertained pursuing both nominal solutions. From and for example hexavalent chromium
that there is indeed a benefit in this the idea stage it would take at least is already banned and we need to
sort of approach. How we move from 10-15 years before such solutions are find a replacement for such coatings.
experimental flights like what we have transformed into reality. Hexavalent chromium is used as an
done to validation tests is the next step. anti-corrosion coating on all aircraft
Please provide more information on and it is in the interest of the industry
What are the developments you see with the work being done at Airbus Group to find a suitable replacement.
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