Blended wing body

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Blended wing)

Computer-generated model of the Boeing X-48

NASA's prototype of a Blended Wing aircraft

A Blended wing body (BWB or Hybrid Wing Body, HWB[1]) is

a fixed-wing aircraft having no clear dividing line between the
wings and the main body of the craft. The form is composed of
distinct wing and body structures, though the wings are smoothly
blended into the body, unlike a flying wing which has no
distinct fuselage.[2] A BWB design may or may not be tailless.

The potential advantages of the BWB approach are efficient

high-lift wings and a wide airfoil-shaped body. This enables the
entire craft to generate lift, potentially reducing the size and drag
of the wings. A blended wing body can have a lift-to-drag ratio
 significantly greater than a conventional craft, offering improved
fuel economy.

The BWB configuration is used for both aircraft and underwater

gliders.

Contents

[hide]

1History
2Characteristics
2.1Potential advantages
2.2Potential passenger safety problems
3Marine applications
4In popular culture
4.1Popular Science concept
5List of blended wing body aircraft
6See also
7References
7.1Notes
7.2Bibliography
8External links

History[edit]
The 1924 Westland Dreadnought was built on the basis of the
theories of M. Woyevodsky after wind tunnel tests. It stalled on its
first flight, severely injuring the pilot, and the project was shelved
by the British Air Ministry.

The Burnelli UB-14 was a 1930s American prototype

lifting-fuselage airliner designed and built by Vincent Burnelli.

The Miles M.30 "X Minor" of the early 1940s was an experimental
aircraft to test the blended wing fuselage design for a proposed
large airliner. The McDonnell XP-67 prototype interceptor also
flew in 1944 but did not come up to expectations.

NASA studied the concept more recently with a computer

stabilized 17-foot model (6% scale) called BWB-17, built
by Stanford University, which was flown in 1997 and showed good
handling qualities.[3] From 2000 NASA went on to develop a
remotely controlled model with a 21 ft (6.4 m) wingspan. This
research is focused on establishing the base data concerning the lift,
stall and spin characteristics inherent in a Blended Wing Body
design.

NASA has also jointly explored BWB designs with

the X-48 unmanned aerial vehicle.[4] Studies suggest that BWB
aircraft, configured for passenger flight, could carry from 450 to
800 passengers and achieve fuel savings of over 20
percent.[5] Other suggestions are better access to emergency
exits.[6] Unfortunately potential passengers disliked the internal
seating arrangements and the program changed its focus toward
cargo aircraft.[citation needed]

Characteristics[edit]

Spectrum of aircraft design concepts; (from left to right)

conventional airliner, blended wing body, flying wing with bulged
fairings and almost clean flying wing.

The BWB form minimises the total wetted area - the surface area
of the aircraft skin, thus reducing skin drag to a minimum. It also
creates a thickening of the wing root area, allowing a more efficient
structure and reduced weight compared to a conventional craft.
NASA also plans to integrate Ultra High Bypass (UHB) ratio jet
engines with the hybrid wing body.[7]

The wide interior spaces created by the blending pose novel

structural challenges. NASA has been studying foam-clad
stitched-fabric carbon fiber composite skinning to create
uninterrupted cabin space.[8]

A conventional tubular fuselage carries 12-13% of the

total lift compared to 31-43% carried by the centerbody in a BWB,
where an intermediate lifting-fuselage configuration better suited
to narrowbody sized airliners would carry 25-32% for a 6.1% -
8.2% increase in fuel efficiency.[9]
Potential advantages[edit]
Significant payload advantages in strategic airlift/air
freight[10] and aerial refueling roles
Increased fuel efficiency : 10.9% better than a
conventional widebody[9]
Lower noise NASA audio simulations show a 15dB reduction
of Boeing 777-class aircraft,[11] while other studies show
2242 dB reduction below Stage 4 level depending on
configuration.[1]

Potential passenger safety problems[edit]

Evacuating a BWB in an emergency could be a challenge. Because
of the aircraft's shape, the seating layout would be theatre-style
instead of tubular. This imposes inherent limits on the number
of exit doors.[12][13]
In order to fully realise the potential advantages of the BWB
design in a large aircraft, the engines are typically placed above
the rear fuselage. Air safety authorities have expressed a
concern that in an accident they could become detached and
their momentum carry them forwards so that they fall onto the
passenger cabin.[citation needed]

Marine applications[edit]
The BWB concept is also being used in underwater gliders. The U.S.
Navy Office of Naval Research is testing an autonomous glider
called the Liberdade Class.

In popular culture[edit]
Popular Science concept[edit]

The image of the "Boeing 797", used in the hoax email, first
appeared in the Popular Science magazine in 2003.
A concept photo of a blended wing body commercial aircraft
appeared in the November 2003 issue of Popular
Science magazine.[14]Artists Neill Blomkamp and Simon van de
Lagemaat from The Embassy Visual Effects created the photo for
the magazine using computer graphics software to depict the
future of aviation and air travel.[15] It is likely the photo was
inspired[citation needed] by models of BWB-450, a pre-X-48
concept designed in the late 1990s, or the X-48A concept designed
around 2001.[16] The image was subsequently used in emails since
2006 claiming that Boeing has developed a "1000 passenger Jet
Liner" (the "Boeing 797") with a "radical Blended Wing design" in
direct competition to the Airbus A380. Boeing denied the claim at
the time.[17][18]

List of blended wing body aircraft[edit]

Cou
Da Statu
Type ntr Class Role Notes
te s
y
Tailless
. Series
AVIC
China UAV of
601-S
variants
.
Boeing
US UAV 2002
X-45C
Boeing
US 2007
X-48
Dassault
FR UAV Tailless
nEUROn
Lockheed
Martin
US UAV 1996
RQ-3
DarkStar
Lockheed
Martin
US UAV 2007 Tailless
RQ-170
Sentinel
Twin
propelle
rs.
McDonnel Propell Prototy Maintain
US Fighter 1944
l XP-67 er pe ed
aerofoil
profile
througho
 Cou
Da Statu
Type ntr Class Role Notes
te s
y
ut.
Miles Researc Prototy
UK 1942
M.30 h pe
Northrop
Grumman
US UAV 2003
X-47
Pegasus
Stout
Batwing
Westland
Propell Transpo Prototy Mailplan
Dreadnou UK 1924
er rt pe e.
ght

See also[edit]
List of flying wings
Lifting body
Silent Aircraft Initiative - BWB study.

References[edit]
Notes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b
Russell H. Thomas, Casey L. Burley and Erik
D. Olson (2010). "Hybrid Wing Body Aircraft System Noise
Assessment With Propulsion Airframe Aeroacoustic
Experiments"(PDF). Retrieved 26
January 2013. Presentation

2. Jump up^ Crane 1997, p. 224.

3. Jump up^ Liebeck 2004, p. 16.

4. Jump up^ "A flight toward the future." Archived December

4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Boeing, August 7, 2012
Retrieved: November 23, 2012.

5. Jump up^ Liebeck 2004, p. 21.

6. Jump up^ Liebeck 2004, p. 24.

7. Jump up^ Michael Braukus / Kathy Barnstorff (Jan 7,

2013). "NASA's Green Aviation Research Throttles Up Into
Second Gear". NASA. Retrieved Jan 26, 2013.

8. Jump up^ Bullis, Kevin (January 24, 2013). "NASA has

demonstrated a manufacturing breakthrough that will
 allow hybrid wing aircraft to be scaled up.". MIT Technology
Review.
9. ^ Jump up to:a b
Graham Warwick (Aug 22,
2016). "Finding Ultra-Efficient Designs For Smaller
Airliners". Aviation Week & Space Technology.

10. Jump up^ Warwick, Graham. "Boeing works with airlines

on commercial blended wing body freighter." Flight
International, May 21, 2007.
11. Jump up^ Warwick, Graham (Jan 12, 2013). "Hear This -
The BWB is Quiet!". Aviation Week.

12. Jump up^ E. R. Galea; L. Filippidis; Z. Wang; P. J. Lawrence;

J. Ewer (2011). "Evacuation Analysis of 1000+ Seat
Blended Wing Body Aircraft Configurations: Computer
Simulations and Full-scale Evacuation
Experiment". Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics.
pp. 15161. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9725-8_14. I
SBN 978-1-4419-9724-1.

13. Jump up^ Galea, Ed. "Evacuation analysis of 1000+ seat

Blended Wing Body aircraft
configurations". evacmod.net (video). Retrieved August
25, 2015.

14. Jump up^ "Future of Flight." Popular Science, November

2003.

15. Jump up^ "Future Flight: A Gallery of the Next Century in

Aviation." PopSci.com, October 15, 2003. Retrieved:
November 22, 2012.

16. Jump up^ Chambers, Joseph R. NASA SP-2005-4539

"Innovation In Flight: Research Of The NASA Langley
Research Center On Revolutionary Advanced Concepts For
Aeronautics". NASA, August 22, 2005.

17. Jump up^ Christensen, Brett M. "Boeing 797

Hoax" Hoax-Slayer, April 19, 2012. Retrieved: November
22, 2012.

18. Jump up^ Baseler, Randy. "Air mail." Boeing blogs: Randy's
Journal, November 1, 2006. Retrieved: November 22,
2012.

Bibliography[edit]
Crane, Dale. Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition.
Newcastle, Washington: Aviation Supplies & Academics,
1997. ISBN 1-56027-287-2.
 Herwig, Dieter and Heinz Rode. Luftwaffe Secret Projects:
Strategic Bombers 19351945. Hinckley, UK: Midland,
2000. ISBN 978-1-85780-092-0.
Liebeck, R.H. "Design of the Blended Wing Body Subsonic
Transport."[permanent dead link] AIAA Journal of
Aircraft, Volume 41, Issue 1, JanuaryFebruary 2004,
pp. 1025.
Rose, Bill. Secret Projects: Flying Wings and Tailless Aircraft.
Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2010. ISBN
978-1-85780-320-4.

External links[edit]
NASA's X-48B/Blended Wing Body page
'Blended wing' craft passes wind-tunnel
tests," NewScientist.com news service, 14 November 2005
How design of SAX-40 aircraft reduces noise and improve
efficiency
Progress on the Wingco Atlantica small BWB plane
Airliners.net photo of the Atlantica prototype aircraft, July
2004
"Truth Or Fiction" on the rumour of the Boeing 797 blended
wing passenger liner
Blended Wing Body, HAW Hamburg
Photo-realistic image of blended wing airliner taxiing at airport
A Blended Wing Body concept by Cranfield University
NASA Facts - The Blended-Wing-Body
Blended-wing-body: Design challenges for the 21st century

Categories:

Aircraft configurations
Aircraft wing design
Wing configurations
Lists of aircraft by design configuration

Navigation menu
Not logged in

Talk

Contributions

Create account

Log in
Article
 Talk
Read
Edit
View history

Search

Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Deutsch
Espaol
Franais

Slovenina

Edit links
This page was last modified on 9 March 2017, at 01:20.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional

terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit

organization.

Privacy policy
 About Wikipedia

Disclaimers

Contact Wikipedia

Developers

Cookie statement

Mobile view