MS Thesis Proposal

Rongshen Wang Lin

(Faculty Advisor: Professor Dimitri Mavris)

A Physics-Based Methodology for One-Engine-Inoperative Trim Analysis and Tail Sizing for Blended Wing Body Aircraft

Wednesday, July 29

3:30 p.m.

Weber, CoVE

Abstract: 

The aviation sector faces growing pressure to reduce its environmental impact, and the Blended Wing Body (BWB) aircraft configuration has emerged as one of the most promising designs for achieving major improvements in fuel efficiency over conventional tube-and-wing aircraft. Despite decades of development, several challenges remain before a BWB can enter commercial service. Among these, the One-Engine-Inoperative (OEI) condition — a critical requirement for airworthiness certification — has received little attention in BWB design studies, with existing approaches often treating it in a simplified way that does not fully verify whether the aircraft can actually stay balanced and controllable during an engine failure.

This thesis addresses that gap for a tailless BWB concept, where earlier analysis suggests balanced flight cannot be maintained during certain phases of an engine-out climb and go-around on landing approach. To restore this capability, a twin canted vertical tail is added to the baseline design, and a physics-based methodology is developed to size it properly.

The methodology combines an aerodynamic modeling tool with a custom iterative solver that determines the aircraft's attitude and control surface positions needed for balanced flight, accounting for aerodynamic, gravitational, and asymmetric thrust effects. A design of experiments then explores how tail size, tilt angle, and rudder proportions affect both engine-out trim and cruise efficiency. The resulting methodology is intended as a reliable, physics-based tool for sizing tails in future BWB aircraft designs, as well as being incorporated as a module into conceptual design MDO frameworks.

Committee:
Dr. Dimitri Mavris (advisor), School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Jimmy Tai, School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Daniel Schrage, School of Aerospace Engineering