Keynote: Accelerating the Development of Aircraft Electrification with Simulation

Aviation is responsible for about 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, but that number is expected to increase to 18% by 2050 if decarbonization initiatives aren't implemented across the international supply chain. Zero-emission electric aircraft are a core part of these initiatives. Such aircraft will require megawatts of power to achieve and sustain propulsion — a massive increase in electrical power demand compared to conventional aircraft. The electrical wiring interconnection systems (EWIS) of these new aircraft must be optimized to accommodate this new standard of power circulation.

In this keynote talk from COMSOL Day: Aerospace & Defense, Jan-Willem Arink of GKN Aerospace presents how he and his team used the COMSOL Multiphysics^® software to model next-generation EWIS designs capable of transporting megawatts of power to an aircraft motor. His presentation covers how EWIS current and voltage capacities can be increased, the challenges of actualizing these designs, and how COMSOL Multiphysics^® has aided his team in performing the extensive testing necessary to understand system performance across a variety of flight conditions.

Jan-Willem Arink is a research and development engineer working for GKN Aerospace, where they mainly focus on developing novel EWIS solutions that enable megawatt-class power distribution for the future of flight.