Low Noise Blended Wing/Body Aircraft

Aviation Week covered a story on Hybrid Wing/Body aircraft configurations. NASA and Boeing say that a low noise (< 42 dB, no other specs, so what does it mean?) and 40% less fuel burn aircraft could be fielded by 2020. Not too much detail in the story other than heavy use of acoustic shielding by the airframe. This means strategically placing the engines so that noise generated by them is “blocked” (scattered) by the airframe, reducing its intensity at the ground. Another interesting feature is airframe turbulent boundary layer ingestion by the engines. This is described in terms of benefits to fuel efficiency but there is sure to be a noise benefit as well. Look out for more posts on this topic.