Russian researchers have been examining critical airflow paths over the proposed Frigate Ecojet, a proposed widebody aircraft with a flat three-aisle elliptical fuselage.
The tests assessed the performance of the aircraft in a subsonic windtunnel, checking its behaviour across a wide angle-of-attack range and determining the critical points at which the airflow broke down.
Analysis will help the Ecojet's developers refine the local aerodynamics to improve wing configurations for take-off and landing. Moscow's Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute says it has previously carried out work to test the fuselage's structural strength.
Rosaviaconsortium, which has commissioned the testing, has also put forward a financial and feasibility study indicating that the aircraft should be put into service in 2020, to be ready for fleet renewal programmes.
"We expect that the new aircraft, with a new technological design, will be a competitive alternative for the replacement of existing jet aircraft," says Ecojet project head Alexander Klimov.
It forecasts production of 250 aircraft by 2030 and that the total investment required for the programme is $3.5 billion, of which 30% would be derived from the Russian federal budget.
Ecojet would carry 276 passengers in a two-class layout or 358 with an all-economy cabin.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
