Airframe Loads

Basic Airframe Loads

Inertia Loads Maneuver Loads Gust Loads

Airframe Loads

Flight Corridor
The speed-altitude band where flight sustained by aerodynamic forces is technically possible is called the flight corridor. The subsonic Boeing 747 and supersonic Concorde have flight corridors within the conventional boundary (indicated in cyan). The high-altitude solar powered Centurion is able to operate beyond conventional boundaries.

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Centurion
Remotely piloted, solar-powered airplane developed under NASA for surveillance purposes. The airplane was believed to be the first aircraft designed to achieve sustained horizontal flight at altitudes of 90,000 to 100,000 feet. Centurion had 206-foot-long wings and used batteries to supply power to the craft's 14 electric motors and electronic systems.

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Weight & load factors

Control of weight important in aircraft design Limit load maximum load in normal operation Proof load limit load x proof factor (1.01.25) Ultimate load limit load x ultimate factor (usually 1.5)

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Load Limits
Structure must withstand proof load without detrimental distortion Structure must not fail until ultimate load is achieved Must be matched to the flight envelope (boundary depicting the limits of speed that the aircraft cannot safely exceed)

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Flight Envelope (V-n diagram)

Basic strength and flight performance limits for any aircraft is contained in the flight envelope. During flight, it is possible to apply positive and negative limit loads n1 to n3 without stalling the aircraft. A particular flight envelope is applicable to only one altitude as the maximum lift coefficient reduces with increased altitude

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Human perception of load factor

+1, all occupants of the aircraft feel that their weight is normal. Greater than +1 all occupants feel heavier than usual. Zero, all occupants feel weightless. Negative, all occupants feel they are upside down (the aeroplane is flown upside down)

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Load Factor Ranges

Type of aircraft Load factor range

commercial transport airplanes -1 to +2.5 light airplanes aerobatic airplanes helicopters -1.5 to +3.8 -3 to +6 -1 to 3.5

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Incidence Angle

It is the fixed angle between the wing's chord and the longitudinal axis of an aircraft. With a small positive angle of incidence, the fuselage can be "flat" to the airflow in normal cruising flight. Angles of incidence of about 6 are common on most general aviation designs. It should not be confused with the angle of attack, which is the angle the wing chord presents to the airflow in flight.

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Airframe Loads
Inertia Loads Maneuver Loads Gust Loads

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Inertia Loads
Appear when aircraft undergoes acceleration and deceleration They affect the airframe during landings, take-off, maneuvers, gust Important parameters to note
Force Mass moment of inertia Torque
04-01-AircraftCarrierTrapping 04-02-AircraftCarrierCatapult

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Inertia Loads (1)

For a rigid body undergoing constant angular velocity (8.1) (8.2)

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Inertia Loads (2)

For a rigid body undergoing angular velocity and angular acceleration (8.3) (8.4)

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Inertia Loads (3)

Torque about the axis of rotation produced by inertia force is (8.5) If ICG is the moment of inertia through the CG (8.4)
04-03-JetBlueNoseGear

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Symmetric Maneuver Loads

There are infinite number of flight conditions within flight envelope Corners A, C, D1, D2, E & F in flight envelope are critical points for investigation In symmetric maneuver, motion of aircraft initiated by movement of control surfaces in plane of symmetry

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Level Flight (1)

assumes that n (load factor) = 1 for commercial aircraft on level flight

For vertical equilibrium For horizontal equilibrium Taking moments about CG

pitching moment of the aircraft about the CG =

(8.7) (8.8)

density of air V aircraft speed S wing area c mean chord CM,CG coefficient of moment

(8.9)
1 V 2 ScC M ,CG 2

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Level Flight (2)

Lift (where CL is the coefficient of lift)

As first approximation, take P = 0 so that

(8.10)

As second approximation, P is substituted to obtain a more accurate value of L and the procedure is repeated. Assuming P, D & T are small and taking L=W (8.11) 04-04-Levelflight.wmv

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Pull-Out From Dive

For vertical equilibrium For horizontal equilibrium Taking moments about CG

(8.12) (8.13) (8.14)

04-05-F14Flyby

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Steady Pull-Out
For equilibrium along flight normal

Taking L = nW (8.15) At lowest point = 0 (8.16) Smaller radius (more severe pullout) n is larger Could lead to - Increased load on structure - Possibility of stalling

04-06-RaptorStallTest 04-07-Fighter_SU37

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Correctly Banked Turn

For horizontal equilibrium For vertical equilibrium

(8.17) (8.18) (8.21) For tighter turn higher bank angle 04-08-C19_BankStallCrash.wmv

For L=nW

(8.20)

Greater bank angle higher load factor

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Gust Loads
Movements of air in turbulence are generally known as gusts They cause changes in wing incidence and subject the aircraft to sudden or gradual change in lift In high speed aircraft, this may cause higher loads than control initiated maneouvers
04-09-CrossWindLandings

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Single or discrete gust

A distribution of vertical gust velocity over a given finite length or period of time. Sharp-edged gust: Aerodynamic forces determined by instantaneous incidence of the particular lifting surface. Generally leads to overestimation of gust loads. Graded gust: Gust velocity increases linearly to a maximum over a gust gradient distance H.

1 cosine gust: Gust velocity is given by u(t) = U/2[1 cos(t/T)].

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Continuous gusts
Has freedom from arbitrary assumptions of gust shapes and sizes Assumes that gust velocity is a random variable comprising a large number of sinusoidal components Power spectral analysis is a common method of evaluating continuous gusts Requires a large amount of experimental data for analysis

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Sine wave summation

The addition of sine functions (of the right amplitude and phase) can be used to create a sawtooth or rectangular function. This illustrates that all functions can be decomposed to a series of sine waves of different frequencies

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Sharp-edged gust (1)

For aircraft flying with speed V with wing incidence 0 entering a gust of upward velocity u. Changes in lift and load factor are:

04-10-FedExGustCrash

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Sharp-edged gust (2)

Changes occurring at the tail are:

VE equivalent airspeed, uE equivalent gust velocity, ST tailplane area

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Vertical Gust Suppression System

The Dreamliner has sensors embedded in the composite skin that will detect tiny changes in pressure caused by wind gusts. The flight-control system automatically makes adjustments to smooth out the ride before the plane gets bounced around.