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Aircraft Structures
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Aircraft Structures Overview
Aircraft are generally built up from the following
basic components
Wings, Fuselages, Tail (H & V) , and control surfaces
Delta wing aircraft have no horizontal tail
Example : TEJAS, M2000, RFAEL
Some have a canard configuration such as that of the
Eurofighter (Typhoon).
Each component has one or more specific functions
and must be designed to ensure that it can carry out
these functions safely.
y
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Aircraft Structures Overview
The structure of an aircraft is required to support two
distinct classes of load:
Ground loads, includes all loads encountered by the
aircraft duringg movement or transportation
p on the gground
such as taxiing and landing loads, towing and hoisting
loads
Air
Ai loads,
l d comprisesi loads
l d imposed
i d on the
h structure during
d i
flight by manoeuvres and gusts.
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Aircraft Structures Overview
Aircraft designed for a particular role encounter loads
peculiar to their sphere of operation.
operation
Naval aircraft, are subjected to catapult take-off and
arrested landingg loads
Large civil and practically all military aircraft have
pressurized cabins for high altitude flying
Amphibious aircraft must be capable of landing on water
Low altitude high speed aircraft have tremendous loads due
to high density and turbulence.
turbulence
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Aircraft Structures Loads
There are basically two ways loads are transferred
SSurface
f f
forces which
hi h actt upon the
th surface
f off the
th structure,
t t
e.g. aerodynamic and hydrostatic pressure
Body forces which act over the volume of the structure and
are produced by gravitational and inertial effects.
Eg. Turns, dive pull-up etc
Pressure distribution over the various surfaces of an
aircrafts structure is obtained from aerodynamics
calculations.
calculations
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Typical Aerodynamic Loads
Pressure distribution Replaced b
by loads
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Typical Aerodynamic Loads
Note : The reduction near the centre line (fuselage effect)
and tips (tip effect)
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Loads During Dive Pull-up
As W*n = L
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Random Gust Loads
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V-n Diagram
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Typical Ground Loads
Ground loads encountered in landing and taxiing
subject the aircraft to concentrated shock loads
through the undercarriage system.
The majority of aircraft have their main undercarriage
located close to the wings,
Nosewheel or tailwheel in the vertical plane of symmetry.
Position of the main undercarriage should take care of
the stabilityy
When the aircraft is on ground.
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Typical Aircraft sub assemblies
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Aircraft structures examples
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Typical Structural Breakdown
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Bomber
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Harrier Jumpjet
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Commercial Plane
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Structural Components
The basic functions of an aircrafts structure
ttransmit
it andd resist
i t the
th loads
l d
provide an aerodynamic shape
and to protect passengers,
passengers payload,
payload systems,
systems etc.
etc from the
environmental conditions encountered in flight.
Monocoqueq : Thin shells which rely y entirelyy on their
skins for their capacity to resist loads
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Structural Components
Semi-monocoque : thin shell structures where the
outer surface is usually supported by
longitudinal stiffening members
and transverse frames to enable it to resist bending,
bending
compressive and torsion loads without buckling.
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Function of Aircraft Structures: ACD2501
Part specific
Skin
1. Resists the applied torsion and shear forces by
Transmitting aerodynamic forces to the longitudinal and
transverse supporting members
Supports the longitudinal members in resisting the applied
bendingg and axial loads
Supports the transverse members in resisting the hoop, or
circumferential, load when the structure is pressurized.
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Function of Aircraft Structures: ACD2501
Part specific
Ribs and Frames : The skeleton
11. Structural
St t l integration
i t ti off the
th wing
i andd fuselage
f l
2. Keep the wing in its aerodynamic profile
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Typical Wing construction
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Function of Aircraft Structures: ACD2501
Part specific
Spar
1 Resist bending and axial loads
1.
2. Form the wing box for stable torsion resistance
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Function of Aircraft Structures: ACD2501
Part specific
Stiffener or Stringers
1 Resist bending and axial loads along with the skin
1.
2. Divide the skin into small panels and thereby increase its
bucklingg and failingg stresses
3. Act with the skin in resisting axial loads caused by
pressurization.
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Simplifications
1. The behavior of these structural elements is often idealized
to simplify the analysis of the assembled component
2 The webs (skin and spar webs) carry only shearing stresses.
2. stresses
3. The longitudinal elements carry only axial stress.
4. The transverse frames and ribs are rigid within their own
planes,
l so that
h theh cross sectioni isi maintained
i i d unchanged
h d
during loading.
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Aircraft Structures
1. Truss-type Structures
Had struts and wire-braced wings
Occupants sat in open fabric-covered cockpits,
2. Stressed-skin Structures
All oof thee sstructural
uc u loads
o ds aree ccarried
ed by thee sskin..
Thin wood skin Or aluminum-alloy sheets
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Structures
Wing Construction Truss-type
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Airframe Units
1. Fuselage : Bulkheads, Frames, Stringers
2 Wings
2. i : Spars,
S Ribs
ib stiffeners
iff
3. Tail plane : Stabilizers , Flight control surfaces,
L di gear
Landing
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Structural Loads/Stress
Deformation : Nonpermanent Deformation
Deformation disappears when the load is removed.
Permanent Deformation
Wrinkles observed on top of wing and bottom of
horizontal stabilizer.
Stretch marks on the bottom of the wing or top o the
stabilizer. (positive gs)
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Materials For Aircraft Construction
Wood : Old small 2 seat aircrafts, Pushpak,
Tigermoth
Aluminum Alloys : Most modern planes use a variety
of alloys of Al
Honeycomb : Sandwiches
Magnesium & Stainless Steel : Very specific
applications
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Old examples : Wood
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Fuselage Construction
This is the preferred method of constructing an all-
aluminum fuselageg .
A series of frames in the shape of the fuselage cross
sections are held in position on a rigid fixture, or jig.
These are then joined with lightweight longitudinal elements
called stringers.
These are then covered with a skin of sheet aluminum, aluminum
attached by riveting or by bonding with special adhesives.
The fixture is then removed from the completed fuselage
shell
Most modern large aircraft are built using this technique
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Fuselage Construction
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Fuselage
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B747 Fuselage
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Typical Skin Stiffeners
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Fuselage Construction
Monocoque : Virtually no internal framework
Semi monocoque : Internal arrangement of formers and
Semi-monocoque
stringers is used to provide additional rigidity and strength to
the skin.
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Semi-monocoque
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Cantilever
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Cantilever Wing
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Braced Wing
In flight Lift acting
upwards
countering
t i weighti ht
On ground no
Lift, only weight
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Load Relief Due Fuel in Wing
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Wing Construction
Spar
p : main structural member Ribs
of the wing, running at right
angles to the fuselage.
The
Th spar carriesi flight
fli ht loads
l d
and the weight of the wings
whilst on the ground.
Generally there are 2 spars in
most aircraft wings.
Other
O h structurall andd forming
f i
members are Ribs.
S
Spar
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Structures
Stressed-skin
S d ki Wing
Wi Construction
C i
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Control Surface Construction
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Undercarriage
Landing gear is the structure under a plane's fuselage
that allows it to land safely
Older landing gear had two wheels forward of the
aircraft's center of ggravityy and a third,, smaller wheel at
the tail. This configuration has the nickname the
"taildragger
Tricycle landing gear consists of a forward (nose)
wheel and a pair of wheels located midway on the
f l
fuselage. Th nose gear is
The i steerable
bl byb means off the
h
rudder pedals.
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Undercarriage
Tandem landing gear (also called bicycle landing
gear) consists of a main gear of two sets of wheels
set one behind the other.
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Elements of Structures
Three common structural elements are used:
skins, stiffeners, and beams
Materials may experience both tension, and compression
Compression can cause the elements to buckle
Requires determination of air loads
Requires determination of mass properties (weights)
Check for parts exceeding yield stress
Check for buckling
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Fatigue
Structural fatigue occurs when an element is
subjected to repeated application and removal of
loads
ee.g.
g Wing experiencing unsteady gusts
The number of load cycles a material can tolerate depends
on the stress level
Smaller cross sections, will have higher stresses, easily fail
Structural analyses can identify hot spots where fatigue
will
ill first
fi t occur
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Composition of Composites
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Types of composites
Composite material include :
FFabric
b i glass
l material
t i l usedd to
t repair
i the
th parts
t including
i l di wing i
trailing & leading edge panel, floor panel & body fairing.
Honey comb material used in floor panel, body fairing &
wing panels and galley partition.
Graphite reinforced plastic or carbon reinforced plastic
(CFRP or CRP) usedd in i some major j structurall area (eg:
(
B777 cabin lateral floor beam structure)
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Composites : Pros & Cons
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Typical Aircraft Material
Fuselage
&WingLE
fairings
Fuselage
skin&aircraft
str ct res
structures
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Use of Composites in B767
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Use of Composites in B777
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Boeing 787 - Dreamliner
Materials by weight,
weight are 50% composite,
composite 20% aluminum,
aluminum 15%
titanium, 10% steel, and 5% other.
Aluminum is used on wing and tail leading edges, titanium
used mainly on engines and fasteners
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Typical Fuselage Diameters
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Why Worry about Structures ?
Structural design is critical to aircraft safety, and also
plays a key role in aircraft cost and performance.
performance
The airplane cost is related to the structural design in
complex ways,
ways
Typically aircraft cost $400-$1000 per kg
Military aircraft such as the B
B-22 reportedly costs more per
kg than gold.
Aircraft structural weight also affects performance.
Every kilogram of airplane structure means one less
kilogram of fuel when the take-off weight is specified
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Why Worry about Structures ?
Classical aircraft range equation:
R = (V/
(V/sfc)
f ) (L/D) ln
l (W initial/W final)
one might think of the first term representing the role of
propulsion, the second term aerodynamics, and the third
term, structures.
To estimate the aircraft empty weight, we must
estimate the weight of each of the component
we need to understand how a component structure is sized;
and to do this, we need to estimate the loads that they will
have to support
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Cascading Effect of Structure
The above table, clearly indicates the effect of structure mass,
and the reason mass reduction is always important
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Empty mass examples
A330 & B777 are higher
hi h because
b structure
t t is
i designed
d i d for
f stretch
t t h versions
i
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Data From : Ajoy Kundu
(a) All types of aircraft (b) Midrange (Boeing and Airbus type)
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Fuel Load Component
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Wing Area and Takeoff weight
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Mass estimation
Step 1
Here, suffixes
ffi TO
O means take-off,
k ff E means Empty
and F means Fuel
Step
St 2 more detailed
d t il d
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Typical subsystem weights
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Typical Component Weights
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Thank you !
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