CLIP-AIR takes its flight in EPFL Middle East
Within the framework of TraCE’s integration within the Middle East Campus, the Clip-Air project has been selected for a in-depth analysis through the grant of a PhD. thesis to Bilge Atasoy, dealing with integrated schedule planning for a new generation of aircrafts. Directed by Prof. Michel Bierlaire from TRANSP-OR, with the supervision of Matteo Salani, this thesis aims at evaluating the range of new possibilities offered by Clip-Air's revolutionary concept based on modularity.
Aptly named Clip-Air, this project strives to achieve a form of variable geometry that adapts not to optimized aerodynamics, but to the volumes transported.
The modular part, united in flight to an aerial device, becomes removable when it reaches the ground. This modularity will free it from solely airport areas and extend its reach right into the heart of cities. The interdependence of transport and architecture within Clip-Air puts forward a radically different approach to undertake such a research project.
Being highly multidisciplinary, it will be developed in four distinct lines of research: evaluating its impact on transportation demand; the viability of the aerodynamic design; the energy dimension and its highly adaptable potential to future solutions (renewable energy), the viability of new materials.
The first phase of this research project will last 3 years and will be conducted by the laboratories of Professors Bierlaire (TRANSP-OR) and Quarteroni (CMCS). The CMCS lab will evaluate the feasibility of the overall aerodynamic design and optimize/refine its properties.
The TRANSP-OR lab will analyze the added-value of the concept in terms of logistics and operations management and multi-modality induced by the system modularity. Transportation demand for this new project will also be investigated.