GF - Green Freighter

"Green Freighter" was a joint research project over a period of 3 years. It started at the end of 2006.

Partners in this project

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) - acting as project leader
Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Structures (IFL) at the Technical University of Braunschweig
Airbus Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg with its Future Project Office (FPO)
Bishop GmbH

The aim of the project

Aim was to research conventional and unconventional cargo aircraft configurations. Investigations were based on a tentative entry into service in the year 2025. Main focus is on environmentally friendly and economic aircraft operation. This includes technical aspects as follows:

low fuel consumption
future fuels (LH2, LPG, synthetic fuels, ...)
low noise (night operation)
low emissions (CO2, NOx, ...)
low operating costs through reduced crew (zero pilot operation)

Methods and tools

Aircraft preliminary sizing was done with HAW spread sheets. More in depth design, analysis and optimisation was done with IFL's PrADO (Preliminary Aircraft Design and Optimisation program). PrADO needed to be developed further to account for the new features in the aircraft considered in the GF project. Some work packages of the project (cargo, LH2 fuel system, zero pilot operation, ...) mainly consisted of literature reviews and theoretic work. Development on the HAW spread sheets was the starting point for a new project called PreSTo.

Employees and finances

The HAW involvement in the Green Freighter project was financially supported with a grant of the FH3 programme from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The grant was administered by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke" e.V. (AiF). Dipl.-Ing. Kolja Seeckt worked full time at HAW Hamburg on the GF project. The TU Braunschweig worked - financed by Airbus - on the project with an equivalent of one engineer. In total, 2.6 members of staff were part of the research project. Many students provided support.

Publications are listed on the German page.

LAST UPDATE: 27 August 2021
AUTHOR: Prof. Dr. Scholz
IMPRESSUM (PDF)

  Prof. Dr. Scholz
  Aircraft Design and Systems Group (AERO)
  Aeronautical Engineering
  Department of Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering
  Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science
  Hamburg University of Applied Sciences