Boeing unveils truss-braced wing concept

Boeing has shown for the first time a new transonic truss-braced wing (TTBW) airliner concept which it says would fly higher and faster than previous ultra-efficient airliner concepts.

The company says the concept, which features a high-mounted thin anhedral wing with a wingspan of 51.9 metres, twin underslung turbofan engines, low-mounted aerofoils on both sides which meets the main wing at roughly half span, and a conventional T-tail, provides “unprecedented aerodynamic efficiency while flying at Mach 0.80″.

The original TTBW concept was designed for lower airspeeds of Mach 0.70 to 0.75, but this latest concept features a mild sweep which allows for higher airspeeds. Boeing says the new concept is “a more integrated design that significantly improved vehicle performance.”

The TTBW was developed in conjunction with the NASA Ames Research Center where Boeing and NASA have been researching the Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) program since 2009.

Comments (3)

Michael Groszek

January 10, 2019 at 10:42 am

I’m excited that I’ve found an article that hasn’t misinterpreted the news. Most articles are claiming that M0.8 is faster than current airliners, completely missing the point that this is fast for an ultra efficient design, but still slower than current airliners.

Mark McPherson

January 10, 2019 at 3:28 pm

In for a penny, in for a pound. The ” Truss” solves one problem but, ignores it’s inherent potential to solve a second. Use some of the hard earned engineering for STOL aircraft & Wing design, to allow that platform to ” Perform with Shorter Takeoff & landing lengths, opening up more of the world’s airfields. Second. Been reading lately about all the cost & time to Rebuild Airliners into Freighters as they are rotated out of commercial Air service. Proceed to install the Framework for the oversize cargo door, & then fabricate the Airliner ” Plug ” with windows or Exit doors with new construction.