Low-boom/low-drag design optimization of innovative supersonic transport configuration

The generation of shock waves is inevitable in supersonic cruise, which results in the generation of wave drag as well as sonic boom on the ground. Some innovative concepts such as the supersonic biplane concept and the supersonic twin-body fuselage concept have been proposed recently to reduce the supersonic wave drag dramatically. In this study, the aerodynamic and sonic-boom performance of innovative supersonic transport wing–body configurations is discussed by numerical approaches. The wing section shape of a Busemann biplane wing/twin-body model is optimized at a design Mach number of 1.7 and angle of attack of 2 deg. The optimized results show the tradeoff between aerodynamic performance (lift/drag ratio) and sonic-boom performance (maximum overpressure of sonic-boom distribution). It is confirmed that aerodynamic performance is mainly affected by the thickness difference between the upper/lower wings. Then, the trailing-edge shape of the upper wing has also a significant influence on aerodynamic performance. On the other hand, sonic-boom performance is mainly affected by the lower surface shape of the lower wing, to make the pressure wave pattern of expansion–compression, which can attenuate the pressure waves propagating to the ground. Copyright © 2017 by Naohiko Ban, Wataru Yamazaki, and Kazuhiro Kusunose.