Development of a Hydrogen-powered Fuselage-mounted BLI Propulsor Add-on for Passenger Aircraft

The concept of an "Auxiliary Power and Propulsion Unit" (APPU) is introduced, which consists of a Boundarylayer ingesting (BLI) propulsor with an engine mounted at the rear of an passenger aircraft fuselage, replacing the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) and contributing around 10% of total cruise thrust, as well as auxiliary power. This APPU unit is using hydrogen provided by an additional tank installed in the tailcone of the aircraft. The concept is aimed at lowering the threshold to installing both hydrogen-driven propulsion and BLI propulsors on aircraft in the short term, while minimizing resulting operational risk. The concept has been investigated using a preliminary aircraft synthesis tool and further component-level mass estimates. Operational aspects,
sensitivities and limits to the design have been investigated. Estimates of mission fuel burn find that CO2 emissions emissions reduce roughly proportionally to the APPU thrust share, with additional savings due to improved overall efficiency. Further improvements are deemed feasible and are the topic of ongoing research.