BALANCE CHART DESIGN

Moment & index

A330/A340 Family – Weight & Balance Engineer Course Version 1.1

Content

1 Introduction

2 Moment

3 Index

4 Exercise

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Content

1 Introduction

2 Moment

3 Index

4 Exercice

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1. Introduction

 How to determine CG after loading ?

CG2 CG1
W2 W1

0 H2 H3 H1
CG3
W3 = W1+W2
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Content

1 Introduction

2 Moment

3 Index

4 Exercise

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2. Moment

 The influence of an item depends on 2 factors:

 Weight
 Distance to a reference point

Moment = Weight  Distance

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2. Moment

 How to determine CG after loading ?

CG2 CG1
W2 W1
Total moment equals
the sum of all the
individual moments:

0 H2 H3 H1
W3  (H3 – Href) = W1  (H1 – Href)
CG3
W3 = W1+W2 + W2  (H2 – Href)

W1  H1  W2  H2
H3 
W1  W2
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2. Moment

Total moment equals

the sum of all the
individual moments:

Loaded aircraft moment =

empty aircraft moment + passenger moment
+ cargo moment + fuel moment

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2. Moment

 What is the reference axis ?

 The axis of reference used in the Balance chart is the 25% RC
(H25).
z
H25 Hitem

Hitem – H25

Harm =0 x
Mitem = W  (Hitem – H25)
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2. Moment

 Some figures:
 A330:
• DOW = 129 000 kg, H-arm = 34.286 m, H25 = 33.155 m
• Moment = 129 000  (34.286 – 33.155) = 145 835 kg.m
• Cargo 1 loaded: W=10 000 kg, H-arm = 17.90 m
• Moment = 10 000  (17.90 - 33.1555) = - 152 555 kg.m

The moment creates very large figures not easy to deal with

Too high…
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Content

1 Introduction

2 Moment

3 Index

4 Exercise

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 3. Index

 Definition
 Moments are divided by a constant (C) in order to
facilitate hand computations

M
Index   K
C
to reduce the figures
For the A330 C = 2 500 kg.m

DOW = 129 000 kg, DO H-arm = 34.286 m, I = 145 835 / 2 500 = 58.3

Cargo 1 loaded: W = 10 000 kg, H-arm = 17.90 m, I = -152 555 / 2 500 = - 61

Loaded aircraft: W = 139 000 kg, I= 58.3 – 61 = - 2.7

More reasonable but final index negative…

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3. Index

 Definition
 An arbitrary constant (K) is added to avoid negative
index values

M to avoid negative values

Index   K
C
to reduce the figures
For the A330 C = 2 500 kg.m K = 100

DOW = 129 000 kg, DO H-arm = 34.286 m, I = 145 835 / 2 500 + 100 = 158.3

Cargo 1 loaded: W = 10 000 kg, H-arm = 17.90 m, I = -152 555/ 2 500 = - 61

Loaded aircraft: W = 139 000 kg, I= 97.3

Easy to use !
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3. Index

 Index definition function of Harm:

M
I K
C

W  (H arm  H 25 )
I  100
2 500

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3. Index

 Definition of the Reference Chord

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3. Index

 Index formula function of %RC:

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3. Index

Total index equals

the sum of all the
individual indexes.

Loaded aircraft index=

empty aircraft index + passenger index
+ cargo index + fuel index

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