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This content downloaded from 104.194.102.249 on Tue, 20 Oct 2015 02:48:38 UTC
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Aircraft Engineering
By T. P. WRIGHT,B.S.
Chief Engineer, Airplane Division, Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co. Inc.
BY
aircraft is meant any weightcarrying device or structure designed to be supported by the air.
There are two classes of aircraft,
heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air,
the former obtaining its lift from
dynamic air pressure, the latter from
buoyancy due to displacement of air by
a lighter gas. The present article will
deal entirely with heavier-than-aircraft or airplanes.
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AIRCRAFT
ENGINEERING
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Airplane Engineering
Airplane Engineering is perhaps
unique in that it includes within itself
practically all other recognized branches
of engineering. Although, of course,
no branch of engineering when dealt
with in practice can be found to be
isolated and out of contact of some sort
with other arts and sciences, it appears
that in Airplane Engineering, more
than in other cases, a considerable
number of distinct branches of engineering assume a major and equal
importance.
Naval Architecture
For the general method of attack of
new problems, the airplane engineer
borrows from the naval architect. All
engineers base their procedure, or
should do so, on the experience of others
in their field, yet it is perhaps more true
in naval architecture than in other
branches, that new design is made to
follow closely a precedent of former
practice; with only sufficient improvement to warrant the new structure.
Aside from the general method of
attack there are three or four specific
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ENGINEERING
AIRCRAFT
defined as covering the limited field of
aerodynamics although it is frequently
and perhaps more correctly made
synonomous with airplane engineering.
The aeronautical engineer deals with
the forces produced on solid bodies by
air in motion. His particular field in
airplane design is, therefore, air resistance, stability, and controllability, all
of which are determined both analytically and experimentally. The wind
tunnel, described above, is the equipment of the aeronautical engineer.
Civil Engineering
In matters of structural design, the
methods of the civil engineer are closely
followed. They are, however, extended and refined to an extent seldom,
if ever, required in bridge or building
construction. This refinementof structural analysis is necessitated by the
extreme importance of weight saving,
above referred to, and by the equal or
greater requirement of absolute structural safety. Each detail, as well as
the main structural members, must be
carefully analyzed for strength and
weight; the two factors interact throughout the design. The problems encountered are more novel and varying
in character, and, therefore, require
closer study than is usually necessary in
the structural analyses involved in the
older branches of structural engineering, such as the design of bridges or
buildings.
Mechanical Engineering
The mechanical engineer is found in
an airplane engineering organization in
the design staff, where he lays out and
designs not only the general arrangement of the complete machine, but also
the detail parts and mechanisms. The
number and diversity of parts involved
in an airplane are frequently not realized. Essentially an airplane consists
of a body, the functions of which are to
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AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING
opposed to the conditions that maintained during the early stages of development, when the men interested in
aviation were either pure scientists or
inventors, it has been shown that today
the engineering phase of the art is
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