Advanced Aeroservoelstic Control for a Zero Emission Blended Wing Body Transport

It is a strategic thrust of the NASA ARMD to “realize revolutionary improvements in economics and environmental performance for subsonic transports with opportunities to transition to alternative propulsion and energy.” To this end, JetZero Inc. has introduced the Ascent 2600, a novel zero emission blended wing body (BWB) commercial transport concept, to address this need. A key technology for this vehicle is an innovative landing gear concept, the pivot piston, that facilitates takeoff and landings without the need for high lift devices and enables entry into the single aisle transport market. In NASA SBIR Topic A1.01 a critical gap has been identified wherein “the use of lightweight flexible structures, the development of new airframes (truss-braced wings, blended-wing bodies, etc.), and the intentional exploitation of aeroelastic response phenomena require a comprehensive understanding of the aeroelasticity involved if they are to succeed.” This is certainly a recognized truth for the Ascent 2600 BWB, which will require innovative aeroelastic suppression methods to ensure desired ride qualities and safe operations for passengers that are no longer distributed along a relatively narrow tube. To this end a group of JetZero collaborators led by Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) propose the Active Control for Environmental disturbances and Structural interactions (ACES) system that will introduce novel active control techniques and will a feature a unique blend of the available wing, kink, and body control surfaces to mitigate undesirable aeroelastic interactions. Feasibility of ACES in Phase I will be demonstrated for the challenging gust load alleviation problem using the Ascent 2600 configuration, while in Phase II a broader range of aeroelastic problems including flutter suppression will be addressed with the effectiveness of ACES ultimately demonstrated in flight using the 13.5% dynamically scaled Pathfinder vehicle.

This proposal directly addresses NASA ARMD Strategic Thrust 3 – Ultra Efficient Subsonic Transport. The Ascent 2600 zero emission BWB meets the 2025-2035 stated goal that “Aircraft meet economic demands of airlines and the public with revolutionary improvements in community noise and energy efficiency to achieve fleet-level carbon neutral growth relative to 2005.” The ACES system will utilize active control technology to mitigate the aeroelastic challenges associated with the BWB design including gust load alleviation and flutter suppression.

The target commercial market for the ACES system is the single aisle commercial transport market for which JetZero’s Ascent 2600 provides a natural market entry point. The single-aisle segment flies about 50% of all passenger-miles and consumes more than 50% of aviation fuel. The introduction of a new, highly efficient transport in this category provides the greatest environmental benefit.

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