Week 2:

• Aircraft Loads
How an airplane is built

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 2

Aircraft Loads
Load factors

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 3

Maneuvering flight path

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 4

Pitching maneuvers

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 5

V-n diagram for manuever

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 6

V-n diagram Niu

Stall limit

Load factor

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 7

Maneuvering Speed Niu
Point “A”
= corner velocity (V*)

or maneuvering speed (VA)

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace

Maneuvering Speed
At speeds less than V*, not possible to structurally
damage the aircraft due to load factor less than nmax,
but the bank angle is not high enough for a tight turn
at speeds greater than V*, maneuverability
decreases, since the speed is too high

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace

Dive Speed
At the speed above dive speed, destructive
phenomena such as flutter, aileron reversal, and
wing divergence
Dive speed (VD) is usually higher than aircraft
maximum speed (Vmax), and cruise speed (Vc)

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 10

Gust V-n diagram
Upward Gust increase angle of attack

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 11

Gust V – n Diagram
Upward Gust increase angle of attack

Sudden change in lift coefficient

and lift force

results in load factor increases

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 12
Gust V – n Diagram
FAR23 : aircraft must
withstand gust velocity of:
50 ft/sec from sea level up
to 20,000 ft
from 20,000 ft to 50,000 ft
the gust velocity decreases
linearly to 25 ft/sec
fly at maneuver speed
when encounters a gust
with the velocity of 66
ft/sec

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 13

Gust induced load factor

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 14

Combined Gust V-n diagram

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Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 16
V-n diagram calculation

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 17

Solution V-n diagram

Vis Sripawadkul , 01215452 Aircraft Design II , KU aerospace 1