Sathyabama university Department of Aeronautical Engineering

SATHYABAMA UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

SAEX 1025- AIRCRAFT DESIGN CLASS NOTES

SYLLABUS

UNIT I REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS IN AVIATION 10 hrs.

Categories and types of aircrafts – various configurations – Layouts and their relative merits –
strength, stiffness, fail safe and fatigue requirements – Maneuvering load factors – Gust and
maneuverability envelopes – Balancing and maneuvering loads on tail planes.

UNIT II POWER PLANT TYPES AND CHARACTERISTICS 10 hrs.

Characteristics of different types of power plants – Propeller characteristics and selection –

Relative merits of location of power plant.

UNIT III PRELIMINARY DESIGN 10 hrs.

Selection of geometric and aerodynamic parameters – Weight estimation and balance diagram –
Drag estimation of complete aircraft – Level flight, climb, take – off and landing calculations –
range and endurance – static and dynamic stability estimates – control requirements.

UNIT IV SPECIAL PROBLEMS 10 hrs.

Layout peculiarities of subsonic and supersonic aircraft – optimization – of wing loading to

achieve desired performance – loads on undercarriages and design requirements.

UNIT V STRUCTURAL DESIGN 10 hrs.

Estimation of loads on complete aircraft and components – Structural design of fuselage, wings
and undercarriages, controls, connections and joints. Materials for modern aircraft – Methods of
analysis, testing and fabrication.

TEXT BOOKS

1. D.P. Raymer, “Aircraft Conceptual design”, AIAA Series, 1988.

2. G. Corning, “Supersonic & Subsonic Airplane Design”, II Edition, Edwards Brothers Inc.,
Michigan, 1953.

3. E.F. Bruhn, “Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures”, Tristate Offset Co., U.S.A.,
1980.

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Sathyabama university Department of Aeronautical Engineering

REFERENCES

1. E. Torenbeek, “Synthesis of Subsonic Airplane Design”, Delft University Press, London,

1976.

2. H.N.Kota, Integrated design approach to Design fly by wire” Lecture notes Interline Pub.
Bangalore, 1992.

3. A.A. Lebedenski, “Notes on airplane design”, Part-I, I.I.Sc., Bangalore

UNIVERSITY EXAM QUESTION PAPER PATTERN

Max. Marks: 80 Exam Duration: 3 hrs.

PART A : 2 Questions from each unit, each carrying 2 marks20 marks

PART B : 2 Questions from each unit with internal choice, each carrying 12 marks60 marks

(70% Theory and 30% Problems may be asked)

UNIT-I

Introduction

Purpose and scope of airplane design: The process of design in general involves use of
knowledge in diverse fields to arrive at a product. Airplane design involves synthesizing
knowledge in areas like aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, systems and manufacturing
techniques, to arrive at the configuration of an airplane that will satisfy requirements regarding
functional aspects, operational safety and cost . The design of an airplane is a complex
engineering task. It generally involves the following.

i) Obtaining the specifications and determining the geometric parameters.

ii) Selection of power plant.
iii) Structural design and working out details of construction.
iv) Fabrication of prototype.
v) Testing of prototypes
vi) Determination of airplane performance, stability, loads and structural integrity from flight
tests.
Stages in Airplane Design:
The design process can be divided into the following three stages.

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Sathyabama university Department of Aeronautical Engineering

a) Project feasibility study.

b) Preliminary Design.
c) Design Project

A) Project Feasibility Studies:

The aim of this study is to evolve a complete set of specifications. It involves the following.

1) Comprehensive market survey to assess the number of airplanes needed.

2) Study of the operating conditions for the proposed airplane. These conditions include landing
field length, type of landing field, weather conditions in flight and near landing sites and
visibility.
3) Study of relevant design requirements as laid down by civil and military regulating agencies.
4) Evaluation of existing designs of similar airplanes and possibility of incorporating new
concepts.
5) Collection of data on relevant power plants.
6) Laying down preliminary specifications which may consist of the following.
a) Performance: Maximum velocity, maximum rate of climb, range, endurance, rate of turn,
radius of turn, take-off and landing distances. b) pay load operating conditions.
B) Preliminary Design.

This stage of design process aims at producing a brochure containing preliminary drawings and
stating operational capabilities of the airplane for approval by the manufacturer or the customer.
It includes the following items.
i) Selection of geometrical parameters of main components based on design criteria.
ii) Arrangement of equipment, and control systems.
iii) Selection of power plant.
iv) Aerodynamic and stability calculations.
v) Preliminary structural design of main components.
vi) Weight estimation and c.g. travel.
vii) Preparation of 3-view drawing.
viii) Performance estimation.ix) Preparation of brochure.

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Sathyabama university Department of Aeronautical Engineering

C) Design Project:
After the preliminary design has been approved by the manufacture / customer , the detailed
design studies are carried out. These include the following.
1) Complete wind tunnel testing.
2) Construction of Mock-up: This is a full scale model of the airplane or its important sections.
This helps in
(a) efficient lay-out of structural components and equipments .(b) checking the clearances, firing
angles of guns, visibility etc. Currently this stage can be avoided by the use of CAD packages.
3)Complete wind tunnel testing of the approved configuration. Currently CFD
(Computational Fluid Dynamics) plays an important role in reducing the number of test to be
carried out.
4) Preparation of detailed design drawings.
5) Structural layout of all individual units and parts and their stress analysis.
6) structural and functional testing
7) supplying key and assembly diagrams.
8) Final selection of power plant, c.g. calculations, performance & stability calculations.
9) Fabrication of prototypes. Generally six prototypes are constructed . Some of them are
used for verifying structural integrity and functioning of various systems. Others are used for
flight testing to evaluate performance and stability.
10) Pre-production manufacture and flight testing to ensure that the defects in the prototype (s)
have been corrected .
11)Series production and flight testing to meet specified operational and airworthiness
requirements.
12)Obtaining type certificate :It is a legal document, issued by regulating agency like Federal
Aviation Agency (FAA) in USA, allowing the manufacturer to offer the item (e.g. aircraft ) for
sale.
Categories and types of aircrafts
Aircrafts are classified based on the a)purpose b) configuration

AIRCRAFTS
BASED ON PURPOSE BASED ON CONFIGURATION

Civil aircrafts Military aircrafts By shape,number and position of

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Sathyabama university Department of Aeronautical Engineering

wings
Passenger a/c Fighter a/c By type of fuselage
Cargo a/c Bomber a/c By location of horizontal tail
Agricultural a/c Interceptor a/c By type engines
Sports a/c Reconnaissance a/c By no of Engines
Ambulance a/c Troop carriers By location of power plants
Rescue a/c By type and location of landing gear

Classification Based on shape and position of wings

 Braced biplane
 Braced sesquiplane
 Semi cantilevermonoplane(pushpak,piper cub)
 Semi- cantilever parasol monoplane(Baby Ace)
 Cantilever low wing monoplane(DC-3,HJT-16,H-18)
 Cantilever high wing monoplane(An-22,Breguet 941,Fokker friendship)
 Cantilever mid wing monoplane(Hunter,Canberra)
 Straight wing(F-104A)
 Swept wing monoplane(HF-24,Mig-21)
 Delta monoplane(Avro-707,B-58 Hustler,Avro Vulcan)

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Sathyabama university Department of Aeronautical Engineering

Classification by type of fuselage

 Conventional single fuselage design(ex: HT-2,Boeing 707)

 Twin fuselage design
 Pod and boom construction(packet,Vampire

Classification by the location of horizontal tail

 Horizontal tail located behind the wing(Avro 748)

 Tailless design with no horizontal tail(B-58,Mirage IV,Concorde)
 Canard design with horizontal tail located ahead of the wing(XB-70A)

Classification by types of landing gear

 Retractable landing gear(Dc 9,SAAB-35)

 Non retractable landing gear(Pushpak,An-14,fuji KM-2)
 Tail wheel landing gear(HT-2,Dakotacessna 185)
 Nose wheel landing gear(Avro-748, Tu-134)
 By cycle landing gear(Yak-25,HS-P,1127,U-2)

Classification by no of engines

 Single engine aircraft(HJT-16,Hunter,DH Chipmunk)

 Twin engine aircraft(HF-24,Dc-3,Canberra)
 Multi engine aircraft(An-22,Boeing 707)

Types of engines

 Piston engines
 Jet engines
 Ram jet engines
 Rockets

Location of power plants

 Engine located in fuselage nose(HT-2,Yak-9,A-109)

 Pusher engine located in the rear of fuselage(Bede XBD-2)
 Engines submerged in the wing-a) at the root (Tu-104,Tu-16) b) Along the span(U-2,YF-
12A)
 Engines in nacelles suspended under the wing(Boeing 707,DC-8Convair880)
 Engines(jet) located at the rear of the fuselage(VC-10,11-62)
 Engines located within the fuselage(HF-24,Lightning,MIG-19)
Primary requirements of civil aircrafts

 high level of safety,

 high payload carrying capacity,

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Sathyabama university Department of Aeronautical Engineering

 economy in operation,
 comforts,
 ability to fly in any weather and
 ability to use aerodromes of respective classes.
Primary requirements of bomber

 long range,
 high load carrying capacity,
 high speed ,
 high endurance,
 high ceiling and
 adequate fire protection.
Primary requirements of interceptor

 high rate of climb,

 high ceiling (3 to 4 km above contemporary
bombers),
 high speed ,
 high maneuverability,
 ability to fly in any weather and
 appropriate armament.

Flying Wing Design

A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft which has no definite fuselage, with most of the
crew, payload and equipment being housed inside the main wing structure

Advantages of tailless and flying wing design

 Small drag-reduction of the number of non lifting surfaces and minimizing the
interference effects lead to much lower cD.
 Smaller structural weight. In this design the horizontal tail and that part of the fuselage
carrying the tail is eliminated.The bending moment is less
 Large thickness at the root of the wing .The structure can therefore be made lighter due to
the increasedrigidity of the wing section

Disadvantages

 Restricted c.g travel due to the absence of horizontal stabilizer

 The wing tips are wash-out. This causes a negative lift at wing tips and hence a larger
wing area is required to develop the same overall lift.
 Poor directional stability
 Use of high lift devices results in large diving moments.
 Reversal of panel stresses at wing tips-Due to the negative lift at the tips of flying wing
some of the wing panels have to be designed for both tensile and compressive loads

prepared by Alexander.J and Elphej Churchil.S.J 2013-14