Auslegung, Integration und aerodynamische Analyse der Geometrie eines Blended-Wing-Body-Konzepts innerhalb der Flugzeugvorentwurfsumgebung UNICADO

• Design, integration and aerodynamic analysis of the geometry of a blended wing body concept within the conceptual aircraft design environment UNICADO

Neuerburg, Lukas; Stumpf, Eike (Thesis advisor); Hörnschemeyer, Ralf Gerd (Thesis advisor); Zimmnau, Maurice (Consultant)

Aachen (2022)
Master Thesis

Masterarbeit, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2022

Abstract

To meet the challenges of the commercial air travel with regards to climate and environmental sustainability, new and innovative concepts are necessary. The Blended-Wing-Body (BWB) is such a concept, which has the potential for significant emission savings compared to the conventional Tube-and-Wing (TAW) aircraft. The BWB is researched in conceptual design studies, in which the economic aspects, as well as the fuel consumption of different BWB configurations are being determined and can be compared to conventional TAW aircraft. The conceptual design of TAW aircraft is mostly based on semi-empirical calculation methods, which are derived from the vast number of already designed aircraft. For the BWB as a new concept, such data does not yet exist, therefore new calculation methods have to be developed. In this thesis, the conceptual aircraft design environment UNICADO is expanded by methods for the design of a BWB. A basic passenger cabin is designed, based on which a wing geometry is developed, which can integrate the cabin but is also sufficient to meet the aerodynamic requirements of the flight in the low transonic speed range. The wing is connected to the aerodynamic analysis tool of UNICADO, where the lift distribution and induced drag is calculated by the multi-lifting-line method LiftingLine. The remaining drag types are calculated by semi-empirical methods. To evaluate the accuracy of these methods, the results are verified by high resolution CFD solver. From the deviations between the two methods, corrections for the conceptual design process are derived.

Institutions

• Chair and Institute of Aerospace Systems [415310]