Blended Wing Body
The Blended Wing Body (BWB in English about for " seamless wing-fuselage connection" ) represents an alternative aircraft concept which features of conventional tube - with - wings - concepts with which connects from flying wings. It is characterized by a flattened, aerodynamically shaped hull which, although it can be distinguished clearly from the wings, the shape of which, however, merges smoothly into the wing shape. The body here has a relevant share of the buoyancy of the aircraft.
History
The precursor to the concept of blended wing body can be seen in Hugo Junkers ' flying wing Patent of 1910. An early example of an aircraft according to the BWB principle represents the Junkers G 38, in which "big wings " not only engines and fuel, but also six passengers were accommodated.
The early 1920s was a passenger plane to this concept built and flown with the Westland Dreadnought in Great Britain.
Current application
Currently working Boeing and NASA under the project designation X- 48 on the exploration of a BWB ( recently also as a hybrid wing body ( HWB ) refers ) for both civilian and military purposes. For this purpose have already been built with the X -48B and X - 48C airworthy 1:12 models to test the flight characteristics.
Benefits
Possible advantages of this design are:
- A higher efficiency than conventional designs, by a stronger buoyancy (the entire body generates lift ) and better aerodynamics to be achieved
- Less noise for the case where the engines are mounted above the fuselage
- A lower empty weight
Disadvantages
Potential disadvantages of this design are:
- The stronger vertical forces acting on the passengers and cargo, which tend to be more distant from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft are in this construction
- The lack of, or at least severely limited ability to attach side windows for passengers
- An increased weight, and increased complexity of the aircraft structure due to the difficulty of constructing a non-cylindrical fuselage pressure resistant