Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Design of a Blended Wing Body (BWB) with Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) Nacelles
A study is being conducted to improve the propulsion/airframe integration for the Blended Wing-Body (BWB) configuration with boundary layer ingestion nacelles. TWO unstructured grid flow solvers, USM3D and FUN3D, have been coupled with different design methods and are being used to redesign the aft wing region and the nacelles to reduce drag and flow separation. An initial study comparing analyses from these two flow solvers against data from a wind tunnel test as well as predictions from the OVERFLOW structured grid code for a BWB without nacelles has been completed. Results indicate that the unstructured grid codes are sufficiently accurate for use in design. Results from the BWB design study will be presented.