Systematic Comparison of Hydrogen-Tank Layouts in Blended Wing Body Aircraft

Kurzfassung

Hydrogen-fueled aircraft can substantially reduce climate impact compared to their kerosene-powered counterparts, yet hydrogen's low volumetric density, four times lower than that of liquid kerosene, poses significant integration challenges. Blended-wing-body (BWB) configurations have been proposed as a more suitable platform for hydrogen storage than conventional tube-and-wing (TAW) designs. However, no systematic comparison of different hydrogen-tank configurations against a consistent kerosene baseline exists. Therefore, this study evaluates four hydrogen-tank layouts identified in prior research against a kerosene-powered BWB baseline, and against equivalent TAW configurations, under common top-level aircraft requirements (TLAR): 2500 nmi range and 239 passengers, with 2050 entry into service technology assumptions. The objective is to assess the installation penalty of hydrogen tanks on BWB design and the suitability of this platform for hydrogen tank integration. Using conceptual design methods, each BWB design was specifically tailored to its tank configuration and then ranked by block-energy penalty. The tank layout with an integration adjacent to, and aft of, the cabin incurred the lowest penalty (12.5 %) among BWB options, but still exceeded the 10.5 % penalty of the TAW counterpart. Sensitivity analyses varying integration assumptions confirmed the consistency of this finding. These findings do not eliminate hydrogen-fueled BWB aircraft as a viable alternative to hydrogen-fueled TAW designs, as literature shows that BWB configurations still offer an inherent efficiency advantage. However, their higher integration penalty must be considered in the overall trade-off.