Conceptual Assessment of the Truss-Braced Wing and Advanced Novel Passenger Aircraft Configurations

In this research, the promising novel aircraft configurations, which are proposed for application to the civil aircraft in the foreseeable future, are qualitatively investigated. The investigation includes both technical and industrial challenges. Industrial challenges are found to be a decisive factor, while they are rarely investigated in the literature. The Blended-wing body, Boundary -Layer Ingesting, Truss-Braced Wing, Box-Wing, C-Wing, Hybrid Electric Propulsion, and Turbo-Eclectic Propulsion configurations are analyzed from technical point-of-views such as aerodynamic, weight and performance, as well as industrial risks. The investigated industrial merits are reusability of know-hows, family design and compatibility to all market sectors. After all, it has been found that the Truss-Braced Wing due to its high level of commonality with the existing configuration, and its amenability to future propulsion systems seems to be the most promising configuration for the next decades.