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This paper describes the development of a software tool used to automate the preliminary design of aircraft wing structure. By taking wing planform and aircraft weight as inputs, the tool is able to predict loads that will be experienced by the wing. An iterative process is then used to select

This paper describes the development of a software tool used to automate the preliminary design of aircraft wing structure. By taking wing planform and aircraft weight as inputs, the tool is able to predict loads that will be experienced by the wing. An iterative process is then used to select optimal material thicknesses for each section of the design to minimize total structural weight. The load analysis checks for tensile failure as well as Euler buckling when considering if a given wing structure is valid. After running a variety of test cases with the tool it was found that wing structure of small-scale aircraft is predominantly buckling driven. This is problematic because commonly used weight estimation equations are based on large scale aircraft with strength driven wing designs. Thus, if these equations are applied to smaller aircraft, resulting weight estimates are often much lower than reality. The use of a physics-based approach to preliminary sizing could greatly improve the accuracy of weight predictions and accelerate the design process.
ContributorsKolesov, Nikolay (Author) / Takahashi, Timothy (Thesis director) / Patel, Jay (Committee member) / Kosaraju, Srinivas (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
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As the push to develop ever more efficient aircraft increases, the use of lightweight composite materials to meet this push has increased. Traditional aircraft structural component sizing has revolved around the tensile yield strength of materials. Since composite materials excel in tensile strength, these traditional sizing tools provide overly optimistic

As the push to develop ever more efficient aircraft increases, the use of lightweight composite materials to meet this push has increased. Traditional aircraft structural component sizing has revolved around the tensile yield strength of materials. Since composite materials excel in tensile strength, these traditional sizing tools provide overly optimistic weight reduction predictions. Furthermore, composite materials, in general, are weak under compression and shear. Thus, proper structural sizing yields heavier-than-expected designs. Nevertheless, a wing using thin, lightweight composites in the primary load-bearing components significantly impacts its static aeroelastic properties. These thin structures have a decreased flexural rigidity, making them more susceptible to bending. The bending of swept wings decreases the design wing twist and dihedral angle, potentially impacting the aerodynamic performance and the lateral stability and control, respectively. This work aims to determine what, if any, are the effects of excessive static aeroelastic properties on the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft. Does the perceived gain in the theoretical reduction in structural weight outweigh the potential reduction in aerodynamic performance?
ContributorsWebb, Benjamin David (Author) / Takahashi, Timothy (Thesis advisor) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Perez, Ruben (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022