Aerodynamic Design and Exploration of a Blended Wing Body Aircraft at Subsonic Speed

Dakka, Sam; Johnson, Oliver

Abstract

Blended Wing Body (BWB) is a novel aircraft concept which provides many different aerodynamic benefits over conventional aircrafts design. This research investigated the BWB design, L/D characteristics, surface pressure distribution and span-wise lift distribution of a BWB aircraft at low to medium subsonic speeds. A BWB model was designed, manufactured and tested in a subsonic wind tunnel to validate the CFD simulation. The results gained from the investigation proved that BWB has a L/D improvement of 9.4% than conventional aircrafts and 21% increase at medium subsonic speeds (Mach 0.6) compared to lower subsonic speeds of 25 m/sec. It was found that the lift minimally increases between the two speeds; however the improvement is generated due to drag reduction. The drag reduction is accomplished due to boundary layer attachment for a longer period of time before separation occurs. It is this difference which generates the lift to drag ratio improvement.

Citation

Dakka, S., & Johnson, O. (2019). Aerodynamic Design and Exploration of a Blended Wing Body Aircraft at Subsonic Speed. International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace, 6(5), Article 17

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 17, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Nov 27, 2019
• Publication Date: Nov 27, 2019
• Deposit Date: Nov 28, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 2, 2019
• Journal: International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics and Aerospace
• Electronic ISSN: 2374-6793
• Publisher: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 17
• Keywords: Aerodynamics, Blended Wing Body, Wind Tunnel testing, Computational Fluid Mechanics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3433765
• Publisher URL: https://commons.erau.edu/ijaaa/vol6/iss5/17
• Additional Information: Scholarly Commons © 2019