Aerospace Structures

Spring Semester 2011

Exercise 6
Hand out: Hand in: Solution: 18.04.2011 02.05.2011 02.05.2011 Lecture Tutoring

Exercise 6: Fuselage design

Introduction and Goals

The fuselage is, in addition to the wing and the tail plane, one of the essential components of an aircraft. In contrast to the task of the wing, which produces the majority of the aerodynamic loads, the aerodynamic contribution to the overall forces by the fuselage is relatively small. The main loads acting on it are caused by the payload, which could be passengers or cargo. In case of a passenger aircraft, the fuselage has to withstand also the loads deriving from the cabin pressurisation. Other conditions which will introduce loads in the fuselage will be for instance manoeuvring, taxiing and landing. From a constructive point of view, the fuselage is comprised by stringers, panels and frames. The goal of this exercise is to understand the behaviour of the structural components of the fuselage, and to estimate with simple approximations the loads in these parts. Through the understanding of the load carrying mechanisms, these structure can then be designed in a way to minimise their weight. In detail, the fuselage of a Cessna 172 will be studied, whose dimensions are given in gure 1 and listed in table 1. The mass of the relevant components which have to be considered is listed in table 2.
Table 1: Dimensions

Fuselage length Distance from fuselage start to wing leading edge Distance from engine C.G. to wing leading edge Wing chord Distance from wing leading edge to horizontal tail plane center Fuselage diameter Distance from wing leading edge to tail C.G.

7.35 m 1.55 m 1m 1.75 m 5.15 m 1.15 m 5.60 m

Task 1: Loads on the fuselage

The objective of this task is to calculate the loads (shear, bending and torsional moments) along the fuselage of a Cessna 172. 1

ETH Zrich Zentrum fr Strukturtechnologien

G. Molinari W. Raither

Aerospace Structures
Spring Semester 2011

Exercise 6

Table 2: Masses

Overall mass Wing mass Propulsion system mass (engine + propeller + cowling) Fuselage mass Tail mass

506.93 kg 102.78 kg 168.64 kg 209.56 kg 25.95 kg

Figure 1: Cessna 172 dimensions

Figure 2: Fuselage mass distribution along its main axis

ETH Zrich Zentrum fr Strukturtechnologien

G. Molinari W. Raither

Aerospace Structures
Spring Semester 2011

Exercise 6

Assumptions: The mass of the wing is uniformly distributed over its span, concentrated at the middle of the chord. The lift generated by the wing is assumed to have a triangular chordwise distribution and to be constant along the spanwise direction. The wing has no diherdal or sweep, and it has the same mechanical and geometrical properties along its entire span, even within the fuselage. The mass of the fuselage is assumed to have a triangular distribution, with the largest weight at the front of the airplane (gure 2). The lift generated by the horizontal tail can be assumed as concentrated in the middle of its chord. Gravitational acceleration g = 9.81 m/s2 . Flight conditions: Load factor n = 2. Symmetric, trimmed ight: no lateral, longitudinal or rotational accelerations. Task: Calculate the shear forces, bending moments and torsional moments along the airplane fuselage. Draw qualitatively the diagrams for the forces and moments determined before.

Task 2: Fuselage cross-section

The fuselage has a circular shape, as shown in gure 3a, characterised by a oor delimiting the bottom of the cabin compartment. This leads to a two-cell cross-section. Skin and stringers are made of an aluminium alloy, whose properties are listed in table 3. The cross-section of the stringers is depicted in gure 3b, with the dimensions listed in table 5. Tasks: Calculate the loads in the stringers and the shear in the panels. Discuss the limitations of this approach. Assumptions: The structure behaves linearly. The components follow the idealised theory (stringers withstand only normal stresses, panels withstand only shear forces, and the shear ow in the panels is constant). Loads caused by internal pressure should not be considered. There is no warping in the fuselage. The stringers local moment of inertia can be neglected when calculating the moment of inertia of the whole section.

ETH Zrich Zentrum fr Strukturtechnologien

G. Molinari W. Raither

Aerospace Structures
Spring Semester 2011

Exercise 6

Table 3: Mechanical properties of the aluminium alloy 7075T4

Nominal composition % Zn 5.6, Mg 2.5, Cu 1.6, Cr 0.25

Condition

Elastic modulus GPa 72

0.2% proof stress MPa 505

Tensile strength MPa 570

Elong. %

T4 (heat-treated and aged naturally to a substantially stable condition)

11

Quelle: E. A. Brandes, G. B. Brook, Smithells Light Metals Handbook , Reed Elsevier 1998, p. 24

Table 4: Loads on the fuselage section

Tx [N] 2000

Ty [N] -3000

Tz [N] 0

Mx [N m] 16000

My [N m] 9000

Mz [N m] -5500

Width b T-shaped stringers 40 mm

Height h 40 mm

Thickness t 3.0 mm

Table 5: Size of the stringers

0.5
I

1
VI

t
V

0 II

VII

h
5
IV

3
III

t b
(b) Shape of the stringers

0.5 0.5

4 0 x 0.5

(a) Fuselage cross-section

ETH Zrich Zentrum fr Strukturtechnologien

G. Molinari W. Raither