Baseline vehicle

An aircraft resembling the Vertical Aerospace VX-4 aircraft  proposed by VAERO, is a good candidate powered lift vehicle for this kind of mission profile. Its main wing supports 4 pylons, each of them carrying one vertical axis propeller at its aft end providing lift at hovering conditions, and one tilt-rotor upstream of the wing providing either lift for hovering or thrust during the cruise. While the VX-4 data are obviously property of VAERO, an aircraft model will be derived from it and made public to constitute an open validation benchmark. The published dataset will include the CAD of the vehicle and propellers, and the numerical and experimental datasets.

Hybrid multi-fidelity eVTOL design platform

Hybrid

1. Physics-based and data-driven models
2. Simulations and experiments for cross-validation and training surrogate models
   for fast and robust design / optimization

Multi-fidelity

1. Model complexity / accuracy tailored to each step of the design process
2. Early stages: need for quick evaluation of many options, little info available
3. Later stages: need for accuracy on performance and eventually virtual certification

• From isolated components to full assembly & systems
• From conceptual design
  (no CAD available)
  to final design
  (full CAD available)
• Concurrent evaluation of aerodynamic performance and acoustic emissions
• Cross-talk between assembly and simulation levels