Design of a Hydrogen-Powered Crashworthy eVTOL Using Multidisciplinary Analysis and Design Optimization

As of present the Urban Air Mobility market has been dominated by fully electric aircraft. However, hydrogen vehicles have remained relatively undeveloped in this segment, also because hydrogen poses additional design complexities and uncertainties concerning crashworthiness, fuel cell cooling, and low volumetric density. Nevertheless, hydrogen might yield advantages in mission performance owing to its superior gravimetric energy density and greater sustainability when compared to batteries. In this paper, the design procedure of a four-passenger long-range hydrogen eVTOL using Multidisciplinary Analysis and Design Optimization (MADO) is presented. Using MADO, the mission energy of the eVTOL was minimized while abiding by the constraints rooting from the use of hydrogen. Based on this design, the conclusion can be made that the implementation of hydrogen eVTOLs in urban air mobility is feasible whilst taking into account constraints resulting from the use of hydrogen at the preliminary design stage. This led to an aircraft which excels at longer range due to the increased scalability of hydrogen fuel, but having a weight penalty due to auxiliary equipment which hampers its performance and results in a large fuselage and maximum takeoff weight.