Design Interlude 3

Aircraft Layout

Purpose - to let others know where everything

in the vehicle is, how the vehicle is
constructed and more importantly, that you
have thoughtfully considered both!

Concept Sketches

• Suitable for the introduction, point of departure

1
 Component Placement

• Simple sketches can be used for placing of

components, weight build-ups, layout, etc. - note that
2D views are limited - sense of size and placement
are restricted to a single plane

CAD

• Allows detailed exploded

views of aircraft design
elements, particularly
structural and sub-
systems

2
Examples

Examples

3
 “3-View” Examples

• Simple examples of 3-view

(traditional orthogonal CAD)

“3-View” Examples

4
Structural CAD 3-View

CU Mars plane

Detailed 3-View

5
 Detailed 3-View

AIAA Contest Examples - Vendetta

• 11x17 foldout

6
 AIAA Contest Examples - Vendetta

• Foldout

Other CAD Examples

• Common and unique components of a modular

design

7
 Design Interlude 3

Landing Gear

Configurations

• Configurations are based upon the number and

location of the gear, notably the main support and
stabilizing wheel(s)

Raymer

8
 Tricycle

• For most aircraft, the choice will be a tricycle design

» Offers balance between control, stability, and weight

• Nose gear holds 10-

25% of weight in taxi,
but main gear holds all
weight during take-off
• Gear location
determined by c.g.
• Gear height
determined by
distance from gear to
tail and attack angle (to
prevent tail sitting)
Raymer

Taildragger

• Older aircraft used the tail dragger; simple design

that also provides a large attack angle during ground
roll (aids in STOL)
• Provides large
clearance for tractor
propellers (and wing
mounted props)
• More difficult to steer
on ground than tricycle
• Steep angle during
taxi, making loading
and pilot visibility
problematic
• Used only for smaller
aircraft

9
 Nosewheel vs. Tailwheel

• The moment of the wheel can be stabilizing or

destabilizing; instability leads to greater proclivity of
groundloops (wing tip over during taxi and TO/L)

Inline/Single Designs

• Used for high aspect

ratio wings and thin
fuselage not able to
handle the tip over
angle
• Bicycle requires level
takeoff attitude
• Requires outrigger
wheels to prevent tip
over (wheels do not
support load, thus flight
must be level in take off
and landing to prevent
outrigger failure)
• Lower weight than
traditional
undercarriages

10
 Quad/Bogey Designs

• Useful when large weights • Variant of the tricycle, but

are required in nose (cargo
aircraft, viz. nose loaders)
• Requires flat TO/Ls;
susceptible to crosswinds
and crabbing
designed to carry more
weight (“bogeys” distribute
weight on tarmac)
• Increases survivability during
tire blowouts

Raymer

Guidelines

• Nose wheel carries about 10-25% of the weight

during taxi, but main wheels should be designed to
carry full aircraft load (plus landing loads)
• Gear contracts under load; thus, when in the air, gear
will be longer and require more length (10-30%)
when retracted into fuselage
• Number of 30
An-225

wheels? 25 C-5
A380
y = 1.63E-05x + 3.15E+00
» Simple bench- 20

marking shows clear 15

777
747
trend 10

• See Raymer or 5
C-17

Torenbeek for 0
0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000 1400000 1600000

more details GTOW [lbs]

11
 Rollover Angle Determination

• Use a θ-φ diagram

2hg
tan φ = tanΓ + tan θ tan Λ
b− t

dθ  2l1 l2CL( LOF ) 

θLOF = α LOF +  + 
dt  VLOF gdCL / dα 

• For transports, dθ/dt is typically 3-5 o/sec

Typical Gear Design

Retraction methods

Raymer

12
 Typical Gear Design

B-52

An-225 A380
F-18D

C-130

757

Fixed Gear an Option?

• Depends on design - balance increase in drag vs.

increase in weight, complexity and cost
• Streamline fixed gear!

13