Aerodynamic design of nacelle of blended-wing-body aircraft with distributed propulsion

Nacelle design has a significant effect on aerodynamic performance of blended-wing-body (BWB) aircraft with distributed propulsion. To clarify the effect and its reason of primary nacelle design parameters on aerodynamic performance of BWB aircraft with boundary layer ingestion (BLI) effect, a detailed study was conducted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method and Morris sensitivity analysis method. Sensitivity order and coupled effect of primary design parameters on aerodynamic performance were obtained. Flow details of higher sensitivity and greater coupled effect parameters were analyzed under baseline and alternative condition. The results show that the relatively most significant parameters are the maximum thickness of section 2 and 3. The main reason is that local thickness and camber increase, and pressure distribution of whole nacelle surface is changed. Leeward local stall will occur as the maximum thickness increases configuration when mass flow rate decreases and inlet location along the chord direction moves forward. The coupled effect of the maximum thickness of section 2 and 3 on aerodynamic performance is relatively significant.