Title Conceptual design of a blended wing aircraft for urban air mobility operation /
Translation of Title Vientisos sparno-liemens konstrukcijos orlaivio, skirto judėjimui mieste, koncepcijos kūrimas ir tyrimas.
Authors Rao, Sathvik Sathyanarayana
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Pages 81
Keywords [eng] urban air mobility ; blended wing body ; constrain diagram ; XFLR5 ; aircraft
Abstract [eng] The project is mainly focused on design of an aircraft for the purpose of urban air mobility which requires aircraft to take off from a small distance or vertically. The concept of urban air mobility is new in the aviation industry and a platform for advancements in modern aerodynamics. Since most of the concepts have already been under research and development, the blending wing aircrafts which are widely proposed for future of air transportation are being researched for large commercial aircrafts only. No research suggesting the use of Blended wing aircrafts for the general aviation was found in the literature. Also, most of the concepts for urban air mobility requires aircraft with numerous complex capabilities to meet the future requirements. In this project a brief study of the market and scope for the UAM concept is investigated. Since the UAM concept is very new and no regulations have been formed by the aviation regulatory bodies, the project includes certification and regulation study as well. Since most of the design features of UAM concept studied in literature meet the GA requirements, the basic aircraft designed in this project is also a design for GA variant. The general aircraft design methodology is followed for this project. The main tasks of the conceptual design consist of aircraft initial sizing where the initial weight estimations, performance parameter estimations and other relevant requirements are calculated, studied and listed for performing constrain analysis. In order to perform constrain analysis a constrain diagram is generated using MATLAB software which consists of a plot bearing thrust loading, wing loading, required lift coefficient and stall speeds. The data are analysed from this and then an optimum design point is used for further aircraft geometric calculations where all the dimensional parameters are finalised. In order to meet the requirements, various aerofoils have been analysed and selected for various cross section of the aircraft. Initial modelling and characteristic analysis of the aircraft is done in XFLR5 software. Finally, a CAD model for CFD purpose is modelled and analysed in Solidworks software. In the end, basic inner structure of the aircraft is modelled for UAM concept representation. The results obtained from the sizing was successfully designed and analysed in various digital software. The aerodynamic characteristics of the designed aircraft had many advantages compare to the conventional configurations. The results obtained for the geometric calculations were aerodynamically stable and had high lift to drag ratio with low induced drag properties. The designed aircraft was found to be aerodynamically stable and most efficient at cruise height of 1000m with a lift to drag ratio of 29.697 at 3 Degree AOA for a design Cruise speed of 81 m/s. The aircraft’s ability to generate most of the lift from centre body resulted in reduced wing loading on the outboard sections of the aircraft geometry.
Dissertation Institution Kauno technologijos universitetas.
Type Master thesis
Language English
Publication date 2019