Minimum Trim Drag for a Three-Surface Supersonic Transport Aircraft

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-3472.vid

Three-surface configurations offer theoretical drag benefits over two-surface configurations, but the literature is unclear on what is the best configuration for a supersonic aircraft. This work uses trim-constrained drag minimization to compare the trim drag for three-surface, canard, and conventional variants of a supersonic transport aircraft. We first use RANS-based optimization to determine the minimum trim drag for a fixed planform geometry at a subsonic takeoff condition and a supersonic cruise condition. The three-surface configuration has the lowest trim drag at the supersonic condition. The canard and three-surface configurations have comparable trim drag at the subsonic condition. We then construct a supersonic buildup model to study the effects of variable trim surface sizing. When the trim surface spans are included as design variables, the design for minimum supersonic drag has practically no tail and a canard sized at 36% of the wing half-span. These results suggest that a canard configuration is best for supersonic trim drag.