Blended Wing Body Design And Composites:

Current Status and Future Prospects

Vinayak H Nair
1
, Ismail Akbani
2

1
B.Tech Student,
2
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Symbiosis Institute of Technology,
Symbiosis International University,
Lavale, Pune-412115, Maharashtra, India.
#CorrespondingAuthor: vinayak.nair@sitpune.edu.in

ABSTRACT
With projections indicating an increase air traffic over the next few decades
and annual flight departures expected to rise to over 16 billion by 2050, there
is a demand on the aviation industry and associated stakeholders to focus on
developing and implementing new technologies and materials for modern day
aircrafts. On the materials side, the thrust of research community these days
is directed towards composite materials and the aerospace industry is no
exception to it. Composites consist of a combination of materials that are
mixed together to achieve specific structural properties. The primary
advantages of composite materials are their high strength, relatively low
weight, and corrosion resistance. The use of composite materials for
manufacturing aircraft parts such as spoilers, wings and flight controls, dates
back to the 1960s,when composites were primarily used for their weight
savings over aluminum parts. With the developments in composites
technology, the scope and application of composite materials in aircraft
industry is also increasing rapidly.
On the technology side, one of the recent and promising developments is the
concept of Blended Wing Body (BWB) aircraft. In the past ten years, fuel
efficiency and noise reduction have also become the two biggest challenges
for aircraft manufacturers. The recognition spurred aerospace engineers and
system architects to come up with the BWB, a new design for next generation
aircraft. BWB aircraft has smaller wetted area, larger lift-drag ratio, higher
cruise efficiency, lower wing loading and better economical efficiency. This
enables the entire craft to contribute to lift generation with the result of
potentially increased fuel efficiency and range.
This paper explores the current state of the art and possible future prospects
of the use of composites in the airline industry and BWB aircraft concept, both
of which are the things to look out for in the future.