Addressing Confidence in Modeling of Contrail Formation from E-Fuels in Aviation Using Large Eddy Simulation Parametrization
Eduardo Cabrera, João M. Melo de Sousa- Energy (miscellaneous)
- Energy Engineering and Power Technology
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Control and Optimization
- Engineering (miscellaneous)
- Building and Construction
As it becomes increasingly necessary to reduce aviation-related emissions, condensation trails present an additional challenge. These are arguably responsible for the largest contribution to radiative forcing in the sector, but the phenomenon is still not as well understood as those involving other agents. The present study employs a large eddy simulation (LES) parametrization to validate a previously developed contrail model in order to assess the feasibility of a multi-model approach to increase confidence in simulations of contrail cirrus formation. Subsequently, the computational model was used to analyze the impact of e-fuels in contrail dynamics, resulting in reductions of over 7% and 14%, respectively, in average contrail lifetime and optical depth, with such improvements increasing if higher blending limits are utilized. This confirmed the potential for e-fuels as the most viable option for near-future large-scale implementations among all sustainable aviation fuel alternatives.