FLIGHT VEHICLE DESIGN

AIRCRAFT DESIGN

Introduction:-
Aircraft design is both art and science and is a separate discipline of aeronautical
engineering different from analytical discipline such as aerodynamic structural, control
and propulsion. It is an intellectual engineering process of creating on paper flying
machine.
• To meet certain specifications
• Certain finite innovative, new design and technology
Aircraft design is by its nature an iterative process. This means that estimates and
assumptions have sometimes to be made with inadequate data such “guess estimates”
must be check when more accurate data on the aircraft is available.
Requirements are set by prior design trade studies. Concepts are developed to meet
requirements. Design analysis frequently points towards new concepts and technologies
which can initiate a whole new design effort. All of these activities are equally important
in producing a good aircraft concept.
The start of the design process requires the recognition of a need. This normally comes
from a “project brief” or a request for proposals (RFP)

Purpose and scope of aircraft design:-

An airplane is designed to meet the functional and safety requirements. The actual
process of design is a task involving
• Selection of airplane type and data
• Determination of the geometric parameters
• Selection of power plant
• Structural design and analysis of various components
• Determination of airplane flight and operational characteristics

Preliminary design:-
It briefly describes the overall process by which an aircraft is designed. The preliminary
phase starts with the project brief and ends when the designers have found and defined
feasible base line design layout .it provides a root map from the initial project brief to the
validated “base line “aircraft layout. This includes sections that deal with
• Defining and understanding the problem
• Collecting useful information
• Setting the aircraft requirements
• Producing initial aircraft configuration

Finally the initial aircraft layout can be refined using constrained analysis and trade off
studies. At the end of the preliminary design phase, a document is produced which

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contains a summary of the technical and geometric details known about the base line
design. This forms the initial draft of the document that will be subsequently revised to
contain a thorough description of the aircraft. This is known as the aircraft type
specification.

The preliminary design task include:-

• Layout of the main component
• Arrangement of airplane equipment and control system
• Selection of power plant
• Aerodynamic and stability calculations
• Preliminary structural design of components
• Weight estimation and centre of gravity travel
• Preliminary wind tunnel and structural design
• Drafting the preliminary 3-D view drawing

Project Design:-
It takes the aircraft configuration define toward the end of the preliminary design phase
and involves conducting analysis to improve the technical confidence in the design.
• Wind tunnel test and CFD analysis are used to refine the aerodynamic shape of
aircraft
• Finite element analysis is used to understand the structural integrity, stability and
control analysis and simulations will be used to appreciate the flying characteristics.
• Mass and balance estimations will be performed in increasingly fine detail.
• Operational factors (cost, maintenance, marketing and manufacturing process)will be
investigated to determine what effects these may have on the final design layout .all
these investigations will be done so that we will be able to take a decision to “proceed
to manufacture”.

Detailed Design:-
The third phase of the design process ie., detailed design starts when a decision to
built the aircraft has been taken. In this phase all the details of the aircraft are
translated into the drawings, manufacture instructions and supply requests (sub
contractor agreement and purchase orders) progressively throughout this phase, these
instructions are released to the manufacturer.

Tasks of Design Phase:-

Preliminary Design:-
• Freeze the configuration
• Develop lofting
• Design major items
• Develop actual cost estimate

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 Project Design:-

• Development of wind tunnel models and detailed model study

• Stress analysis of individual components indicates or includes the static,
dynamic, fatigue and aero elasticity
• Aerodynamic analysis by wind tunnels and CFD

Detailed Design:-
• Design the actual pieces to be built
• Design the tooling and fabrication process
• Test major items landing gear etc.,
• Finalize the weight and performance estimates
• Flight test analysis

Design Procedure for Aircraft:-

Aircraft design is to know what type of aircraft is to be design, size and purpose.
Hence designer must familiarize with specifications and command on existing
aircraft.

Specification for General Aircraft:-

These specifications made by the customer based on the requirements or based on
the market selling and its potential to establish superiority.
1. Larger, more comfortable seat with more luggage
2. Premium in Flight service
3. Separation from tourist class passengers in airport launches during
boarding and un-boarding of the aircraft
4. Faster flight checking and post flight language retrieval
5. Advance technologies to reduce operating cost
6. Operate from regional airports
7. Alternative rolls for the aircrafts

Design Specifications (General):-

Designer prior to design establishes these specifications based on customer
requirements – Economy, Time, Size and Purpose.
• No. of Engines
• Wing type
• Material used
• Landing gear type
In general for passenger Aircraft Engines two or more
• Cantilever wing
• Metal or composite
• Retractable landing gear

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 Performance requirements:-
• Range
• Take off distance
• Stalling velocity
• Endurance
• Maximum velocity
• Rate of climb
• Maximum and Minimum turn rates
• Maximum load factor
• Service ceiling
• Cost
• Reliability and Maintainability
• Maximum size

Stations Specifications:-

Station:-
Accommodate Pilot, Co-pilot and forward portion it should be isolated from
passenger compartment by bulk heads with doors.

Passengers Cockpit:-
Located 1st Cockpit next to cockpit passenger compartment provides comfortable
and required to number of parts
It contains Windows for each seat position.

Mail and Baggage:-

Located at nose, under cockpit and cabin floor should be accessible from left or
part size.

Preliminary weight estimation:-

Introduction:-
No aeroplane can get off the ground unless it produce a lift greater than its weight
and no airplane design process can get off the ground without the first estimation of the
gross take off weight. In preliminary design of an airplane we cannot go any further until
we have a first estimate of the take off gross weight however the weight estimated in this
stage is crude and can be refined further.
Preliminary design take off weight of the aircraft as it begins the machine for
which it was design. Weight is the main consideration as far as the structural aspect of
design or as a matter any airplane design of any configuration .Engineer always strives
hard to reduce the structural weight without compromising on the strength factor because

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less weight means less take off time. Thus helping in fuel economy and also for given
amount of fuel more payload or passengers can be accommodated.
The weight of aircraft is determined in two stages.
The first estimation of weight is only approximate one and the value obtained
gives a rough idea of the weight but it is enough to design whether the design is heading
in right direction or not.
Design take off gross weight can be broken down into
1. structural weight(Ws)
2. payload weight (Wp)
3. power plant weight (Wpp)
4. fuel weight Wc)
5. fixed equivalent weight (Wfe)

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Passenger aircraft weight fraction:-
Based on the study of existing passenger aircraft, weight fraction is approximated
for first estimation .We can some what rely with this data for initial estimation with the
use of this fraction we can approximately design our aircraft gross weight.

The weights below are listed in percentage of gross weight

1. Wing (13%-17%)
2. Tail (1.5%-2.5%)
3. Fuselage (8%-13%)
4. Main landing gear(5%-8%)
5. Tail wheel:-
1. For tricycle (4%-7%)
2. Main landing gear (1.5%-2.5%)
3. Nose (15%-25%)
6. Power plant (1%-2%)
7. Engine accessories (0.1%-0.4%)
8. Power plant control (2%-4%)
9. Propeller (0.3%-0.9%)
10. Starting system (0.3%-0.6%)
11. Lubricating system (1.5%-2.5%)
12. Fuel system (0.5%-1.2%)
13. Instruments
Surface control (1%-2%)
14. Furnishing (4%-10%)
15. Weight per passenger (90lb-215lb)
16. Communication equipment (2%-3%)
17. Possible useful load (food, water) (3.5lb-9lb)
18. De-icer installation (0.06%)
19. Residual fuel, oil (30lb per engine)

For economy of operation, the useful load must be about 25% - 40% of airplane
gross weight with this above detail, it is possible to make
1. Wing and tail surface area
2. Design layout
3. Location of passenger, cargo and fuselage equipment
4. Position of nacelle, fuel, oil tank and engine
5. Shape and position of wing tail surface

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Performance calculations:-
Performance requirements are set forth in specifications should meet or approached
.

Preliminary calculations:-
1. Maximum lift coefficient
2. Lift to drag ratio
3. Wing loading
4. Thrust to weight ratio
5. characters Take of distance
6. Service ceiling
7. Maximum endurance and range
8. Landing speed etc.,

As design progresses, more accurate data can be obtained from wind tunnel data, the
performance depend on external load as well. In two ways we can obtain accurate data:-
1. Theoretical calculations and it should be ensured that the result of calculations
are correct and no error as taken place.
2. Wind tunnel test by scale model. This is more satisfactory than calculation. But
most wind tunnel tests are carried on power of condition. Hence it is necessary to
carry out corrections for power effect. From wind tunnel test, we can get lift, drag,
propulsive property flow visualization and aerodynamic moments. This enable
designer to calculate all flight spped, rate of climb, ceiling, landing and take off
distance etc.,

Mock up:-
The construction of mock up which is essentially a full scale reproduction of
certain section of proposed design and is started immediately after preliminary design
phase. Mock up model is a flexible quantity which can be modified as design progresses
normally this is made by plywood or sheet metal.
It facilitate designer to
1. Installation
2. Accommodation
3. Accessibility problem
4. Arrangements of controls and cables
5. Ducts
6. Seating space and accessibility control

Second weight estimation:-

The second weight estimation will be made by detail consideration of each
component or group of component.

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1. Wing group :-
Components to be considered as wing panels, ailerons, flaps, struts, wires,
fairings, attaching both etc.,

Important factors:-

Wing area, aspect ratio, lift to drag ratio, thickness by chord, taper ratio, load
considering ratio.
1. Effect of aerodynamic load – pressure and shear load
2. Effect of dead load – structure (spars, ribs etc.), unstructured (fuel etc.)

Determination:-
1. Material that resist bending of wing
2. Shear material
3. Ribs and other members

Bending considerations:-
1. Spars resist bending load
2. Cantilever beam – no end loads and stress by bending
3. Total lift in normal flight – gross weight

Shear considerations:-
1. Ribs – receives shear loads from skin through stiffness and redistribute among
stringers
2. Stiffened panel – resist shear by reducing effective length
3. Direct pressure – ribs are used to withstand these stresses

Tail group :
Tail surface weight is greatly influenced by wing and its position, aero
dynamic, static, stability requirements are also significant along with dynamic balance.

Fuselage group:-
Fuselage weight is based on gross weight and is given in terms of weight /
square feet , for this purpose fuselage is considered in three parts.
1. Front nose combination of 10% of total length
2. Centre cylinder portion
3. After 25% cone

Components to be considered:-
1. Skin
2. Bulk Head
3. Stringer
4. Frames
5. Longerons
6. Flooring and its support

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 7. Windows and their frames
8. Nose wheel provision
9. Nose installation
10. Pilot enclosure
11. Tail combination and its struts
12. Cabin ceiling and pressure installation

Load consideration:-
1. Circumferential stress
2. Longitudinal load
3. Pressurization load
4. Other external attachment (Wing, landing gear) and localized strength
consideration

Landing gear:-
Landing gear weight is considered in 2 parts:
1. Primary part – Chassis directly carry primary stress (gross weight and landing
load)
2. Secondary part – Wheel tires, tubes and retracting mechanism

Nacelle group:-
Weight of nacelle depends on size of engine in turn weight of engine and it
varies with position on wing, landing gear hoisted by nacelle or not, nacelle is a part of
wing or not.
The weight of power plant will depend on thrust requirements and can be
taken from power plant manual of engine that has previously been selected.

Fuel System:-
Weight depend on fuel capacity in turn range. Tank weight depends on
integral or separate tank. Integral tank eliminate separate tank weight but some structure
weight must be there to ceiling and leak proof. Integral tanks are less in weight than
separate tanks.

Instruments:-
Weight depends on number of instruments involved and this weight includes
tubing, wiring and supports . Instruments are divided in to 3 groups.
1. Auto pilot (Navigation)
2. Flight instruments
3. Engine instruments
Adding of individual weight calculation for this group gives the complete
weight of instrument.

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Surface controls:-
Weight consists of aileron, rudder, elevator, flap and tab controls. Weight of
the tabs entirely depends on loads. These weights are normally assumed as a function of
wing span.

Furnishing:-
These weights are highly variable and depend normally upon customers need either
actual or imagine. Furnishing group estimate by sketching internal arrangements and
individual weight will be considered.

Communication equipments:-
Weight depends upon amount and type of equipment in turn depend on Civil
Aviation Authority or service requirement and purpose.

Electrical Equipments:-
Instead of 12 Volts or 20 Volts DC, 110 Volts AC is used. The total weight
for large aircraft may be appreciably reduced because of a great saving in transmission
wire weight.

De–icer installation :-
Weight of De-icer equipment is equal approximating 0.06% of design gross
weight.

Possible useful load:-

This group consists of food stores and water. These weight are fixed for given
aircraft and can be used for empty or gross weight calculation and balance consideration.

Arrangements:-
Considering arrangements it should be noted that external dimension depends
on or external dimension must be at least be as large as the inside dimension.
Three things considered for arrangements
1. Weights
2. Location
3. Relationship with other items of equipments, personnel or structure

For some safety consideration and equipment Civil Aviation Authority also
made their restriction and should be followed while designing arrangement. Some
preliminary consideration are given below:
1. Balance consideration :-
Location of C.G with respect to centre of lift is very important for Aero
dynamic and stability consideration. So calculating the position of C.G is a with respect
of arrangement will play major roll in balance.
Major weight items may broken down into 2 main groups.
1. Empty weight :

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 • Wing, tail, fuselage, power plant, landing gear
• Furnishing, instruments, surface controls, electrical equipments, communication
equipments

2. Useful load:

• Fuel, Oil
• Passenger, Crew and Cargo

In general passenger load and its position are variable and fuel, Oil load are
diminishes over a flight mission and these should be considering while balance
consideration
2. Comfort consideration:-
Comfort of passenger depends on length of non-stop flight ,means we need
more comfort for long rage flight than shorter one
Major items include:

1. Noise level :

Chief noise sources: Power-plant, propeller, ventilation fans

Noise reduction: Avoid to enter inside cabin by shielding,

Eliminating the openings. Absorb the noise as
enters rapidly by absorption materials. Prevent
noise source.

2. Propeller location and clearance:

Maximum propeller noise levels lies in the plane

of propeller rotation and drops on either direction
from plane of rotation.
3. Vibration:

Source: Propeller and engine –these are fixed quantity.

Aerodynamic sources such as tail buffeting.
Fuselage large plate area resonance with some
fluctuating energy, there is always a possibility that
few panels in the aircraft may go into resonance at
some speed and some engine rpm.

Prevention: Aerodynamic noise can be prevented by amount

will reduce the power plant vibration transmitted to
other parts, vibration damping material placed in
wing attachments and other parts. Resonance can

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 be avoided by coating the high damp co-efficient
material inside the panel surface. But this may lead
some additional weight. Hence divide the panels
into unequal odd shaped panels by stiffener, which
will not go into resonance at some higher harmonic
of panel frequency.

4. Vision:

Vision is a major important for Military Aircraft.

For passenger aircraft – passenger visibility is
secondary, high wing monoplane leads good
passenger visibility, but increased landing gear
height and associated weight, over shadowing
problem results seldom used.

5. Heating and Ventilation:

It provides uncontaminated air. Sources of

uncontaminated air must be located at a place where
fumes from engine should not be entered into flow.
Heat source – by engine exhaust, electrical heating.
Electrical heating over loads generator, hence
mostly exhaust heating utilized with some
additional weight.

Two possible locations Nose of fuselage –the duct must run through the
area where large number of controls and nose
landing arrangement are present and heat source is
located engine result need of additional and
complicated ducting .Wing leading edge – simpler
and easier ducting only the disadvantage is, if not
made carefully then severs aerodynamic problems.

3. Operating consideration:
Easier provision for loading and unloading. For
airplane with tri-cycle landing gear, it is possible for
enough passengers to congregate near a rear door to
put the C.G. behind rear wheel and hence airplane
to drop by tail this must be prevented. Space for
beggaging should near door’s ease of loading and
unloading result avoiding delays. Internal
arrangement should such that supply fi foot and
service will be with minimum effort. Maintenance
is an important factor in operation; all-important
items should be inspectable, removable and

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 replaceable easily. Safety features – includes fire
extinguishers, emergency exist, safety locks on all
doors, warming signals for flab’s, labs, landing gear
position, would be placed in proper locations.

4. Manufacturing considerations:

Manufacturing should be economical-avoid

complexity in arrangements. Limitation of shop
floor, tools, machines should be considered.

5. Fixed equipments: All the items of equipments must be considered for

providing space, general location.

Software required:- a) Microsoft Excel:

Microsoft Excel:

1. Introduction:-
Microsoft Excel is a spread sheet application written and distributed by Microsoft.
It features calculations, graphics, charts, tools, pivot tables and Macro programming
language called VBA. It has been the mostly widely used spread sheet application
available. It has many useful capabilities for Engineering calculations. In particular it can
be used to solve equations and optimization problems.
When the program is invoked, it opens what is called the “work-book”. A work-
book contains several pages called “worksheets” . These worksheets may be used to store
related data and information. Each work sheet is divided into cells that referenced by
their location, the column – row number. All the information, data and its manipulations
must be organized in terms of cells. Cells may contain raw data , formulas and references
to other cells.

2. Basics of a spread sheet:-

A. Spread sheet details:
Spread sheets are made up of
• Columns
• Rows
• Cells – Inter section of rows and columns in each cell there may be the
following types of data:
• Text or labels
• Number data or constants
• Formulas (mathematical equations that do all the work)
Each cell is assigned a name according to its column letter and row number.
Labels in Excel (Text data) :

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Labels are text entries. They do not have a value associated with them. We typically use
labels to identify what we are taking about.
Constants in Excel (Numeric data) :-
Constants are entries that have a specific fixed value.

B. Formulas in Excel:
Formulas are entries have an equation that calculates the value to display. We do
not type in the number we are looked for. We type in the equation. This equation
will be updated upon the change or entry of any data ie., referred in the equation.
Formulas must begin with equation sign (“=”). We can add, subtract, multiply and
divide using these formulas.

C. Solver :
“Solver “ is the tool available in Excel to solve a non-linear equation, a system of
linear / non-linear equations and optimization problems. We shall use solver to
find roots of the non-linear equations like x – Sin x =O. Solver is invoked through
the “Tools” menu. If it is not visible under tools, it is not installed yet. To install
it, use the “Add-in” command under tools menu. We need to prepare a work sheet
that defines a problem. The work sheet can be prepared in many different ways,
and Fig1 shows one such way. We define cell C3 as x, the solution variable. To
name a cell, use the Inter/Name/Define command and click the Add button to
define names for cells. Defining meaningful names for cells is useful because they
can be referred to by their names rather than their cell numbers.

A B C D
1 Roots of 2x /3 – Sin x = 0
2
3 Variable x 1
4 Equation 2x / 3 – Sin x - 0.17480432
5

Figure-1 Excel worksheet

Experiments:-

Part-1 Aircraft design and weight estimation nomenclature

Weight components of airplane explained as follows:-

1) Crew Weight (Wc):

The crew comprises the people necessary to operate the airplane in flight eg.,
pilot, Co-pilot, Airhostess etc.,

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2) Payload weight (Wp):
The payload is what the airplane is mentioned to transport passengers, baggage,
freight etc., (Military use the payload includes bombs, rockets and other disposable
ordnance).

3) Fuel weight (Wf):

That is the weight of the fuel in the fuel tanks. Since fuel is consumed during the
course of flight W, is a variable, decreasing with time during the light.

4) Empty weight (We):

This is weight of everything else-the structure engines (with all accessory
equipment) electronic equipment landing gear, fixed equipment and anything else that is
not crew, payload or fuel.

5) Gross weight (Wo):

The sum of these weights is the total weight of the airplane Wo, Gross weight or
total weight Wo varieis through the flight because fuel is being consumed. The design
take off gross weight Wo is the weight of the airplane at the instant it begins its mission.
It includes the weight of the fuel.

Wo = Wc + Wp +Wf + Wc
Wo = Wc + Wp + (Wf/Wo) Wo +(We/Wo) Wo
Wo = (Wc + Wp) / (1 – Wf / Wo – We/Wo)

Estimation of empty weight fraction (We / Wo):

The empty weight fraction (We / Wo) can be estimated from data based on
a) Historical data and tables
b) Refined sizing data and tables

Estimation of fuel fraction (Wf / Wo):

The aircrafts fuel supply is available for performing the mission. The other fuel
includes reserve fuel, trapped fuel (which is the fuel which cannot be pumped out of the
tanks).
Fuel fraction (Wf / Wo) is approximately independently of aircraft weight Fuel
fraction will be estimated based on the mission to be flown.

Mission profiles:
Typical mission profiles for various types of aircraft are shown in Fig.1: The
simple cruise mission is used for many transport and general aviation designs, including
home built. Following are the briefly explained the terms that are used in mission
profiles.

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Warm Up and Take-Off:-

Warm Up is the engine start up for the airplane kept idling for some time to warm
up. Take off is the point where aircraft is made lift off from ground. It is the motion after
warm up ie., moving of airplane after starting and till it lifts off from the ground.

Climb:-
It is between take-off (TO) and cruise (stead level flight with constant speed)
Increase in height until airplane achieves steady level flight.

Cruise:-
It is the steady level flight to cover the mission distance. The mission distance is
called Range.

Loiter:-
Represent the airplane spending in air for some fixed number of minutes near
airport before getting the clearance from airport signal or simple spending some time to
collect data of some mission (Terrain data)

Dash:-
It is the mission that must be flown at just a few hundred numbers of feet of the
ground for low level strike.

Landing:-
It is the aircraft landing on the runway till stopping of engine.

Estimation of mission segment weight fractions:-

The various mission segments (legs) are numbered starting from zero denoting,
the start of the mission. Mission leg one is usually engine warm up and take-off. The
remaining legs are sequentially numbered. For example in the simple cruise mission the
legs could be numbered as (0) warm-up and take-off, (1) climb (2) Cruise (3) loiter and
(4) landing.
Similarly, the aircraft weight at end of each mission is denoted by Wi, Denoting “i” –th
segment as mission segment weight.

Wo = Beginning airplane weight (“Take-off gross weight”)

W1 + Weight of the airplane at end of warm-up and take-off
W2 = Weight of the airplane at end of climb
W3 = Weight of the airplane at end of cruise
W4 = Weight of the airplane at end of loiter
W5 = Weight of the airplane at end of landing

Wx / Wo = W5 / Wo = (W1 / Wo) X( W2 / W1) X (W3 / W2) X( W4 / W3) ..(W5 / W4)

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So in general it can be written as:

Wx / Wo = Wi / Wo = (W1/Wo) X( W2/ W1) X (W3/ W2) X( W4/W3).… Wi / Wi – 1)

Warm-up/take-off, climb and lending weight fractions:-

The warm-up, take-off and landing weight fractions can be estimated historically
from Table-2.

Table-2 Historical mission segment Weight fractions

(Wi / Wi-1)
Warm up and takeoff 0.970
Climb 0.985
Landing 0.995

Specific fuel consumption (C):-

It is the rate of fuel consumption divided by the resulting thrust. Typical values
are depicted in Table-3 and Table-4 for jet and propeller aircrafts respectively. If the
aircraft is propeller, then C should be replaced by C = C bhp V / (550ŋp)

Table-3 Specific fuel consumption (C)

Typical jet SFC’s Cruise Loiter

Pure turbojet 0.9 0.8
Low-bypass turbofan 0.8 0.7
High-bypass turbofan 0.5 0.4

Table-4 Propeller specific fuel consumption (C bhp)

Propeller: C = C bhp V /(550ŋp) Cruise Loiter

Typical C bhp and ŋp
Piston-prop (fixed pitch) 0.4 / 0.8 0.5 / 0.7
Piston prop (variable pitch) 0.4 / 0.8 0.5 / 0.8
Turboprop 0.5 / 0.8 0.6 / 0.8

Cruise Segment weight fraction:-

Weight fraction for cruise segment is found using Breguet range formula:
R = V (L /D)/C In (Wi – 1 / Wi) R= range. C= specific fuel consumption
Wi / Wi-1 = exp(- RC/V(L / D)) V= velocity. L/D= left to drag ratio

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Loiter segment weight fraction:-
Weight fraction for loiter segment is found using Endurance formula.
E = (L /D)/ C ln (Wi-1/Wi) E= Endurance or loiter time,
C= specific fuel consumption
Wi / Wi-1 = exp (- EC/ (L/D)) V = Velocity L/D = lift to drag ratio

The most efficient cruise is velocity for propeller aircraft occurs at velocity
yielding max L/D, where as for the most efficient cruise for a jet aircraft occurs at
slightly at a higher velocity yielding an L/D of 86.6% of the maximum L/D.

Type of aircraft Cruise Loiter

Jet 0.866 (L/D) max L/D max
Propeller L/D max 0.866 (L/D) max

For any mission segment “i” the mission segment weight fraction is expressed as
Wi/Wi-1. Wx (Assuming “x” segments are present for total mission profile) is the aircraft
weight at end of the mission. Wx / Wo ratio can be used to calculate fuel fraction.
Wf / Wo = 1- (Wx / Wo)
At the end of the mission, the fuel tanks are not completed empty, typically a 6%
allowance is made for reserve and trapped fuel.
Wf / Wo = 1.06 {1 – (Wx / Wo) }

Estimate of Gross weight at take-off (Wo) :-

We / Wo is function of Wo, Wf / Wo is also a function of Wo. Wo is calculated
from equation (1) through process of iteration. Wo is taken a guess value and, then RHS
value of equation (1) is calculated which should match the value of assumed, if it doesn’t
increment the assumed by some value and iterate it. This process is continued till the
absolute difference of RHS value and assumed value is the least of that the iteration step
will be your nearest solution.

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