Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Abstract
Regression analysis of weight data of general aviation piston engine aircraft (single engine with fixed and retractable gear and twin engine aircraft) with a Pax capacity of 4 to 9 suggests that airworthiness requirements for increased occupant protection introduced during the later half of 1980s have resulted in empty weight growth. It is interesting to note that weight penalty due to cabin pressurization on twin-engine aircraft manufactured before 1986 is about the same as that due to increased occupant protection. Potential reductions in the empty weight of all composite piston engine aircraft are not realized. The cause plausibly is that cumulative weight arising from a) minimum gauge requirements, b) conservative design and certification process, c) damage tolerant design requirement, d) lightning protection system e) poor impact resistance and f) manufacturing deficiencies, offsets the weight reduction achieved through high specific strength and high specific stiffness of composite materials.
I. Introduction
Airplane design is an iterative process. Convergence of the end result, therefore, depends on the initial inputs, which are derived from past experience. The closer the initial inputs are to the final values the lesser would be the number of iterations and the lesser would be the time required for conceptual design phase. References 1 and 2 constitute the primary source of design information for estimating take-off gross weight and standard empty weight of aircraft ranging from homebuilt to jet transport. Reference 3 provides regression analyses for weight estimation of light general aviation aircraft. However, there has been paradigm shift in occupant protection, through introduction of regulatory requirements, a) installation of shoulder harness on previously certificated aircraft manufactured after 1986 and b) design of seat and restrain system capable of surviving a 21g horizontal and 15g vertical impact for the passenger and 26g horizontal and 19g vertical for the pilot for aircraft certificated after 1988. The market for composite aircraft structures in general aviation has been rapidly growing since 1990 as evidenced by all composite Diamond Aircraft DA 40 and DA 42, Cirrus Design Corporations SRV, SR20 and SR 22 and Lancair International Incorporations Columbia 350 and 400 aircraft. Cabin pressurization is incorporated in a design for passenger comfort and to provide the capability to fly over most weather. Cabin pressurization, therefore, is being included in the mission requirements for the new piston twins (Adam A500 and Diamond DA42 NG Diesel Twin). There is, therefore, a need to develop design tools for computation of empty weight of aircraft taking into consideration effect of these three phenomena. Regression analyses of weight data of general aviation piston aircraft (Refs. 4-7) with a Pax capacity of 4 to 9 are carried out. Influence of a) increased occupant protection and b) cabin pressurization in piston twins and c) application of composite materials, on standard empty weight of general aviation piston aircraft is assessed. Regressed equations in terms of take-off weight are derived.
0.8 WE/WTO
0.6
0.4 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012
Fig. 1a Variation of empty weight fraction over the years - fixed gear piston singles
0.8
WE/WTO
WE/WTO
0.6
0.4 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012
Fig. 1b Variation of empty weight fraction over the years - retractable gear piston singles
0.8
0.6
P2006T
0.4 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012
Fig. 1c Variation of empty weight fraction over the years - piston twins
category. Reasons for lower empty weights of South Korean Design ACG91 certificated in 1991 and Gippsland GA8 Airvan certificated in December 2000 cannot be ascribed with certainty in the absence of detailed data.
1400 Standard empty weight (WE), kg
ti o n o te c t Pr pa n ccu ed O
6XT 206H 6X Saratoga Stnr6 Saratoga 185 Ch6 Stnr8 GA.8 G358
1200
WE = - 2.75 + 0.630 WTO
1000
raf Airc
172R WIII ArIII 172S
n t ma
d af ture ufac
IL.103
te r
ith 6w 198
182T 182R
e Incr
as
Z143 180
800
600
P66 Ch
S185 M4
DR400 Ch180
aft m Aircr
TO
400 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 Take-off weight (WTO), kg
Fig. 2 Empty weight of general aviation fixed gear piston singles-excluding composite aircraft Weight increase due to increased occupant protection varies from 9 per cent at the lower end to 7.8 per cent at upper end of the take-off weight spectrum. Equations of the regressed lines are as below. WE = 2.75 + 0.630 WTO (1) for aircraft manufactured after 1986 and WE = 31.1 + 0.568 WTO (2) for aircraft manufactured before 1986.
1400
6 98 r1 te af
1200
1000
800
6 98 e1 for be
600 1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2200
1986 (open circles), the second group comprises of a) aircraft equipped with cabin pressurization manufactured before 1986 (open triangles) and b) aircraft manufactured after 1986 (filled triangles). Data point of TECNAM P2006T certificated in 2004, however, crosses over. Low empty weight of TECNAM P2006T is reported to be attributable to its high structural efficiency and excellent weight to power ratio of the Rotax engines (Ref. 7). The Cessna 335 an unpressurized six-seat aircraft powered by two Continental TSIO-520-EB engines of 300 hp (225 kW) each was certificated in October 1979. It appears the same externally as the pressurized Cessna 340. Since it is a derivative of pressurized Cessna 340, its empty weight is higher than that of unpressurised aircraft. Cessna Model 411 powered by 340 hp/254 kW Continental Motors GTSIO-520-C engine was certificated in 1960. It had a crew of one or two and room for four to six passengers. It was an unpressurized aircraft. However, it had walkabout cabin. Its higer weight may possibly be due to its relatively large cabin. Dispersion of data points clearly brings out that cabin pressurization entails higher empty weight. Differential pressure between outside and inside the cabin necessitates structural reinforcement of the cabin walls to contain higher pressure. This reinforcement adds 2800 weight. In the case of turbojet and turbofan 86 aircraft pressurized air is tapped at the LP/HP WE = 82.5 + 0.646 WTO 19 e pr stages of the compressor for cabin of PA31 2400 BE65 s pressurization. In the case of piston aircraft, inPA31 C404 Tw B206 high pressure air is drawn from turbocharger 500S ed is C421 which runs on waste exhaust gases from the ur BN2 ss e C411 engine. The turbocharger provides additional 2000 BE60 PA60 Pr d BN2 power at sea level and undiminished power at C402C anC340 BE58 6 PA31 8G58 high cruising altitudes thereby enhancing 19 86 er AEST aircraft performance. Thus, the additional t 19 af PA34 PA27 1600 re C310Q fo weight associated with cabin pressurization ed be ur T337G ct P68C BE55 ed includes a) weight of turbocharger and its a r uf DA42 L200 tu PA23 an ac installation, b) cabin ducting and c) increase in M L6CB uf ft 1200 an weight of fuselage designed to withstand the C336 ra PA44 tM irc PA30 BE76 af A r cyclic application of loads associated with WE = 5.0 + 0.617 WTO rc Ai pressurization.
Standard empty weight (WE), kg
800
P2006T
(5)
400 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
for aircraft certificated after 1988 and those with cabin pressurization manufactured before 1986 and
(6)
for aircraft without cabin pressurization manufactured before 1986. Weight increase due to enhanced occupant protection requirements as well as cabin pressurization varies from 7.7 per cent at the lower end to 5.0 per cent at upper end of the take-off weight spectrum. There ought to be a saving in wing weight and consequently in the empty weight due to inertia bending relief from the engines mounted on the wings, because of their mass partially counteracting the upward lift produced by the wings. However, data point of Cessna 336 unpressurized Skymaster (engines mounted along the fuselage centreline) stands coalesced with unpressurized wing mounted configurations manufactured before 1986 and Cessna 337G pressurized Skymaster (filled triangle) with its two engines mounted along the fuselage centreline, stands coalesced along with the data of pressurized wing mounted configurations, suggesting that in the case of general aviation piston twins benefit from inertia relief is not significant.
limited design experience with composite materials, the huge variability between composite materials and the much closer relationship between the shape of the component and loading conditions it is being designed for. Small changes in fibre orientation and fibre/matrix ratio can significantly alter the materials load path and failure mode (Ref. 17). To account for these uncertainties designer uses higher factors of safety. There is relative lack of knowledge of the behaviour of mechanically fastened joints. Composite designers, at this point of time, are not able to design with the same degree of confidence for, longevity and various aspects of structural integrity as they can with metals (Ref. 15) necessitating incorporation of higher safety factors in design. There are several factors that cause the composite structures fail differently than metallic structures. First, composite materials are not isotropic and homogenous like most aluminum alloys. Second, composite materials are generally brittle and lack the inherent benefit of the ductility exhibited by aluminum alloys. Third, the initiation and growth of material-level damage and the failure modes of composite structure are not well understood and therefore cannot be predicted accurately. Besides, the effective design allowables should correspond to ambient conditions when the laminate has absorbed moisture. The obvious method would be to conduct tests under these conditions. However, testing in this manner on full scale flight vehicle can be prohibitive in terms of both cost and time scale. Due to these complications, the current design and analysis methods are semi-empirical and rely heavily on the building-block approach to design and certification. Therefore, certificating agencies constrain designers to employ bloated factors of safety to accommodate any unanticipated deleterious effects of material variability, temperature and moisture on composite structural behaviour (Ref. 18). Overweight of Windecker Eagle is attributed to reluctance on the part of FAA to accept the new construction method without high safety factors, citing the possibility of imperfections and bonding gaps within the composite materials (Ref. 19). Likewise, the use of composite materials on Beechcraft Starship I resulted in 19 per cent weight reduction compared to an identical aluminum airframe (Ref. 14). However, the conservative certification requirements forced both the fuselage and wing structure to be strengthened by adding significant additional structure to receive certification. This added quite a bit of weight to the aircraft, so other components had to be beefed up as well, adding yet more weight. As a consequence aircraft weight increased by more than a ton (Ref. 20). Thus, current design and certification requirements for composite aircraft structure are generally more complex and conservative than for metal structures. C. Damage Tolerant Design FAR 23.573 effective since 1993, stipulate damage tolerant design for composite airframe structures. Damage tolerance is the measure of the structure's ability to sustain a level of damage or presence of a defect and be able to perform its operating functions. It, therefore, requires the structure to retain, after a partial failure, the capability to withstand the limit load. Damage tolerant design is based either on the use of redundant solution (multiple load paths) or on the slow crack propagation (low stresses) approaches (Ref. 21). Both these approaches cause increase in structural weight. D. Lightning Protection According to the FAA, commercial aircraft are struck an average of once every 3,000 flight hours, or about once a year (Ref. 22). General aviation aircraft being small in size are less susceptible to lightning strikes. The danger, however, lurks. In the event of lightning bolt striking an aircraft structure, electric current up to 200,000 Amps seeks the path of least resistance (Ref. 23). FAR 23.867 stipulate that the airplane must be protected against catastrophic effects from lightning. Aluminum and other metals are highly conductive. Hence a transient charge from a lightning striking a metal aircraft structure discharges into the metal body with current from the discharge being distributed relatively evenly over the body. Thus, a metal aircraft suffers no damages or only minor damages due to typical lightning strike. On the contrary, composite structures are either totally not conductive or significantly less conductive than metals. The design objective for lightning protection of aircraft is to enable the aircraft to accept a lightning flash, in flight or on ground, without experiencing any damage. This is achieved by providing adequate conductive paths for lightning currents to flow through the airframe between possible lightning entry and exit points through a) bonding aluminum foil to the structure as the outside ply; b) bonding aluminum or copper mesh to the structure as the outside
ply or embedded one ply down; and c) incorporating strands of conductive material into the laminates (Ref. 23). Since aluminum or copper foil, and mesh and strands of conductive material are nonstructural, they constitute weight penalty (Ref. 24). Weight penalty for adding lightning protection to a composite aircraft is 1.5% to 2.5% of its empty weight (Ref. 25). Gross take-off and empty weights of HANSA, an all composite two-place trainer aircraft designed and developed by National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India, are 750 kg and 525 kg respectively. Additional weight due to installation of lightning protection is 15 kg, which is 2.85% of empty weight (Ref. 26). E. Protection Against Impact Damage Laminated composite materials and sandwich structures, due to the stacking sequence of lamina, have a very low stiffness and strength through-the-thickness direction, when compared with the in-plane properties, since no fibers may be present through the thickness (Ref. 27). It has been reported that the impact induced interlaminar shear stress and the in-plane tensile stress in the direction transverse to fibre orientation are major components that contribute to initial matrix cracking, and fibre breakage eventually leading to delamination (Ref. 28). Consequently, damage due to out-of-plane loading can cause serious degrading of the mechanical properties. Composite aircraft structures are subjected to out-of-plane loads arising from impact of hailstones, bird strike and tool drop. Impact damage is internal and usually cannot be detected by visual examination of the specimen surface. It is reported that to ensure barely visible impact damage does not cause delamination resulting in structural failure, composite aircraft components are often designed with a factor safety of 3 or more (Ref. 29) leading to added weight. Since impact induced delamination occurs due to composite materials relatively low interlaminar strength, interface toughening through the use of adhesive layers has been found to improve impact resistance (Ref. 30). Accordingly some designers provide extra material thickness at the cost of additional weight (Ref. 24). Yet another way of protection from impact damage is adding impact energy absorbing layer to reduce the intensity of impact. This benefit too comes with a weight penalty (Ref. 31) F. Manufacturing Deficiencies For fabricating structural components, while Diamond Aircraft uses primarily a wet layup process, Cirrus Design Corporation and Lancair Company employ prepreg / hand layup process (Ref. 32). In the case of wet layup, resin mixing, laminate resin contents, and laminate quality are dependent on the skills of the laminators. Low resin content laminates cannot usually be achieved without incorporation of excessive quantities of voids. Tight weave fabrics are difficult to saturate with high viscosity resins, resulting in low strength (Ref. 33). In view of these designers constrained to use higher factors of safety eventually resulting in increased structural weight.
1200
WE = - 2.75 + 0.630 WTO
1000
Airc
172R WIII DA40
m raft
an
fte r
ith 6w 198
182T 182R
e Incr
C300
as
ro nt P upa Occ ed
C400 6XT 206H 6X Saratoga Stnr6 Saratoga
C350 SR22
Stnr8
GA.8
800
TB9
600
P66 Ch
S185 M4
185
Ch6
400 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 Take-off weight (WTO), kg
Fig. 5 Empty weight of general aviation fixed gear piston singles-composite aircraft superposed In the case of Columbia 350 and 400, a part of the increase in weight is attributable to the fact that these aircraft are certificated under utility category. Upon normalizing the empty weights of these aircraft for a load factor of 3.8g through subtracting the increase in weight of about 50 kg estimated using typical ratios of structural weight and weight of structure designed for strength, and scaling for the load factors, data points of Columbia 350 and 400 lie close to the regression line for metal aircraft (Fig. 7). Data point of fixed gear composite aircraft Kestrel K250 certificated after 1988 stands close to the regressed line for metal aircraft manufactured before 1986 (Fig. 7). Regression equations for aircraft data including all composite aircraft are given below.
60 Weight of PRS (WPRS), kg
WPRS, kg = 3.57 + 0.0241 WTO
D-Jet
50
(7) (8)
40
C182
C172
30
Difference between the empty weights computed using the equation (1) and equation (7) is negligibly C150 20 small (about 0.2%). The two equations, therefore, can be treated as one and the same. This clearly suggests 600 1000 1400 1800 2200 2600 that tangible gains are not realized through application Take-off weight (WTO), kg of composite materials technology to general aviation piston engine aircraft (Diamond, Cirrus, and Columbia). Fig. 6 Weight of parachute recovery system (PRS) The small size and low weight of general aviation piston engine aircraft means that the cumulative weight penalty that comes from a) minimum gauge requirement, b) conservative design and certification process, c) damage tolerant design, d) lightning protection system e) poor impact resistance and f) manufacturing deficiencies, is significant and is likely of the same order of magnitude as the weight reduction achieved through high specific strength and high specific stiffness of composite materials. Data point of Windecker Eagle, a retractable gear composite aircraft manufactured before 1986, stands away from the regressed line for metal aircraft (Fig. 3).
1200
WE = - 2.33 + 0.6316 WTO
1000
800
TB9 172R WIII DA40
te r d af ture
SRV Z143
6w 198
182T 182R
i th
ed O eas Incr
C350 SR22
pa ccu
6XT 6X
ro nt P
206H C400
Stnr8
GA.8
SR20
600
P66 Ch
S185 M4
185 1986 fore d be ACG91 ture ac WE = -28.1 + 0.566 WTO anuf J184 aft m Aircr Dakota
Ch6
400 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 Take-off weight (WTO), kg
Fig. 7 Empty weight of general aviation fixed gear piston singles including composite aircraft Among the piston twins Diamond DA42 Twin Star and Adam A500 are the only two all composite aircraft. While empty weight of Diamond DA42 stands coalesced with the data for the metal aircraft manufactured after 1986, empty weight of Adam A500 (filled star) stands far away from the regression line (Fig. 4). Adam A500 is the only pressurized aircraft in the category of piston twins manufactured after 1986. Upon subtraction of the weight associated with cabin pressurization, about 170 kg computed using the two regression equations of Fig. 4, the data point stands close to the regression line applicable to aircraft manufactured after 1986, reiterating the earlier finding that tangible reductions in empty weights are not realized through application of composite materials for general aviation piston engine aircraft.
X. Conclusions
Average empty weight fraction of general aviation piston engine aircraft marginally declined over the years until mid 1980s and suddenly increased thereafter. This is primarily due to increased occupant protection. Regression analysis of standard empty weight data of general aviation piston aircraft with a Pax capacity of 4 to 9 suggests that additional requirements for increased occupant protection have resulted in empty weight growth varying from about 9 per cent at the lower end to 7.8 per cent at the upper end of take-off weight spectrum in the case of fixed gear piston singles and from 2.7 per cent to 12 per cent in the case of retractable gear piston singles. In the case of piston twins, weight increase due to increased occupant protection varies from 7.7 per cent at the lower end to 5.0 per cent at the upper end of the take-off weight spectrum. It is interesting to note that weight penalty due to cabin pressurization on aircraft manufactured before 1986 is about the same as that due to increased occupant protection. Tangible reduction in the empty weight of general aviation piston engine composite aircraft is not realized. It is surmised that the cumulative weight penalty arising from a) minimum gauge requirement, b) conservative design and certification process, c) damage tolerant design, d) lightning protection system e) poor impact resistance and f) manufacturing deficiencies, offsets the reduction achieved through high specific strength and high specific stiffness of composite materials.
Acknowledgments
The author expresses deep sense of gratitude to Mahindra Aerospace Private Limited, Bangalore, India for permitting publication of this work. The author sincerely thanks R Meenakshisundaram, Structural Analyst, formerly with Aircraft Research and Design Centre of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore, India, for helpful suggestions during preparation of this paper.
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31 32 33 34
Stallion Lancair IV Meyers 200A Mooney 205, 1987 Mooney 252, 1988 Mooney Ovation, 1997
Piper Mirage, 2006 R90-RG Beech D35 1979 Cessna 182 RG 1978 Mooney 201