A Method for Modeling the Aero-Propulsive Coupling Characteristics of BLI Aircraft in Conceptual Design

Presented at AIAA SciTech 2021 ConferenceThe impacts of boundary layer ingestion (BLI) on vehicle performance can be modeled using either a decoupled or a coupled approach. Several studies in literature have adopted the former, while some have shown differences between the two approaches for the performance analysis and design refinement of a sized aircraft. This study quantifies the consequences of ignoring aero-propulsive coupling at the aircraft sizing stage of conceptual design. To do so, a parametric and coupled aero propulsive design methodology is used that leverages surrogate modeling to minimize the computational burden of CFD in generating estimates of the BLI performance impacts. The method is applied to the design and analysis of two BLI concepts with engine locations similar to that on the D8 and the NOVA-BLI