Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation on Blended Wing Body Aircraft Model for Aerodynamics Characteristics

The blended wing body Aircraft (BWB) model is an unconventional aircraft that combines the conventional fuselage and flying wing aircraft design. This BWB model aircraft has an aerofoil-shaped body which contributes to the overall lift during the flight. This unique design of the BWB offers high fuel efficiency, low noise, and a large payload volume for the size of the aircraft. The high fuel efficiency is attained due to its Lift-to-Drag (L/D) ratio which is an important parameter to describe aircraft efficiency. The higher L/D ratio reflects better flying performance which includes flight duration, endurance, and better fuel consumption. The main objective of this work is to analyze the aerodynamic characteristics of our developed BWB model to evaluate its performance at steady flight conditions and at variable pitch angles using CFD analysis. The aerofoil used was NACA 2412. The scope of this study was limited to evaluating only lift, drag, and pressure coefficient values at a speed of 70 m/s at sea level conditions. The results obtained illustrate a higher lift-to-drag ratio following the trend of other studies and research on the Blended-Wing-Body aircraft (BWB) model. The maximum lift-to-drag ratio obtained was 13.5 at 5° angle of attack (AOA). And then starts to decrease with a further increase in angle of attack. The L/D ratio is also supported by the pressure contour graphs of the lower and upper surfaces obtained. Overall, the result obtained correlates with other previous studies done on BWB model aircraft.