Technical Paper
Flight and Range Characteristics for a Subsonic Advanced Propeller-Driven Blended Wing Body Composite Air Frame Capable of Transporting a 150-Ton Military Cargo
2016-09-20
2016-01-2019
An advanced composite Blended Wing Body (BWB) air frame previously used as a study aircraft to transport a 75-ton military cargo halfway around the world and back unrefueled has been modified and evaluated as a 150-ton heavy lifter. The modifications include enlarging the forward trim canard, reducing fuel load by 151,850 lbs, increasing the high-mach NASA-type counter-rotating propellers from 12 feet to 13 feet diameter, extending the propeller support pylons' height by 6 inches and modifying cruise flight and prop control strategies. Due to structural and propulsion system changes, the air frame Operational Empty Weight (OEW) was increased by 1,850 lbs. but the maximum Take Off Gross Weight (TOGW) was held to 800,000 lbs. Brief descriptions of the major propulsion system components are provided. In addition, a comparison of three different counter-rotating propeller systems is presented. The first is a Standard configuration.
