Box wing longitudinal flight quality evaluation

Abstract

The box wing aircraft is an unconventional design that is esteemed to present lower levels of induced drag when compared with the conventional aircraft design. This configuration presents no horizontal tail and two wings swept in opposite directions in a diamond shape. This work presents an investigation of the longitudinal flight qualities characteristics of a box wing aircraft in the preliminary design phase. The longitudinal stability of a box wing aircraft is being compared with a conventional aircraft with the same narrow body and wing area. The investigation of longitudinal stability includes evaluating means for trimming the box wing, short-period and phugoid oscillation analysis.