Synergistic Airframe-Propulsion Interactions and Integrations: A White Paper Prepared by the 1996-1997 Langley Aeronautics Technical Committee

This white paper addresses the subject of Synergistic Airframe-Propulsion interactions and integrations (SnAPII). The benefits of SnAPII have not been as extensively explored. This is due primarily to the separateness of design process for airframes and propulsion systems, with only unfavorable interactions addressed. The question 'How to design these two systems in such a way that the airframe needs the propulsion and the propulsion needs the airframe?' is the fundamental issue addressed in this paper. Successful solutions to this issue depend on appropriate technology ideas. This paper first details some ten technologies that have yet to make it to commercial products (with limited exceptions) and that could be utilized in a synergistic manner. Then these technologies, either alone or in combination, are applied to both a conventional twin-engine transonic transport and to an unconventional transport, the Blended Wing Body. Lastly, combinations of these technologies are applied to configuration concepts to assess the possibilities of success relative to five of the ten NASA aeronautics goals. These assessments are subjective, but they point the way in which the applied technologies could work together for some break-through benefits.