Propulsion

The propulsion subsystem in Aviary organizes and executes models for engine sizing and performance.

Aviary does not natively model gas-turbine or electric motor performance, and instead relies on user-provided data and/or custom performance models to perform propulsion analysis.

Aviary supports an arbitrary number of propulsor models on a vehicle, each with their own unique properties such as performance characteristics, scaling behaviors, and number of propulsors for that given type.

Each unique type of engine is referred to as an engine model. In Aviary, an engine model contains information on how to size and estimate performance for a single instance of an engine of that type. During analysis, Aviary handles summing performance data to a system level. This way, information is available on the performance of both a single instance of an engine, as well as aircraft-level totals, for other Aviary subsystems to utilize.

Note

In Aviary, when we refer to multiple engines of the same type, we say they are homogenous. When you are dealing with multiple engines of different types, we say they are heterogeneous.

Engine Decks

The built-in way Aviary handles engine performance is by interpolating tabular data from a user-defined file that describes performance characteristics for a given engine. Engines modeled in this manner are called engine decks. Engine decks are a type of engine model - they use the same basic interface, but have additional functionality to handle reading and processing data files.

Formatting

An engine deck data file requires specific formatting for Aviary to correctly interpret. These files must follow the Aviary data file format. An example of a properly-formatted engine deck can be found here.

Variables

The following engine performance parameters are supported natively by Aviary for use in engine decks. If units are not specified, the default units are assumed. A variety of alternate names for these variables are understood by Aviary, but it is recommended to use the official names given here. A column with a header not recognized by Aviary will be ignored, with a warning raised at runtime. This allows for variables not used by Aviary to still be included in a data file, either for reference or compatibility with another analysis tool.

Variable	Default Units	Required?
Mach Number	unitless	✔
Altitude	ft	✔
Throttle	unitless	✔
Hybrid Throttle	unitless	✘
Net Thrust	lbf	✔*
Gross Thrust	lbf	✘
Ram Drag	lbf	✘
Fuel Flow Rate	lbm/h	✘
Electric Power	kW	✘
NOx Rate	lbm/h	✘
T4 Temperature	degR	✘

*Net Thrust (defined as Gross Thrust - Ram Drag) is not required if both of those variables are provided for calculation

Mach Number, Altitude, and the two throttle parameters are independent variables required to describe the operating conditions of the engine. Hybrid Throttle is optional, and is intended for use as a second degree of control for engines using independently controllable fuel- and electric-based power. The remaining variables are dependent on the operating conditions and are therefore typically optional.

Engine decks without headers are assumed to contain only the required variable set, in the order specified by the table (Mach, Altitude, Throttle, and Net Thrust), and with default units.

Comments may be added to an engine deck data file by using a ‘#’ symbol preceding the comment. Anything after this symbol on that line is ignored by Aviary, allowing the user to temporarily remove data points or add in-line comments with context for the data. It is good practice to include comments at the start of the file to explain what kind of engine the data represents, and where it came from.

Setting Up Propulsion Analysis

Beginner Guide

To add an engine deck to Aviary, the minimum set of variables to describe it must be provided in your input file. This list includes:

• Aircraft.Engine.SCALE_PERFORMANCE

• Aircraft.Engine.IGNORE_NEGATIVE_THRUST

• Aircraft.Engine.GEOPOTENTIAL_ALT

• Aircraft.Engine.GENERATE_FLIGHT_IDLE

• Aircraft.Engine.NUM_WING_ENGINES and/or Aircraft.Engine.NUM_FUSELAGE_ENGINES

If generating flight idle points is desired, the following variables are also required. More information on flight idle generation is available here .

• Aircraft.Engine.FLIGHT_IDLE_THRUST_FRACTION

• Aircraft.Engine.FLIGHT_IDLE_MIN_FRACTION

• Aircraft.Engine.FLIGHT_IDLE_MAX_FRACTION

If you are missing any required variables, you will see a warning at runtime. Aviary will try using the default value for the missing variable, which may affect analysis results.

UserWarning: <aircraft:engine:scale_performance> is a required option for EngineDecks, but has not been specified for EngineDeck <example>. The default value will be used.

Intermediate Guide

Engine models are defined in Aviary using an EngineModel object. An EngineModel is responsible for handling many tasks required to prepare an engine for use in Aviary, such as reading engine data from a file in the case of an EngineDeck (which is a child class of EngineModel).

An EngineModel (and classes inheriting it) can be manually created and added to the Aviary problem. This is extremely useful when setting up an aircraft with multiple heterogenous types, each with unique properties, or using a custom engine model. An EngineModel requires an AviaryValues object containing the variables required for that engine (such as those outlined in the Beginner Guide example for EngineDecks).

# enforce uniform code style across documentation
import aviary.api as av
from aviary.utils.functions import get_path
from aviary.variable_info.variables import Aircraft

aviary_options = av.AviaryValues()

# Add relevant inputs and options to engine_options
# using engine_options.set_val(...)
filename = get_path('models/engines/turbofan_28k.deck')
aviary_options.set_val(Aircraft.Engine.DATA_FILE, filename)
aviary_options.set_val(Aircraft.Engine.SUBSONIC_FUEL_FLOW_SCALER, 0.9)

# It is assumed here that aviary_options is configured to have
# all inputs needed for analysis, except engine-level values
engine_model = av.EngineModel(name='example',
                           options=aviary_options)

Once an EngineModel has been created, it must be added to the Aviary analysis you want to perform. The simplest way to do this is to take advantage of the propulsion preprocessor utility. This preprocessor handles all of the details of getting data related to EngineModels, which may change during initialization, correctly set up in the AviaryValues object which is used to define the vehicle at the Aviary problem level.

av.preprocess_propulsion(aviary_options=aviary_options,
                         engine_models=[engine_model])

/home/runner/work/Aviary/Aviary/aviary/utils/preprocessors.py:272: UserWarning: Mount location for engines of type <example> not specified. Wing-mounted engines are assumed.
  warnings.warn(

In this example, aviary_options is modified in-place with updated values from engine_model, as well as properly configuring engine-related variables into vectors. When working with multiple heterogenous engines, simply provide preprocess_propulsion() with a list of all EngineModels, like so:

av.preprocess_propulsion(aviary_options=aviary_options,
                         engine_models=[engine_model_1,
                                        engine_model_2])

Advanced Guide

This section is a work in progress. Please check back later for more information.