06.1 - Flight Dynamics and Control (Control & Modelling)
LATERAL-DIRECTIONAL HANDLING AND FLYING QUALITIES ASSESSMENT OF A BLENDED WING BODY (BWB) ACFA 2020 CONFIGURATION
M. Alam¹, J. Renault¹, M. Hromcik², T. Hanis²; ¹Cranfield University, United Kingdom ;²Czech Technical University, Czech Republic
The blended wing body (BWB) configuration offers significant potential for future transport aircraft through improved aerodynamic efficiency, reduced fuel burn, and opportunities for lower external noise. However, its tailless architecture and large flexible lifting surface introduce important challenges in lateral–directional flying qualities, gust response, aeroelastic coupling, and passenger ride comfort. This paper investigates the ACFA 2020 flexible BWB configuration using a previously developed lateral–directional active control framework based on robust 𝐻∞ feedback control combined with feedforward load alleviation. The study evaluates the aircraft response under representative manoeuvre and disturbance conditions, with particular focus on a 60° bank-angle manoeuvre and a severe lateral gust. The antisymmetric wing acceleration parameter 𝑁𝑧𝑙𝑎𝑡.𝑙𝑎𝑤 is used to assess gust-induced flexible structural excitation, while passenger comfort is evaluated at multiple cabin locations using the BS 6841 standard. Both low-frequency motion sickness sensitivity and higher-frequency whole-body vibration exposure are considered using frequency-weighted RMS acceleration metrics. The results show that lateral gust disturbances significantly amplify the antisymmetric bending response of the flexible BWB aircraft, particularly under combined manoeuvre-and-gust conditions. Passenger comfort levels vary strongly across the distributed cabin, with outboard and aft locations exhibiting the highest sensitivity to motion sickness and whole-body vibration. The findings highlight the importance of considering passenger ride comfort as an integrated design driver for future flexible BWB aircraft, alongside flying qualities, active control design, and structural load alleviation.
DOI: 10.71945/icas2026_0630