Aircraft Design

Aero474
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik
E-mail: Mohammad.tawfik@gmail.com

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Design Example

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Problem definition
A military training aircraft
Load factors +6 & -3G
Two pilots, 105 Kg each
Baggage 22.5 Kg
Takeoff distance of 1500 m
Climb to 5000 m
Cruise 15 min at a speed of no less than 87 m/s
Manoeuvre at 103 m/3 for 60 min
Return to base
Taxi and parking

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Data Collection
Data of 30 different aircraft was collected
Some relations were plotted and
regression relations were calculated

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Thrust History
1.2

0.8
T /T ma x(25.98 KN)

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Ye a r

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Empty to Take-off weight
0.8

0.75

0.7

0.65
W o/W e

0.6

0.55

0.5

0.45

0.4
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
W o (Kg)

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Wing loading vs aspect ratio
550

500

450

400

350
L (Kg/ m^2)

300

250

200

150

100
4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
AR

Aero474
Aircraft Design
JPAT Data

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Preliminary Sizing
Using the relations obtained from the data,
equations could be obtained to fill in the
equation
W o=W e W f W pW c
You obtain a quadratic equation in the
take-off weight which can be solved readily
The number was 3220 Kg

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Preliminary Sizing
Similarly, the wing loading could be found
2
to be: 290 Kg/m
From which you get the wing area to be 11
m2
Which yields and Aspect ratio of 5 and
span of 7.5 m

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Geometric Considerations
From the data collected, the taper ratio of
0.5 was used
The distance between the tail and the is,
similarly, taken to be 3 times the mean
wing chord
For the area of the stabilizers, the volume
ratio was the determinant as per a
reference and taken as 0.7
Aero474
Aircraft Design
First Sketch

Aero474
Aircraft Design
First Sketch

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Undercarriage Placement

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Longitudinal Position

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Lateral Position

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Components Weight
Formulae are given in different references
to estimate the weight of different
components
What is really important is the weight
distribution
The distribution of the masses of the
aircraft will be assumed to be regular as
per the external size
Aero474
Aircraft Design
Mass Distribution Table

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Aerodynamic Performance Estimation

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Aerodynamic Performance
Estimation
The Aerodynamic coefficients may be
evaluated using different methods
There are simple formulae to determine
them
You may use some Lattice methods to
estimate the coefficients
You may solve the full Navier Stokes
equations!
Aero474
Aircraft Design
 For the Example
Selection of the aerofoil was NACA4212
for the wing and NACA0009 for the tail.
Using Prandtl lifting line theory, the wing
and tail lift coefficients were calculated
The induced drag coefficient was also
evaluated using the same theory
Finally, the maximum lift coefficient was
calculated using emperical relations.
Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Total Coefficients
Finally, the total lift, drag, and moment
coefficients were calculated
BUT Flight stability literature indicated
that the moment and lift coefficients were
not adequate!
First modification was to change the tail
incidence angle

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Total Lift
1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6
CL total

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4
-4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Alpha

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Lift-Drag ratio variation with CL
12

10

6
CL/ CD

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
CL

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 CL-M curves for different
altitudes
2

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1 CL SL
CL

CL 5000
0.8 CL 10000

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
M

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 CRITICAL!!!
Reviewing those results, it was found that
the lift coefficient at cruise conditions is so
much near the maximum!
To remedy this problem, the wing loading
was reduced!
Increasing the area of the wing, changed
EVERYTHING!!!

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Flight Dynamics and Stability

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Flight Dynamics and Stability
Now that we have all the aerodynamic
coefficients, we may approach the problem
of dynamics of the aircraft

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Longitudinal Dynamics &
Stability
The Response for an impulse elevator
input could be plotted using the Runge-
Kutta method
The two main modes of motion of the
aircraft in longitudinal direction are:
Phugoid
Short period

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Pitching Angle Response

Aero474
Aircraft Design
The reason for instability!

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Third iteration!
Now, the aircraft need to be modified again!
However, before doing all that effort again, let's
examine the weight requirements of the fuel
When recalculating the fuel requirements using
detailed relations for each step of the mission,
the weight was reduced
That lead to the stability of the aircraft!
Fuel weight was reduced by more than 50%!!!

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Aerodynamic Refinement
A VLM code was developed for the
aerodynamic analysis of aircraft
components
The results obtained for the combined
wing-tail problem gave better estimates for
the aerodynamic characteristics

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Performance Analysis

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Engine Performance
14000

12000

10000

8000 0
3300
T (N)

5000
6000 6600
10000
13000
4000 16000

2000

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
M

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Drag-Thrust vs Mach Number

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Max M vs Altitude
14000

12000

10000

8000
Altitude (m)

6000

4000

2000

0
0.65 0.67 0.69 0.71 0.73 0.75 0.77 0.79 0.81
M max

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Vertical Speed vs Mach No.

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Climb Speed vs Altitude

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Time to reach Altitude
500

450

400

350

300
Time (Sec)

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000
Altitude

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Other Parameters
Range
Endurance
Flight in a horizontal circle
Take-off runway
Stall speed
Time to reach 5000 m

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Aircraft Design
Wing Loads

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Aircraft Design
 Forces and Moments
14000 4000
12000
10000 3000
8000
2000

My
Vz

6000
4000 1000
2000
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Y Y
30000
25000
20000
15000
Mx

10000
5000
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Y

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Aircraft Skeleton

Aero474
Aircraft Design
Wing Section

Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Cost Estimates
Engineering hours
Tooling hours
Manufacturing hours
Quality control hours
Development Support
Flight test cost
Material cost
Avionics
Engine
Aero474
Aircraft Design
 Homework #5
Prepare a 30 minutes presentation
Presentation includes all your work up to
this point
History, data, project plan, etc...
Plus preliminary weight estimations and
geometric considerations

Aero474
Aircraft Design