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Fuel fraction

Note

flight vehicles

In aerospace engineering, an aircraft's fuel fraction, fuel weight fraction, 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):

:\ \zeta = \frac{\Delta W}{W_1}

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**.{{cite book

In this context, the Breguet range is proportional to -\ln(1-\ \zeta)

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, 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. The Panavia Tornado had a relatively low internal fuel fraction of 26 percent, and frequently carried drop tanks.

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
url= http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/AC_A380_20161201.pdf	title= A380 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning	publisher=Airbus	date= December 2016 }}	575.0	.0	%	254.0	%	84.0	%
Boeing 777-300ER	351.5	167.8	%	145.5	%	69.9	%
Boeing 777F	347.8	144.4	41.5%	145.5	41.8%	102.9	29.6%
url= http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/acaps/777_2lr3er.pdf	title= 777-200LR/-300ER/-Freighter Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning	publisher=Boeing	date= May 2015 }}	347.5	145.2	%	145.5	%	64.0	%
Boeing 767-300F	186.9	86.1	46.1%	73.4	39.3%	54.0	28.9%
Airbus A350-1000	322.0	155.0	48.1%	124.7	38.7%	67.3	20.9%
url= http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/Airbus-AC_A350-900-1000-Nov16.pdf	title= A350 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning	publisher= Airbus	date= November 2016	url-status= dead	archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20161128050613/http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/Airbus-AC_A350-900-1000-Nov16.pdf	archivedate= 2016-11-28 }}	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%
url= http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/acaps/787.pdf	title= 787 Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning	publisher=Boeing	date= December 2015 }}	254.7	128.8	50.6%	101.5	39.9%	52.6	%
url= http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/tech_data/AC/Airbus-AC_A330-Dec16.pdf	title= A330 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning	publisher= Airbus	date= December 2016 }}	242.0	129.4	53.5%	109.2	%	45.6	18.8%
Airbus A330-200	242	120.6	49.8%	109.2	%	49.4	20.4%
Airbus A330-200F	233	109.4	47.0%	109.2	46.9%	68.6	29.4%
Boeing 787-8	227.9	120.0	%	101.3	%	41.1	18.0%
Airbus A320ceo	79		%	23.3	%	20	%
Boeing 737-800	79	41.4	%	20.9	%	21.3	%
url= http://commercialaircraft.bombardier.com/content/dam/Websites/bca/literature/cseries/Bombardier-Commercial-Aircraft-CSeries-Brochure-en.pdf.pdf	title= CSeries brochure	publisher= Bombardier	date= June 2015	access-date= 2017-10-22	archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150908154642/http://commercialaircraft.bombardier.com/content/dam/Websites/bca/literature/cseries/Bombardier-Commercial-Aircraft-CSeries-Brochure-en.pdf.pdf	archive-date= 2015-09-08	url-status= dead }}	70.9	37.1	52.3%	17.3	24.4%	18.7	26.4%
Bombardier CS100	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	185.1	78.7	42.5%	95.7	51.7%	12.7	6.9%
Virgin Atlantic Globalflyer	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.{{cite journal |url-status = dead

References

Brandt, Steven. (2004). "Introduction to Aeronautics: a Design Perspective". AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Ast).
Vinh, Nguyen. (1993). "Flight Mechanics of High-Performance Aircraft". Cambridge University Press.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20050908090849/http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=199 8200/27900 = 0.29]
[http://www.pogo.org/p/defense/do-000812-f22.htm The F-22 Program FACT VERSUS FICTION] {{webarchive. link. (2007-04-21 by Everest E. Riccioni, Col. USAF, Ret.)
Spick, Mike. (2002). "Brassey's Modern Fighters". Potomac Books.
(December 2016). "A380 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus.
(May 2015). "777-200LR/-300ER/-Freighter Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning". Boeing.
(November 2016). "A350 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus.
(December 2015). "787 Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning". Boeing.
(December 2016). "A330 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus.
(June 2016). "A320 Aircraft Characteristics – Airport and Maintenance Planning". Airbus.
(September 2013). "737 Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning". Boeing.
(June 2015). "CSeries brochure". Bombardier.
"Concorde Airframe".
"Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer {{!}} National Air and Space Museum".

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