Design of a 450-passenger blended wing body aircraft for active control investigations

Abstract

ACFA 2020 (active control for flexible aircraft) is a collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under the seventh research framework programme. The project deals with innovative active control concepts for 2020 aircraft configurations like the blended wing body (BWB) aircraft. The main objectives of ACFA are the design of a new ultra efficient 450 passenger BWB type aircraft as well as the provision of robust adaptive multichannel control architectures for such aircraft. The objective of the newly designed controllers is an ambitious improvement of ride comfort and handling qualities, as well as load reduction on BWB type aircraft. Based on the attained load reduction, the structure of the 450-passenger aircraft can be resized with the goal of an ambitious weight saving for further improvement of fuel efficiency. Active control requirements influence the design process of control surfaces and overall aircraft design, respectively. Hence, the conventional aircraft design process had to be adapted to the new requirements. The aircraft design framework described in this article has proven its efficiency in the development of the ACFA BWB aircraft. Within a time period of 1 year, an airframe has been developed under the constraints of multiple domain requirements. This article presents the process and the results of the design activities of the BWB aircraft, which form the basis for a detailed concept analysis as well as the investigation of multiple-input multipleoutput control architectures.

Study on the aerodynamic performance of boundary-layer-ingesting inlet with various geometries

“…With the development of aviation technology, the blended wing body (BWB) aircraft with advanced aerodynamic configuration and decreased frictional drag coefficient has found wider and wider applications. [1][2][3][4] With this typical configuration, the boundary layer developed along aircraft surface is ingested into the inlet of the engine placed near the upper surface of the aft section of aircraft, and such an inlet is called "boundary-layer-ingesting (BLI) inlet." To further increase the lift-drag ratio and reduce the consumption rate, the design capabilities for embedded engines in BWB aircraft are advanced.…”

Configuration selection for a 450-passenger ultraefficient 2020 aircraft

“…As with many aspects for unconventional aircraft, analytical methods inaccurately describe the physical e¨ects of shock and wave drag e¨ects. The Lock formula described and adapted by Malone and Mason [8] for the estimation of wave drag e¨ects is su©cient for preliminary estimates [5]. For the validation, a comparison with already available aerodynamic computations conducted within Airbus has been performed.…”

“…Ongoing research in the ¦eld of aircraft design addresses the preliminary design process adoptions and the design for active control technologies [5]. Especially in the areas of stability analysis, transonic aerodynamics, and structure, conventional methods need adjustments in order to e©ciently apply them in conceptual design.…”

“…Figure 11b shows the lift distribution of the BWB at the due date of the con¦guration selection and indicates the need for further modi¦cation of the lifting body geometry. The ¦nal con¦guration and lift distribution is presented in [5].…”

Influencing the aerodynamics of the ACFA2020 aircraft with flap and trailing edge device oscillations

“…The innovation of active control is, therefore, the major focus of the ACFA2020 project [2]. Since §ight control design and §ight performance are strongly in §uenced by the aircraft aerodynamics, accurate aerodynamic predictions are required even in the preliminary design process.…”