Stability study and flight simulation of a blended-wing-body UAV

Abstract

This article is a product of the design process of a Blended-Wing- Body Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (BWB UAV). The BWB geometry blends the wing and the fuselage so that the fuselage also contributes in lift generation. This geometry reduces the lift to drag ratio significantly, however it also compromises the aircraft’s stability and controllability, since there is no horizontal and vertical tail. As these features are absent from the BWB layout, the need to incorporate their functions in the new geometry arises so that they cover stability demands sufficiently, according to aircraft of similar size, use and speed. Additionally, the method used for stability studies of conventional aircraft must also be adapted. This article covers the adaptation of the method to the new BWB geometry, its results in comparison to those of conventional aircraft and the use of the results for a computational simulation of the aircraft’ flight.