Aircraft Emissions
In early days of Aviation, environmental aspects used to come a long way after topics such as safety, performance and economics. Nowadays, environmental considerations have become important design criteria in order to prevent environmental damage, which is a precondition for maintaining sustainable mobility. Further reductions in Aircraft Emissions are needed in the future, namely to offset the expected growth in aviation traffic.Low-NOx Combustors for Gas Turbines:
Further improvements to the high-efficiency performance of gas turbine combustors may be achieved by adopting some characteristics of the "flameless" concept, such as distributed reaction within large recirculation regions and the approach to spontaneous ignition conditions (in collaboration with Prof. M. Costa).
Reduction of Emissions in Operation and Design of Commercial Aircraft:
Reductions in fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and perceived aircraft noise may be obtained via implementation of improved or new aircraft operations practices, including the use of alternative fuels, as well as through various optimization procedures applied at design stage.
Sustainable Aviation Fuels and Formation of Contrails:
Condensation trails and contrail cirrus are currently responsible for the largest contribution to radiative forcing in the aviation sector. The use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) instead of regular jet fuel has been associated to a reduction in soot particle emissions, leading to a decraese in initial ice crystal numbers in contrails, but also to a possible increase in contrail frequency and ice contrail mass due to higher water vapor emissions.
Dissertations:
- Improving the Prediction of Soot Emissions and Contrail Formation from Modern Turbofans Using Alternative Fuels, MSc. Thesis in Aerospace Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2021.
- Impact of Alternative Fuels on the Operational and Environmental Performance of Commercial Aircraft, MSc. Thesis in Aerospace Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2016.
- Gas Turbine Engine Optimization for Low NOx Emissions, MSc. Thesis in Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2016.
- Conception and Analysis of a Fluidic System for Intake
Choking, MSc. Thesis in Aerospace Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2015.
- Early-Stage Design Optimization of a Low-NOx Emissions Turbofan at Off-Design Operating Conditions, MSc. Thesis in Aerospace Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2014.
- Eco-efficient Aircraft by Operations, MSc. Thesis in Aerospace Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2014.
- Development and Optimization of a Combustion Chamber for Gas Turbines, PhD. Thesis in Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2007 (in Portuguese).