Aircraft Structures

Flightwings Aviation
 Course Objective

• Analysis of aircraft structure, its assemblies, sub-

assemblies and the types of loading these are
subjected.
• Methods of analysis of loads on aircraft components and
its distribution on the structure
• Behaviour of structural components under the applied loads
• Method to assess the design using different analysis
techniques
Structural Engineers Dream
Stress Analysis
 Aircraft Structures – Overview

• Aircraft are generally built up from the following

basic components
– Wings, Fuselages, Tail (H & V) , and control surfaces
• Delta wing aircraft have no horizontal tail
– Example : Avro Vulcan
• Some have a canard configuration such as that of the
Eurofighter (Typhoon).
• Each component has one or more specific functions
and must be designed to ensure that it can carry out
these functions safely.
 Aircraft Structures – Overview

• The structure of an aircraft is required to support two

distinct classes of load:
– Ground loads, includes all loads encountered by the
aircraft during movement or transportation on the ground
such as taxiing and landing loads, towing and hoisting
loads
– Air loads, comprises loads imposed on the structure during
flight by manoeuvres and gusts.
 Aircraft Structures – Overview

• Aircraft designed for a particular role encounter loads

peculiar to their sphere of operation.
– Naval aircraft, are subjected to catapult take-off and
arrested landing loads
– Large civil and practically all military aircraft have
pressurized cabins for high altitude flying
– Amphibious aircraft must be capable of landing on water
– Low altitude high speed aircraft have tremendous loads due
to high density and turbulence.
 Aircraft Structures – Overview

• Aircraft designed for a particular role encounter loads

peculiar to their sphere of operation.
– Naval aircraft, are subjected to catapult take-off and
arrested landing loads
– Large civil and practically all military aircraft have
pressurized cabins for high altitude flying
– Amphibious aircraft must be capable of landing on water
– Low altitude high speed aircraft have tremendous loads due
to high density and turbulence.
 Typical Aerodynamic Loads

Pressure distribution Replaced by loads

 Typical Aerodynamic Loads

Note : The reduction near the centre line (fuselage effect)

and tips (tip effect)
Loads During Dive Pull-up

As W*n = L ➔
Random Gust Loads
V-n Diagram
 Typical Ground Loads

• Ground loads encountered in landing and taxiing

subjects the aircraft to shock loads through the
undercarriage system.
• The majority of aircraft have their main landing gear
located close to the center of gravity,
– Nosewheel or tailwheel in the vertical plane of symmetry.
• Position of the main undercarriage should take care of
the stability when the aircraft is on ground.
Typical Aircraft sub assemblies
Aircraft structures examples
Typical Structural Breakdown
Bomber
Harrier Jumpjet
Commercial Plane
 Structural Components

• The basic functions of an aircraft’s structure

– transmit and resist the loads
– provide an aerodynamic shape
– and to protect passengers, payload, systems, etc. from the
environmental conditions encountered in flight.
• Monocoque : Thin shells which rely entirely on their
skins for their capacity to resist loads
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific

Skin
1. Resists the applied torsion and shear forces by
• Transmitting aerodynamic forces to the longitudinal and
transverse supporting members
• Supports the longitudinal members in resisting the applied
bending and axial loads
• Supports the transverse members in resisting the hoop, or
circumferential, load when the structure is pressurized.
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific
Ribs and Frames : The skeleton
1. Structural integration of the wing and fuselage
2. Keep the wing in its aerodynamic profile
Typical Wing construction
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific
Spar
1. Resist bending and axial loads
2. Form the wing box for stable torsion resistance
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific
Stiffener or Stringers
1. Resist bending and axial loads along with the skin
2. Divide the skin into small panels and thereby increase its
buckling and failing stresses
3. Act with the skin in resisting axial loads caused by
pressurization.
 Simplifications

1. The behavior of these structural elements is often idealized

to simplify the analysis of the assembled component
2. The webs (skin and spar webs) carry only shearing stresses.
3. The longitudinal elements carry only axial stress.
4. The transverse frames and ribs are rigid within their own
planes, so that the cross section is maintained unchanged
during loading.
 Aircraft Structures

1. Truss-type Structures
– Had struts and wire-braced wings
– Occupants sat in open fabric-covered cockpits,

2. Stressed-skin Structures
– All of the structural loads are carried by the skin.
– Thin wood skin Or aluminum-alloy sheets
 Structures

• Wing Construction Truss-type

 Airframe Units

1. Fuselage : Bulkheads, Frames, Stringers

2. Wings : Spars, Ribs stiffeners
3. Tail plane : Stabilizers , Flight control surfaces,
Landing gear
 Structural Loads/Stress

• Deformation : Nonpermanent Deformation

– Deformation disappears when the load is removed.
• Permanent Deformation
–Wrinkles observed on top of wing and bottom of
horizontal stabilizer.
– Stretch marks on the bottom of the wing or top o the
stabilizer. (positive g’s)
 Materials For Aircraft Construction

• Wood : Old small 2 seat aircrafts, Pushpak,

Tigermoth
• Aluminum Alloys : Most modern planes use a variety
of alloys of Al
• Honeycomb : Sandwiches
• Magnesium & Stainless Steel : Very specific
applications
Old examples : Wood
 Fuselage Construction
• This is the preferred method of constructing an all-
aluminum fuselage.
– A series of frames in the shape of the fuselage cross
sections are held in position on a rigid fixture, or jig.
– These are then joined with lightweight longitudinal elements
called stringers.
– These are then covered with a skin of sheet aluminum,
attached by riveting or by bonding with special adhesives.
– The fixture is then removed from the completed fuselage
shell
– Most modern large aircraft are built using this technique
Fuselage Construction
Fuselage
B747 Fuselage
Typical Skin Stiffeners
 Fuselage Construction

• Monocoque : Virtually no internal framework

• Semi-monocoque :
stringers is used to provide additional rigidity and strength to
the skin.
Semi-monocoque
Cantilever Wing
Braced Wing

In flight Lift acting

upwards
countering weight

On ground no
Lift, only weight
Load Relief Due Fuel in Wing
 Wing Construction

• Spar : main structural member Ribs

of the wing, running at right
angles to the fuselage.
• The spar carries flight loads
and the weight of the wings
whilst on the ground.
• Generally there are 2 spars in
most aircraft wings.
• Other structural and forming
members are Ribs.
Spar
 Structures
• Stressed-skin Wing Construction
Control Surface Construction
 Undercarriage

• Landing gear is the structure under a plane's fuselage

that allows it to land safely
• Older landing gear had two wheels forward of the
aircraft's center of gravity and a third, smaller wheel at
the tail. This configuration has the nickname the
"taildragger”
• Tricycle landing gear consists of a forward (nose)
wheel and a pair of wheels located midway on the
fuselage. The nose gear is steerable by means of the
rudder pedals.
 Undercarriage

• Tandem landing gear (also called bicycle landing

gear) consists of a main gear of two sets of wheels
set one behind the other.
 Elements of Structures
• Three common structural elements are used:
– skins, stiffeners, and beams
• Materials may experience both tension, and compression
– Compression can cause the elements to buckle
– Requires determination of air loads
– Requires determination of mass properties (weights)
– Check for parts exceeding yield stress
– Check for buckling

Euler’s Critical Load

 Fatigue

• Structural fatigue occurs when an element is

subjected to repeated application and removal of
loads
– e.g. Wing experiencing unsteady gusts
– The number of load cycles a material can tolerate depends
on the stress level
– Smaller cross sections, will have higher stresses, easily fail
– Structural analyses can identify “hot spots” where fatigue
will first occur
Composition of Composites
 Types of composites

• Composite material include :

– Fabric glass material used to repair the parts including wing
trailing & leading edge panel, floor panel & body fairing.
– Honey comb material used in floor panel, body fairing &
wing panels and galley partition.
– Graphite reinforced plastic or carbon reinforced plastic
(CFRP or CRP) used in some major structural area (eg:
B777 cabin lateral floor beam structure)
Composites : Pros & Cons
 Typical Aircraft Material

Fuselage
& Wing LE
fairings
Fuselage
skin & aircraft
structures
Use of Composites in B767
Use of Composites in B777
 Boeing 787 - Dreamliner

• Materials by weight, are 50% composite, 20% aluminum, 15%

titanium, 10% steel, and 5% other.
• Aluminum is used on wing and tail leading edges, titanium
used mainly on engines and fasteners
Typical Fuselage Diameters
 Why Worry about Structures ?

• Structural design is critical to aircraft safety, and also

plays a key role in aircraft cost and performance.
• The airplane cost is related to the structural design in
complex ways,
– Typically aircraft cost $400-$1000 per kg
– Military aircraft such as the B-2 reportedly costs more per
kg than gold.
• Aircraft structural weight also affects performance.
– Every kilogram of airplane structure means one less
kilogram of fuel when the take-off weight is specified
 Why Worry about Structures ?

• Classical aircraft range equation:

– R = (V/sfc) (L/D) ln (W initial/W final)
– one might think of the first term representing the role of
propulsion, the second term aerodynamics, and the third
term, structures.
• To estimate the aircraft empty weight, we must
estimate the weight of each of the component
– we need to understand how a component structure is sized;
– and to do this, we need to estimate the loads that they will
have to support
 Empty mass examples

A330 & B777 are higher because structure is designed for stretch versions
Fuel Load Component
Wing Area and Takeoff weight
References:
M.S. Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru