Potential Propulsive and Aerodynamic Benefits of a New Aircraft Concept: A Low-Speed Experimental Study

Abstract

The aerodynamic design of a new aircraft concept was investigated through subsonic wind-tunnel testing using 1:28-scale powered models. The aircraft configuration integrates a box-wing layout with engines located at the rear part of the fuselage. Measurements involved a back-to-back comparison between two aircraft models: a podded version whose engines were assembled on pylons and a boundary-layer ingestion (BLI) version that provided several system-level benefits. The flowfield was investigated through the power balance method and a variety of pressure flowfield and inlet flow distortion metrics. The results proved that the BLI configuration enhances the propulsive efficiency by reducing both the electrical power coefficient and the kinetic energy waste due to lower jet velocities. Furthermore, there was a reduction of the total pressure recovery due to pressure gradients inside the duct, thereby causing high distortion. Overall, this research highlights the importance of wind-tunnel testing to bring any aerodynamic technology to a sufficient level of maturity and to enable future new aircraft concepts.