ACFA 2020 (active control for flexible aircraft) is a collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under the seventh research framework programme. The project deals with innovative active control concepts for 2020 aircraft configurations like the blended wing body (BWB) aircraft. The main objectives of ACFA are the design of a new ultra efficient 450 passenger BWB type aircraft as well as the provision of robust adaptive multi-channel control architectures for such aircraft. The objective of the newly designed controllers is an ambitious improvement of ride comfort and handling qualities, as well as load reduction on BWB type aircraft. Based on the attained load reduction, the structure of the 450-passenger aircraft can be resized with the goal of an ambitious weight saving for further improvement of fuel efficiency. Active control requirements influence the design process of control surfaces and overall aircraft design, respectively. Hence, the conventional aircraft design process had to be adapted to the new requirements. The aircraft design framework described in this article has proven its efficiency in the development of the ACFA BWB aircraft. Within a time period of 1 year, an airframe has been developed under the constraints of multiple domain requirements. This article presents the process and the results of the design activities of the BWB aircraft, which form the basis for a detailed concept analysis as well as the investigation of multiple-input multiple-output control architectures.
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