Fuel fraction

This page is about flight vehicles. For the topic in combustion physics, see fuel mass fraction.

With a fuel fraction of nearly 85%, the GlobalFlyer could carry 5 times its weight in fuel.

In aerospace engineering, an aircraft's fuel fraction, fuel weight fraction,[1] or a spacecraft's propellant fraction, is the weight of the fuel or propellant divided by the gross take-off weight of the craft (including propellant):[2]

ζ=ΔWW1

The fractional result of this mathematical division is often expressed as a percent. For aircraft with external drop tanks, the term internal fuel fraction is used to exclude the weight of external tanks and fuel.

Fuel fraction is a key parameter in determining an aircraft's range, the distance it can fly without refueling. Breguet’s aircraft range equation describes the relationship of range with airspeed, lift-to-drag ratio, specific fuel consumption, and the part of the total fuel fraction available for cruise, also known as the cruise fuel fraction, or  cruise fuel weight fraction.[3]

In this context, the Breguet range is proportional to −ln⁡(1− ζ)

## Contents

* 1 Fighter aircraft
* 2 Civilian Aircraft
* 3 General aviation
* 4 See also
* 5 References

## Fighter aircraft

At today’s state of the art for jet fighter aircraft, fuel fractions of 29 percent and below typically yield subcruisers; 33 percent provides a quasi–supercruiser; and 35 percent and above are needed for useful supercruising missions. The U.S. F-22 Raptor’s fuel fraction is 29 percent,[4] Eurofighter is 31 percent, both similar to those of the subcruising F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle and the Russian Mikoyan MiG-29 "Fulcrum". The Russian supersonic interceptor, the Mikoyan MiG-31 "Foxhound", has a fuel fraction of over 45 percent.[5] The Panavia Tornado had a relatively low internal fuel fraction of 26 percent, and frequently carried drop tanks.[6]

## Civilian Aircraft

Airliners have a fuel fraction of less than half their takeoff weight, between 26% for medium-haul to 45% for long-haul.

Model | MTOW (t) | OEW (t) | OEW
Fraction | Fuel
capacity (t) | Fuel
fraction | Payload
Max. (t) | Payload
fraction

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Airbus A380[7] | 575.0  | 285.0 | 49.6%  | 254.0 | 44.2%  | 84.0 | 14.6%
Boeing 777-300ER[8] | 351.5  | 167.8 | 47.7%  | 145.5 | 41.4%  | 69.9 | 19.9%
Boeing 777F | 347.8  | 144.4  | 41.5%  | 145.5  | 41.8%  | 102.9  | 29.6%
Boeing 777-200LR[8] | 347.5  | 145.2 | 41.8%  | 145.5 | 41.9%  | 64.0 | 18.4%
Boeing 767-300F  | 186.9  | 86.1  | 46.1%  | 73.4  | 39.3%  | 54.0  | 28.9%
Airbus A350-1000[9] | 322.0  | 155.0 | 48.1%  | 124.7 | 38.7%  | 67.3 | 20.9%
Airbus A350-900[9] | 283.0  | 142.4 | 50.3%  | 110.5 | 39.0%  | 53.3 | 18.8%
Airbus A350F | 319.0  | 131.7  | 41.3%  | 131.7  | 41.3%  | 111.0  | 34.8%
Boeing 787-9[10] | 254.7  | 128.8 | 50.6%  | 101.5 | 39.9%  | 52.6 | 20.7%
Airbus A330-300[11] | 242.0  | 129.4 | 53.5%  | 109.2 | 45.1%  | 45.6 | 18.8%
Airbus A330-200[11] | 242  | 120.6 | 49.8%  | 109.2 | 45.1%  | 49.4 | 20.4%
Airbus A330-200F  | 233  | 109.4  | 47.0%  | 109.2  | 46.9%  | 68.6  | 29.4%
Boeing 787-8[10] | 227.9  | 120.0 | 52.7%  | 101.3 | 44.4%  | 41.1 | 18.0%
Airbus A320ceo[12] | 79  | 44.3 | 56.1%  | 23.3 | 29.5%  | 20 | 25.3%
Boeing 737-800[13] | 79  | 41.4 | 52.4%  | 20.9 | 26.5%  | 21.3 | 27%
Bombardier CS300[14] | 70.9  | 37.1 | 52.3%  | 17.3 | 24.4%  | 18.7 | 26.4%
Bombardier CS100[14] | 63.1  | 35.2 | 55.3%  | 17.5 | 27.7%  | 15.1 | 23.9%
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F  | 286.0  | 112.7  | 39.4%  | 117.4  | 41.0%  | 92.0  | 32.2%
Ilyushin IL-76TD-90VD | 195.0  | 92.5  | 47.4%  | 90.0  | 46.2%  | 50.0  | 25.6%
Boeing 747-8F | 447.7  | 197.1  | 44.0%  | 181.6  | 40.6%  | 132.6  | 29.6%
Concorde[15] | 185.1  | 78.7  | 42.5%  | 95.7  | 51.7%  | 12.7  | 6.9%
Virgin Atlantic Globalflyer[16] | 10.1  | 1.6  | 16.1%  | 8.4  | 82.9%  | 0.1  | 1.0%

## General aviation

The Rutan Voyager took off on its 1986 around-the-world flight at 72 percent, the highest figure ever at the time.[17] Steve Fossett's Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer could attain a fuel fraction of nearly 83 percent, meaning that it carried more than five times its empty weight in fuel.[16]

## See also

* Mass ratio

## References

1. ↑ Brandt, Steven (2004). Introduction to Aeronautics: a Design Perspective. AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Ast). p. 359. ISBN 1-56347-701-7.
2. ↑ Vinh, Nguyen (1993). Flight Mechanics of High-Performance Aircraft. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 139. ISBN 0-521-47852-9. https://archive.org/details/flightmechanicsh00vinh.
3. ↑ Filippone, Antonio (2006). Flight Performance of Fixed and Rotary Wing Aircraft. Elsevier. p. 426. ISBN 0-7506-6817-2.
4. ↑ 8200/27900 = 0.29
5. ↑ The F-22 Program FACT VERSUS FICTION by Everest E. Riccioni, Col. USAF, Ret.
6. ↑ Spick, Mike (2002). Brassey's Modern Fighters. Washington: Potomac Books. pp. 51–53. ISBN 1-57488-462-X.
7. ↑ "A380 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus. December 2016. http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/AC_A380_20161201.pdf.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 777-200LR/-300ER/-Freighter Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning (PDF) (Technical report). Boeing. May 2015.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "A350 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus. November 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-11-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20161128050613/http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/Airbus-AC_A350-900-1000-Nov16.pdf.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "787 Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning". Boeing. December 2015. http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/acaps/787.pdf.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "A330 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus. December 2016. http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/Airbus-AC_A330-Dec16.pdf.
12. ↑ "A320 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus. June 2016. http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/Airbus_AC_A320_Jun16.pdf.
13. ↑ "737 Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning". Boeing. September 2013. http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/acaps/737.pdf.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "CSeries brochure". Bombardier. June 2015. http://commercialaircraft.bombardier.com/content/dam/Websites/bca/literature/cseries/Bombardier-Commercial-Aircraft-CSeries-Brochure-en.pdf.pdf.
15. ↑ "Concorde Airframe" (in en). https://www.heritageconcorde.com/airframe-weights-and-loadings.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer | National Air and Space Museum" (in en). https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/virgin-atlantic-global-flyer/nasm_A20070018000.
17. ↑ Noland, David (February 2005). "Burt Rutan and the Ultimate Solo". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 2006-12-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20061211202755/http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/1262012.html?page=3.

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*[MTOW]: maximum take-off weight
*[OEW]: operational empty weigh