A method was developed to assist with the understanding of a unique configuration and investigate some of its stability and control attributes. Oblique wing aircraft concepts are a design option that is well understood, but has yet to be used in a production aircraft. Risk involved in choosing such a design can be averted through additional knowledge early in the concept evaluation phase. Analysis tools commonly used in early conceptual level analysis were evaluated for applicability to a non-standard aircraft design such as an oblique flying wing. Many tools used in early analyses make assumptions that are incompatible with the slewed wing configuration of the vehicle. Using a simplified set of tools, an investigation of a unique configuration was done as well as showing that the aircraft could be trimmed at given conditions. Wave drag was investigated to determine benefits for an oblique flying wing. This form of drag was reduced by the distribution of volume afforded by the slewing of the aircraft's wing. Once a reasonable concept was developed, aerodynamic conditions were investigated for static stability of the aircraft. Longitudinal and lateral trim were established simultaneously due to its asymmetric nature. / Master of Science

Minimizing wave drag is critical to successful and efficient transonic and supersonic flight. Area-ruling is the process of managing the cross-sectional area of an aircraft to lessen the wave drag experienced in flight. Effectively calculating the necessary areas for a given aircraft can be difficult, and existing tools for conducting a wave drag analysis often carry limitations in both functionality and availability. In this work, the author utilized an existing parametric geometry tool named OpenVSP to create an interactive design tool for approximating zero-lift wave drag. Here, the wave drag calculation methodology used in industry for decades is combined with the powerful geometry engine of OpenVSP, which was recently heavily upgraded at the start of 2015. Various visual aids allow users of this OpenVSP wave drag tool to interact with area and wave drag results and develop intuition for supersonic aircraft design using the area rule approach. OpenVSP allows geometry changes to be made quickly, enabling rapid reanalysis by the wave drag tool for expeditious comparison of results across the design space.