HEAST

The Hybrid Electric Aircraft Sizing Tool (HEAST) was developed at Delft University of Technology and is intended for the conceptual design of aircraft with (hybrid-) electric propulsion systems. These drivetrains open the space to new propulsor layouts commonly know as "distributed propulsion", where the aerodynamic interaction between propulsors and airframe can be significant. More specifically, the tool focuses on the preliminary sizing part of the conceptual design phase, where the designer translates the top-level aircraft requirements and design choices into a first layout and estimate of weights, wing area, and installed power. The tool is therefore a sizing tool and not an analysis tool: it cannot assess the performance of a predefined geometry/weight/etc.

The tool is implemented in MATLAB and is versatile because it allows the user to size aircraft with a wide array of powertrain types (conventional, serial, parallel, electric, turboelectric,...), propulsor layouts (leading-edge propellers, over-the-wing propellers,...), and can easily be adapted to account for different performance requirements. However, it requires a significant amount of input parameters and contains numerous (sub-) functions with many if-checks and iteration loops. It is therefore only recommended for users who have a detailed understanding of aircraft conceptual design and are versatile in the MATLAB language.