21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-7.5.2

CIVIL APPLICATIONS OF THRUST VECTORING -AN EXPLORATION

van der Veen E. M.
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Keywords: thrust vectoring, civil applications

Following recent military thrust vectoring developments, it was considered worthwhile to study civil applications of thrust vectoring. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the subject in a qualitative and exploratory fashion. It identifies three main areas of importance: aircraft economy, aircraft safety, and thrust vectoring system layout. It is postulated that a certain economic benefit is a prerequisite for introduction of thrust vectoring into civil aviation. The following results were found. Economic benefits are hard to be solidified due to a variety of drawbacks and limitations. The best prospect is offered by thrust vectored flight control (TVFC) of semi-tailless airliners. Safety benefits are likely to be achieved, mainly in the field of TVFC complementing conventional flight control systems. However, the introduction of an additional primary aircraft system presents a strong adverse safety aspect. The most versatile system layout is that of vectored exhaust nozzles. The required thrust vectoring system technology can be converted from current military systems. Overall, it was established that, although several benefits are possible, the various adverse factors dominate the problem area at present. A net benefit may result for future aircraft by integrating thrust vectoring technology into the design process from the outset.

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