Preliminary Weight Estimation

1) Introduction:
This task explains the procedure as described in Ref(1) for the estimation of design takeoff weight. The design take off weight (WO) needs to be estimated for the initial sizing of the aircraft. The design take-off weight can be broken into crew weight (WC), payload weight(WP1), fuel weight(WF) and empty weight(WE). The empty weight includes the structure, engines, landing gear, fixed equipment, avionics and other things that are not included in the crew, payload or fuel. The take-off weight is given by WO= + WP1+ WE+ WF (1) W0 = (Wc + Wpl) / (1 (WF / W0) (WE / W0))... (2)

2) Fuel- Fraction Estimation:

Figure 1.1 Mission profile for the initial sizing

The required amount of fuel for a mission depends on the mission profile to be flown, the aerodynamics of the aircraft and the fuel consumption of the engine. A typical mission profile as shown in the figure 1.1 is considered for the fuel fraction (WF / W0) estimation. Since the aircraft weight affects the drag during the mission, the fuel consumed during the mission is a function of the weight. However for this preliminary weight estimation, WF / W0 will be assumed to be independent of the aircraft weight. The various mission segments are numbered with zero denoting the start of the mission as shown in fig 1.1 and the aircraft weight at each segment is numbered accordingly. During each segment the aircraft losses weight by burning fuel. The aircraft weight at the end of a mission segment divided by its weight at the beginning of that segment gives the mission segment weight fraction. For any mission segment i, the mission segment weight fraction can be expressed as (Wi/Wi-1). The values of mission segment weight fraction for Warmup and takeoff, Climb and Lading for typical mission profile is taken from table 3.2 in Ref(1).

The cruise segment weight fraction is obtained using the Breguet range equation given by, W3/W2 = exp( (-R*C)/(V* (L/D))).(3) where R- Range (m) = 5556000 (design requirement) C- Specific fuel consumption (mg/Ns) =0.000222 (from table 3.3 in ref (1)) V- Velocity (m/s) = 237.28 @ 35000ft (design requirement) (L/D)- Lift drag ratio= 0.866 * 16 (from pp. 26-27 in ref(1)) Substituting all in eqn (3) give, W3/W2 =0.6872 The loiter segment weight fraction is obtained using the endurance equation given in ref(1) as W4/W3 = exp( (-E*C)/( (L/D)))..(4) where E- Loiter time (s) = 1200(design requirement) C- Specific fuel consumption (mg/Ns) =0.000194 (from table 3.3 in ref (1)) (L/D)- Lift drag ratio= 16 (from pp. 26-27 in ref(1)) Substituting all in eqn(4) gives W4/W3 =0.9856 Mission Segment Initial(Gross) Warmup and takeoff Climb Cruise* Loiter** Landing i 0 1 2 3 4 5 (Wi/Wi-1) 0.97 0.985 0.6872 0.9856 0.995

Table 1.1 Mission segment weight fractions

By multiplying together each mission segment weight fraction given in table 1.1, the total mission weight fraction, W5/W0 is obtained. Assuming a 6 percent allowance for reserve fuel, the total fuel fraction is given by WF/W0 = 1.06(1- W5/W0 ) = 0.3775(5)

3) Empty weight Fraction:

The empty weight fraction (WE/W0) expressed in terms of design take-off weight is
given as WE/W0= A*W0C .(6) ( From ref(1)) For civilian jet, A=1.06 and C=-0.06.

4) Estimation of Design Take-off weight:

As per the design requirement the crew weight (WC) and payload weight (Wpl) are taken to be 300kg and 1200kg respectively. Then from eqn (2) and (5) we get W0 = 1500 / (1 0.3775 (WE / W0)).(7) The take-off weight is found iteratively as described below. 1) Initial value for design take-off weight is guessed and substituted in eqn(6) to get the empty weight fraction. 2) The empty weight fraction obtained in step(1) is used in eqn(7) to get a new W0. 3) If the new W0 doesnt match with the guess value, a value between the two is used as the next guess. The process is continued till the solution converges. From the table 1.2 it is seen that the design take-off weight is found to be 23254kgf.

W0 Guess(kgf) 13000 20000 22500 23000 23150 23300 23250 23253 23254

WE/WO 0.57778142 0.56303886 0.5590739 0.55833712 0.55811939 0.55790315 0.55797507 0.55797075 0.55796931

WO(kgf) 33562.59309 25237.58267 23659.25812 23387.46823 23308.34255 23230.2866 23256.18783 23254.63047 23254.11144

Table 1.2 Estimation of design take-off weight

5) Work to be completed:
The estimated design take-off weight will be used in the initial sizing of the other functional components of the aircraft. The sub-task for the design project assigned was to carry out the weight and balance. With the inputs from other group members, individual weight needs to be computed for determining the c.g location for different conditions.