Overview of the

Design Process
Phases of Aircraft design
Aircraft Conceptual Design Process
Sizing from conceptual sketch
 Design of a propeller driven airplane
Requirement
1. Range of 1200 miles
2. Maximum level speed at mid cruise weight 250 mph
3. Ceiling-25,000 ft
4. ROC at sea level 1000 ft/min
5. Stalling speed-70 mph
6. Landing distance (to clear a 50 ft obstacle):2200 ft
7. Take of distance (to clear a 50 ft obstacle): 2500 ft
8. Airplane should be powered by one or more conventional
reciprocating engine
Weight of an airplane
 Empty weight estimation
The empty-weight fraction ( We/ Wo) can be estimated statistically
from historical trends
Variation of the empty-gross weight ratio
 Fuel-Fraction Estimation ( Wf / Wo)
Amount of fuel required to carry out the missions
1. Efficiency of propulsion device
2. Engine specific fuel consumption
3. Propeller efficiency
4. Aerodynamic efficiency
5. Lift to drag ratio
Brequet range equation
Mission Profiles
Mission profile for a simple cruise
 Mission profile contin...d
• If the fuel tanks are completely empty then
WF= W0 - W5

Typical 6% allowance for reserve and trapped fuel in tanks

 From historical data
• For business transport airline we take the following
data

Using Breguet range equation for finding

 Specific Fuel Consumption

Specific fuel consumption is measured in fuel mass flow per hour per unit thrust force

Thrust power produced by the propeller

 Specific fuel consumption
• 1 HP=550ft.lb/sec
• C=0.4 lb/hp/h=0.4×1/(550×3600)
= 2.02×10- 7 (lb.s/(ft.lb/s))
 L/D Approximation
• Lift to drag ratio is directly effected by two aspects of design:
wetted area and reference area of the wing span (AR)
• Lift to drag dependents on drag
• Two parts of drag at subsonic speed
• Zero drag or parasite drag
• Induced drag
 two widely different aircraft concepts
• By design, both have exactly the same wing span and the
same total internal volume
Maximum lift-to-drag ratio trends
 A reasonable first estimation of L/D
• (L/D)max=14
Efficiency for a variable pitch propeller
Ƞ=0.85, Range=1200miles(6.64×10^6ft)
Putting all these values in Breguet range equation
Value of fuel fraction
Fuel fraction continued
Take off weight calculation

calculating the weight of the fuel and capacity of the fuel tank

Weight of the aviation gasoline is 5.64lb/gal

 Estimation of critical performance parameters

• Maximum coefficient of lift

• Lift to drag ratio
• Wing loading
• Thrust to weight ratio
Selection of wing geometry
Airfoil and Wing /Tail Geometry Selection
Critical mach number
 Design Lift Coefficient
• For early conceptual design work, the designer usually relies upon
existing airfoils. It simply isn't possible to optimize the airfoils for an
aircraft that hasn't been designed yet. Instead we select from the
existing airfoils, picking the one that comes closest to having the
desired characteristics
• The first consideration in initial airfoil selection is the "design lift
coefficient."This is the lift coefficient at which the airfoil has the best
lift-to-drag ratio
Design lift coefficient
 Design lift coefficient

• Airfoil thickness ratio has a direct effect on drag, maximum

lift, stall characteristics, and structural weight.
• Stall characteristics Some airfoils exhibit a gradual reduction
in lift during a stall, whereas others show a violent loss of lift,
accompanied by a rapid change in pitching moment
• Reynolds number
• Each airfoil is designed for a certain Reynolds number. Use of
an airfoil at a greatly different Reynolds number (half an order
of magnitude or so) can produce section characteristics much
different from those expected.
 Wing geometry
The reference wing is partly fictitious. It extends through the fuselage to the aircraft centerline and has its
tip squared off even if the real wing is rounded. The reference wing area (S) includes the part of the
reference wing that sticks into the fuselage, plus the missing areas where the wingtips have been
rounded
 Quarter chord line or aerodynamic center
The shape of the reference wing is determined by its aspect
ratio, taper ratio, and sweep.
 Mean aerodynamic chord
• Airfoil moments are measured about the quarter-chord point where the
subsonic airfoil pitching moment is essentially constant with changing angle of
attack, i.e., the airfoil aerodynamic center. A similar point can be found for the
complete trapezoidal wing, where the pitching moment doesn't change with
angle of attack. This is based on the concept of the "mean aerodynamic chord,"
 Point to be noted
The entire wing has its aerodynamic center at approximately the same
percent location on the mean aerodynamic chord as that of the airfoil
alone. In subsonic flight, this is at the quarter chord point, i.e., 25% back
from the leading edge of the mean aerodynamic chord
In supersonic flow, the wing aerodynamic center, like that of an airfoil,
moves back to about 35-40% of the mean aerodynamic chord.