32th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences

01 - Aircraft Design and Integrated Systems

PROGRESS OF BLENDED-WING-BODY AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENT AT NORTHWESTERN POLYTECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Z.-L. Chen¹, Y.-C. Chen², S. Zhang, Beijing Aeronautical Science & Technology Research Institute, China; L.-X. Wang, Beihang University, China; Z.-G. Tan², B. Chen, AVIC Aerodynamics Research Institute, China; S.-W. Zhao, AVIC The First Aircraft Institute, China; L. Wang, AVIC Huiyang Aviation Propeller Co., LTD., China; J. Li¹, C.-S. Yuan¹, Y.-J. Zhang¹, Y.-Z. Zhang¹, W.-M. Sang¹, Y.-J. Tao¹, D. Li¹, B.-Q. Zhang¹; ¹Northwestern Polytechnical University, China ;²Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute, COMAC, China

Blended-wing-body (BWB) concept was promoted to achieve distinct aerodynamic efficiency. By the studies of the past decades, it was shown that the BWB configuration has the potential to simultaneously fulfill requirements on low fuel consumption and emissions. Most of the BWB studies were performed in the academia in China. A systematical study was performed on three projects led by Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) over the past decade under the cooperation of universities, research institute and industries. Three BWB configurations were designed and tested. The objective of present work is to report the progress of the development on critical technologies of BWB aircraft in these projects, including multidisciplinary design and optimization, stability and control, noise shielding of the centerbody, cabin arrangements and egress evaluation, and flight simulation. The flight test and validation will also be discussed.


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