Composite airframe sizing of a Blended Wing Body flight test demonstrator

The Blended Wing body configuration is a hybrid shape capable of combining a flying wing with a conventional airplane. In order to assess the feasibility and the possible pros and cons, Flight Test Vehicles (FTVs) design’s are necessary . This represents a low cost and risk based approach compared to the full scale configuration. Six 7% scaled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for flight tests have already been built and tested at the Center for Aerospace research (CfAR) in order to obtain information on the control and aerodynamics of the aircraft. The in-flight tests conducted showed encouraging results and prompted Bombardier Aerospace investigate further, committing an even larger scale. A16.5% scaled FTV is currently in the design phase and its flight test is planned for the end of 2019. The structural sizing of this model led to the validation of composite materials in order to obtain mechanical properties for the Finite Elements Model. The work presented in the work thesis includes two macro-areas. The first concerns the design of the specimens, following the American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) legislation and their manufacturing and testing process. The second part sees the structural sizing of the U-Tail of 16.5% scaled BWB aircraft, using the experimental data of the laminated composite materials previously obtained.