Unconventional aircraft for civil aviation: A review of concepts and design methodologies

In recent decades, the environmental impacts of aviation have become a key challenge for the aeronautical community. Advanced and well-established technologies such as active flow control systems, wing-tip devices, high bypass ratio engines, composite materials, among others, have demonstrated fuel-burn benefits by reducing drag and/or weight. Nevertheless, aviation remains under intense pressure to become more sustainable. For this reason, there is a strong drive to explore unconventional aircraft with the aim of reducing both environmental emissions and Direct Operating Cost. This paper presents the current state-of-the-art in the development of future aircraft for civil aviation. The literature review is conducted through an appropriate search protocol to ensure the selection of the most relevant sources. After a brief historical background, progress in the design and development of several unconventional aircraft configurations is presented. Concepts such as Blended/Hybrid Wing Bodies, nonplanar wing designs, next-generation propulsion technologies that are tightly integrated with the airframe, among others, are reviewed. Special attention is given to design methodologies (level-of-fidelity), cruise altitude, aerodynamic performance, and fuel-burn benefits over conventional configurations. The primary contributions of this review are (i) a detailed survey of the design characteristics of unconventional aircraft for non-specialists, and (ii) a comprehensive review of the literature detailing past and current design trends of such configurations for specialists.