Abstract
Over the last 50 years, commercial aviation has been mainly based what is currently called the conventional layout, characterized by a slender fuselage mated to a high aspect ratio wing, with aft-tail planes and pod-mounted engines under the wing. However, it seems that this primary configuration is approaching an asymptote in its productivity and performance characteristics. One of the most promising configurations for the future is the flying wing in its distinct arrangements: blended-wing-body, C-wing, tail-less aircraft, etc. These layouts might provide significant fuel savings and, hence, a decrease in pollution. This configuration would also reduce noise in take-off and landing. All this explains the great deal of activity carried out by the aircraft industry and by numerous investigators to perform feasibility and conceptual design studies of this aircraft layout to gain better knowledge of its main characteristics: productivity, airport compatibility, passenger acceptance, internal architecture, emergency evacuation, etc. The present paper discusses the main features of flying wings, their advantages over conventional competitors, and some key operational issues, such as evacuation and vortex wake intensity.
Highlights
Civil aviation has continuously been progressing since the onset of commercial flights in Florida in 1916 and the appearance of scheduled international links just after the end of the First World War [1]
The results show that the optimum altitude for the maximum range of this precise flying wing is around 45000 ft, as already indicated
The results show that the flying wing, which due to its weight belongs to the heavy aircraft category (W>136000 kg in Table 3), could be considered within the medium category in terms of airport operations; i.e. time and distance separation, and this could increase the number of operations at airports
Summary
Civil aviation has continuously been progressing since the onset of commercial flights in Florida in 1916 and the appearance of scheduled international links just after the end of the First World War [1]. Within this market and technology framework, one of the most promising configurations is the flying wing in its different concepts: blended-wing-body, C-wing, tail-less aircraft, etc. The engines are located above the wing and the aircraft does not need high lift devices in a low-speed configuration, which results in a quieter airplane This explains the great deal of activity carried out by the aircraft industry and by numerous researchers throughout the world to perform conceptual design level studies, to address the problems and challenges posed by this layout. This paper discusses the main features of flying wings and blended wing bodies, their advantages over conventional competitors, and some key operational issues, such as airport operation, evacuation, and vortex wake intensity
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