Double parasol, favorable interference airplane
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsGottfried O. Friebel, Robert M. Kulfan
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Abstract
An aircraft intended to fly at supersonic Mach mnumbers is disclosed. The aircraft utilizes a double parasol wing arrangement, with a power plant nacelle located under the wing on each side of the fuselage. Each nacelle is located at the focus of a reflection parabola formed by the undersurface of each wing. In flight the shock wave pressure field created by the nacelles is reflected and redirected by the parabolic wing surface and thereby transformed into beneficial lift. The separation distance between each wing and its respective nacelle is arranged to maximize multiple reflections to thereby further enhance the lift created.
Claims5
An aircraft capable of extended cruiseat high Mach numbers through utilization of favorable aerodynamic interference effects by mutual interaction of flow fields comprising:
- a fuselage, area-ruled to optimize favorable interference effects and having a longitudinal center line defining a plane of symmetry;
- a wing attached to said fuselage on opposite sides of said plane of symmetry, each wing having a lateral curvature extending from root to tip;
- a jet power plant nacelle having an axial center line and a length substantially equal to the length of the local wing chord being suspended beneath each said wing;
- each said wing forming a substantially parabolic lower reflection surface means for reflecting and redirecting portions of a shock wave pressure field generated by each said nacelle at supersonic speeds to produce lift, each reflection surface means comprises a parabolically curved inboard portion adjacent said root, a substantially planar central portion and a parabolically curved outboard portion adjacent said tip, the respective nacelle center line being located at the focus of each parabolically curved portion to maximize the shock wave pressure field generated by each nacelle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.