AE69001: SEMINAR 1

M.Tech 1st Year (Aerospace Engineering)

Department Of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kharagpur
Name: Rather Laasani Sanya Shabir Date Of Presentation: 28/08/2019
Roll No: 19AE60R19

HYBRID AIRSHIPS

A hybrid airship is a powered dirigible, rigid or semi-rigid, in which the overall lift is partly generated by aerostatic
force of the buoyant gases & partly provided by aerodynamic shape & thrust vectoring. Unlike the dirigibles of 18th
century, the modern hybrid airships are heavier-than-air obtaining 80% of their lift from buoyant He & remaining
20% from aerodynamic lift generated by innovative tri-lobe hull design. By planting aerodynamic lift with buoyant
lift, hybrid airships can achieve the operating efficiency of traditional airship while retaining the reliable ground
handling characteristics of fixed wing aircraft.

The hybrid airship differs from conventional airship mainly because of its additional components such as wings,
bow thrusters and Air Cushion Landing System (ACLS). The addition of wings to conventional airship increases the
lift by three times lift at positive angle of attack as compared to the conventional airship. However there is a
significant increase in drag in a range of 19%-58%. This increase in drag is attributed to the components attached to
the hull such as gondola, cables, rotors, propulsors which disturb the smooth flow over the hull and results in lower
L/D ratios as compared to the conventional airships or blimps, as shown in Fig1. The placement & orientation of
every component on hybrid airship affects its aerodynamic performance as well as its stability. Both conventional &
hybrid airship have poor roll stability. After a series of experiments on prototypes of hybrid airship & conventional
airship, it has been observed that winged airships (hybrid airship) have better directional stability compared to the
conventional airship. Moreover, the observations revealed that both the airships have longitudinal static stability but
the conventional airships have slightly
higher longitudinal static stability
compared to the hybrid airships.

Figure 1: Comparison of L/D ratio of hybrid airships & conventional airships.

The main components of hybrid airship include the tri-lobe hull filled with non-flammable He gas & air to help lift
the massive airship. The skin is made of super-strong carbon fibre & 3-layered composites materials such Vectran,
Kevlar (heat resistant), Tedlar (flammability lowering coating), Mylar (high tensile strength). Functioning as
hovercraft for ground operations, the ACLS allows the Hybrid Airship to take-off & land on a cushion of air in any
open field without surface preparation & adds the benefit of amphibious landing. The ACLS fans on landing can be
reversed effectively gripping the ground & keeping the vehicle stationary for safe loading & unloading. Forward &
Rear Propulsors power the airship during take-off, cruise flight & maneuver. Bow thrusters provide lateral thrust &
control the vehicle at low speed while the Tailfins help to steer & provide directional stability. The payload module
contains payload beam for carrying cargo & payload compartment with capacity of 10tons and more.

Few Aircraft industries are working on a number of current projects to develop hybrid airships. LM P-791 is an
experimental hybrid airship that took its first flight on 31 January 2006. LM P-791 & HAV 304 were initially
designed as a part of the U.S Army’s Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) but later the project was
cancelled & these hybrid airships were modified into Civilian Cargo Airships. HAV 304 is redesignated as Airlander
10 which is basically a flying mansion with a gross weight of 20,000kg & length of 302ft i.e.60ft longer than
Airbus380. It is capable of staying aloft for five days while crewed & over two weeks while unmanned. It is
powered by four (325hp) V8 diesel engines. Following the prototype test flights, Airlander 10 received CAA
Production Organisation Approval. The company is now planning to manufacture a batch of certified production
standard Airlander 10 hybrid airship.
More than 2/3rd of the world’s land area & more than half of the world’s population don’t have direct access to
paved roads & runways. This lack of infrastructure presents numerous challenges for worldwide humanitarian relief,
natural resource extraction & heavy cargo operations. In most of the cases developing these areas to accommodate
roads & runways isn’t an option. In such cases hybrid airships are the only means of transportation that offer large
cargo capacity with significant reduction in fuel consumption compared to other air vehicles, all while remaining
faster than land & sea transportation. Hybrid airships are very effective in favorable weather conditions, however,
they are not much efficient to be used in adverse weather conditions as they have high propensity to suffer accidents.

References

 Lanchuan Zhang, Mingyun Lv, Junhui Meng and Huafei Du. Conceptual design and analysis of hybrid
airships with renewable energy. Journal of Aerospace Engineering[Online]
 Lin Liao,IgorPasternak. A review of airship structural research and development. Progress in Aerospace
Sciences 45(2009) 83-93.
 Ke-shi Zhang,∗ Zhong-hua Han,† and Bi-feng Song. Flight Performance Analysis of Hybrid Airship:
Revised Analytical Formulation. Journal of Aircraft.