Background

ACFA 2020 is a collaborative research project funded by the European Commission under the seventh research framework programme (FP7). The project deals with innovative active control concepts for ultra efficient 2020 aircraft configurations like the blended wing body (BWB) aircraft. The Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) formulated the "ACARE vision 2020", which aims for:

• 50% reduced fuel consumption and related CO2 emissions per passenger-kilometre
• Reduction of external noise by 4-5 dB and by 10 dB per operation in the short and long terms, respectively. To meet these goals is very important to minimise the environmental impact of air traffic but also of vital interest for the aircraft industry to enable future growth.

Blended Wing Body type aircraft configurations are seen as the most promising future concept to fulfil the ACARE vision 2020 goals because aircraft efficiency can be dramatically increased through minimisation of the wetted area and by reduced structural weight.