TsAGI develops advanced heavy transport aircraft with innovative wing and fuselage layaout

TsAGI's press release




Specialists of the the Zhukovsky Central AeroHydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI ) continue testing the heavy transport aircraft, the integrated circuit model. The advanced aircraft has an alternative advanced layout— the collocation of wing and fuselage. It will make the best use of the aircraft inside and improve its aerodynamic efficiency.

At first the scientists carried out “off-screen” tests with the aircraft in motion at high altitudes away from the water surface. The tests proved the control response effectiveness and the influence of the model’s main elements — the engine nacelles, nose, and wing tips characteristics. The results will be used to further improvement the aerodynamic layout.

Ground-effect tests are scheduled in the near future. The next scheduled phase of experimentation will be visualization of the airfoil flow on the airplane model.

The advanced heavy transport aircraft of integrating circuit is designed for intercontinental transportation (up to 6 thousand km) of a large volume of cargo (up to 500 tons), including standard containers. They will be placed in a wing cell and loaded via flap doors in the front sections of the aircraft’s central part.

The aircraft is planned to be used on existing runways. Such an aircraft flies primarily at an altitude of 3-12 mabove water, ice or land. These surfaces create a screen effect, which increases the aerodynamic quality. It results in an increase in range and fuel (natural compressed gas) economy.

Such an aircraft could be used for heavy transport, both domestic and international.