Carbon Footprint of Present and Future Aviation Systems

Previous estimates of carbon emissions, energy consumption and range have shown that future commercial electrified aircraft will be competitive with conventional aircraft and could be of great importance to the future aviation industry. In this PhD project, these estimates will be re-visited using a systems model. The role of electrified aircraft in aviation will be defined, and the challenges associated with the involvement electrified flight in the aviation system will be studied, in greater depth. For example, it has been found that an electrified aircraft's journey between two locations requires more stops to refuel or recharge than that of a conventional aircraft. These stops are unlikely to be en route, so the electrified aircraft flight path is likely to be more tortuous than conventional routes. An appropriate area for further investigation is the effect of this phenomenon on factors such as the aircraft carbon footprint. The PhD will include developments in accurate optimisation of the multi-parameter design problem related to future electric aircraft and will result in better understanding of the limiting factors concerning electrification of aviation.