An assessment of distributed propulsion: Part B – Advanced propulsion system architectures for blended wing body aircraft configurations

Abstract Studies such as those by NASA predict large performance benefits when integrating Distributed Propulsion (DP) with the Blended Wing Body (BWB) aircraft configuration. This is because the BWB planform geometry is particularly suited to the ingestion of boundary layer air. The present study evaluates the relative benefit of DP through a comparison with an advanced turbofan reference system of the same technology level as in Part A of this two part paper. Fuel savings of 5.3% relative to the reference aircraft have been shown to be achievable, although it was found that the system is particularly sensitive to duct losses.