CONTENTS

1. Design Requirements and Mission Profile

1.1 1.2

Design Requirements Mission Profile Research of Similar Aircrafts Determination of Aircraft Gross Weight Estimation of We/W0 Estimation of Wf/W0

2. First Weight Estimate

2.1 2.2

2.2.1 2.2.2

2.2.3 Estimation of W0 3. Conclusions 4. References

1. Design Requirements and Mission Profile

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1.1 Design Requirements

It is required to design a strategic military airlifter which can take heavy payload and has the capability of strategic airdrop.The required design specifications of the aircraft are as follows:(i)Payload Capacity = 70000 Kg (ii)Cargo compartment volume = 18m x 4m x 4m (iii)Operating Range = 7000 Km (iv)Take off & Landing distance = 750 m (v)Cruise speed = 800 Km/hr The aircraft should be powered by four turboprop engines. The aircraft should be able to take off and land in adverse environment like high altitude & low temperature

1.2 Mission Profile

The military transport aircrafts are used for a variety of missions. So the aircrafts mission profile is drawn based on various inputs which include range, requirements of customer, type of mission and operational analysis. The Simple Cruise mission is used for transport purpose. In this case, the aircraft is designed to achieve a certain cruise range. The aircraft can also be used for other complex missions like air-dropping of weapons and army personnel which are also known as Low Strike Dash missions. These type of missions are executed at relatively lower altitudes. The typical profile for this mission is shown in Fig 1.1

Figure 1.1 Mission Profile of the aircraft

2. First Weight Estimate

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This section describes the procedure used for first weight estimate of the aircraft. The first weight estimate is also referred to as Design Take-Off Gross Weight . Design Take-Off Gross Weight comprises of the following weights:
1. 2. 3. 4.

Crew Weight Wc Payload Weight Wp Fuel Weight Wf Empty Weight We (i.e. weight of the aircraft without the above constituents) W0 = Wc + Wp + Wf+ We (E2.1)

The above break-up is represented mathematically by Equation E2.1 W0: Design Take-Off Gross Weight The crew and payload weights are chosen during the Design Specifications and are known. For simplification in calculations, Equation E2.1 is rearranged and expressed as a function of Empty-Weight Fraction (We/W0) and Fuel-Weight Fraction (Wf/W0) W0 = Wc + Wp + (Wf/W0)W0 + (We/W0)W0 Hence, expression for W0 is obtained as: W0 = (Wc + Wp)/(1 (Wf/W0) (We/W0)) The steps involved in the estimation procedure are as follows
1. 2. 3. 4.

(E2.2)

Research of similar aircrafts. Weight Specification based on Design Requirements. Estimation of Empty-Weight Fraction and Fuel-Weight Fraction. Gross Weight Calculations based on Iterative solutions.

The first estimate procedure is explained in further details in the following subsections.

2.1 Research of Similar Aircrafts

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This was the first step in the estimation procedure. The aircrafts with similar design specifications and mission profile were found. Table 2.1 presents the values of Wc, Wp, Wf/W0 and We/W0 for the researched aircrafts.
Table 2.1 Details of the weight of similar aircrafts.
Aircraft Lockheed Martin C-130J Airbus A400M Atlas Antonov An-70 Lockheed C-141 Starlifter Ilyushin Il-76 Boeing C-17 Globe Master Lockheed C-5 Galaxy Wc 300 400 400 500 500 300 400 Wp 19050 37000 47000 42868 50000 77519 122470 We/W0 0.431782 0.542553 0.456759 0.445864 0.474359 0.482759 0.452415 Wf/W0 0.324448 0.192199 0.216345 0.259116 0.266667 0.223972 0.225092 W0 79378 141000 145000 147000 195000 265350 381000

2.2 Determination of Aircraft Gross Weight

This section describes the estimation of gross weight based on the empty-weight fraction and fuel- weight fraction estimation. Firstly, the historical data was summarised in the Table 2.1. The plots P2.1 and P2.2 were drawn for the similar aircrafts. The choice of gross weight of the aircraft was based upon the study of historical trends for design specification, The values of We/W0 and Wf/W0 corresponding to the chosen gross weight are obtained by interpolation on the plots. These are statistically obtained values of We/W0, Wf/W0 and W0 based on historical trends. So an iterative process is employed to obtain the values which comply with the equation E2.2.The details of the estimations are given in the following subsections.

2.2.1 Estimation of We/W0

The amount of fuel required by an aircraft depends on a variety of factors like the type of mission, aerodynamics of the aircraft, and the engines aircraft fuel consumption. As a first approximation, the fuel weight is assumed to be proportional to the aircraft weight. This is an important assumption and simplifies calculation done using equation E2.2 for gross weight. The first approximate value is obtained corresponding to the first gross weight estimate by interpolation on the plot P2.1 Here the first gross weight W0 = 200 tonnes The corresponding value of We/W0 = 0.467 But the values We/W0 and Wf/W0 obtained fails to be consistent with equation E2.2 i.e. (details in the next sub-section). To avoid such inconsistency, an iterative process was used which is described in section 2.2.3 Equation of best linear fit: We/W0 = 0.4695-7.387x10-10(W0 -148300) (E2.3)

Plot P2.1: Variation of We/W0 with W0 for similar aircrafts

2.2.2 Estimation of Wf/W0

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The Wf/W0 and W0 of similar aircrafts is plotted using Table 2.1. The trend shown in the plot P2.2 is that of decreasing Wf/W0 with increasing size of military aircrafts. The Wf/W0 is obtained by the same procedure as done in 2.2.1 Equation of Linear best fit: Wf/W0 = 0.2555 1.779x10-7(W0 -128400) (E2.4)

Plot P2.2 Variation of Wf/W0 with W0 for similar aircrafts

2.2.3 Estimation of W0
As described in section 2.2.1, the first estimate values of We/W0, Wf/W0 obtained from the plots lack consistency with the equation E2.2. The required gross weight and We/W0 & Wf/W0 were found iteratively as follows:i.

The new gross weight W0* was found using the statistically obtained values of We/W0 and Wf/W0 from equation E2.2 We/W0 and Wf/W0 values corresponding to W0* were found using equations E2.3 & E2.4 The iterations were continued until the solution of W0* converged to the chosen gross weight value. The values of We/W0 and Wf/W0 at which the solution converged were taken as the required values.

ii.

iii.

3. Conclusions
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The first estimate values of W0, We/W0 and Wf/W0 were found to be as follows:

W0 = 238992 Kg We/W0 = 0.4694 Wf/W0 = 0.236

On comparison with an aircraft of weight similar in mission profile and weight, the aircraft was found to have double the payload of the existing aircraft. Hence with the same gross take-off weight it can carry heavier payload.

4. References

Aircraft Design: A conceptual approach by P Raymer, Daniel. http://www.simviation.com. http://www.ilyushin.org/eng/products/cargo/76td.html http://www.heinkel.jp/yspack/ysf_c2_eng.html http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/docs/101_Things.htm http://www.aircraftcompare.com http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/AircraftDesign.html