Development of a Climb Model for Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of Blended-Wing-Body Regional Aircraft

In the interest of sustainability, novel aircraft configurations such as the blended-wing-body (BWB) have garnered a great deal of attention for their potential to dramatically improve aircraft fuel efficiency. The BWB concept has been studied extensively using aerodynamic shape optimization to predict its performance benefits and study the key design features of the aircraft. In many of these studies, fuel burn is used as the objective function and is computed using a combination of empirical relationships and a well-known equation for cruise. While this approach is reasonable for long-range aircraft, a more accurate climb model is needed for regional-class aircraft, where a considerable portion of the nominal mission is spent climbing to cruising altitude. This project will address this issue by studying the impact of various climb models on the optimal design and block fuel burn of a regional-class BWB, optimized using a framework developed at the University of Toronto. Existing models will be tested, and novel approaches for computing climb fuel burn will be developed using methods available at Stanford University. The primary result will be the selection of a climb model for use in future studies that will inform industry decisions regarding the next generation of commercial aircraft.

Faculty Supervisor:

David Zingg

Student:

Partner:

Stanford University

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: