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
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