Learning Outcome

At the end of the lecture student should be able

to:
Aero-structures  To describe the various types of structure and
Prof. Nirosh Jayaweera structural members

11th January 2021  To understand how airframe structures can be

made light, yet strong and stiff

 How aircraft skin contributes to the overall

strength of the structure

Parts of an Airplane Parts of an Airplane

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Parts of an Airplane Parts of an Airplane

Fuselage:
Engine:
 Basic structure of the airplane to which
 Provides the thrust necessary for powered flight.
wings, empennage and landing gear are
 The types of engine depends on the mission
attached. requirements of the airplane.
 It is designed to hold passengers, crews &
cargo. Wing
Empennage (tail):  The wing is an airfoil attached to the fuselage and is
 Consists of vertical stabilizer & horizontal designed to produce lift.
stabilizer.  It may contain fuel cells, engine nacelles and landing
gear.
 It provides the greatest stabilizing influence of
 Airplane control surfaces (aileron, flaps, slat and
all the components of an airplane. spoiler) also attached on it.

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Parts of an Airplane Parts of an Airplane
Landing gear : Cockpit/ Flight Deck
 The landing gear can be fixed in place or retractable.  Front part of the fuselage and contains all the instruments
needed to fly the plane.
 Many small airplanes have fixed landing gear which
 The cockpits have hardened doors, securing them from
increases drag, but keeps the airplane lightweight. unauthorized persons during flight, takeoffs and landings.
 Larger, faster and more complex aircraft have Cabin
retractable landing gear that can reduced weight.  Section of the fuselage for passengers, cargo, or both. A
 Most planes today use what is called a tricycle typical passenger cabin has galleys for food preparation;
landing gear arrangement. lavatories; one or more seating compartments & etc
Cargo
 This system has two large main gear units located
near the middle of the plane and a single smaller  Below the passenger deck where cargo and baggage are
nose gear unit near the nose of the aircraft. carried.

Primary Control Surfaces Additional Control Surfaces

Flaps:
 Ailerons: horizontal surfaces located on wing  A movable control surface on the aircraft
tips. wing, used to change the amount of lift
generated.
Provide roll control- Roll the aircraft to the
 Flaps deflect downward during take-off &
right or left. landing to increase lift.
 Elevator: horizontal surface located on the  Flaps retracted immediately after landing
tail to decrease lift.
Provide pitch control-Nosing the aircraft up Slats:
and down.  A movable control surface on the aircraft
wing, also used to change the amount of
 Rudder: vertical surface located on the tail lift generated.
Provide yaw control- turning the aircraft to  Slats enable the airplane to get off the
the left or right. ground quickly and to land more slowly.

Additional Control Surfaces Aircraft structures

A typical aircraft is made of many thousands of individual
Spoilers: parts. Some parts could be made from larger pieces
 Located on the upper wing which, when
opened, decreases lift and increases drag. why do you think manufacturers make the aircraft in so
many separate parts?
 They reduce lift by disrupting the airflow over
the top of the wing. Through use, components will wear out, so we need to
 They are used during the descend prior to be able to replace them.
landing and immediately after landing. Some components will inevitably become damaged, so
again, they will need replacing.
Some components are made out of several sub-
assemblies in case one part fails, the other
Spoiler components will stop the aircraft from crashing.
Now lets look at the ‘major components’ that make an
aircraft.

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Aircraft Structures Aircraft Structures
The structure must meet a number of conflicting
requirements, namely
Structural safety with minimum weight is
 Low weight
the major criterion for the design of
 Acceptable material and manufacturing costs
aircraft structures.
 Adequate strength to meet maximum expected loads
with a suitable safety margin
This comprise thin load bearing skins,  Adequate stiffness so that bending, torsion, and other
frames, stiffeners, spars, made of light distortions are kept within acceptable limits
weight, high strength, high stiffness  Adequate in-service properties such that fatigue,
materials. corrosion, cyclical heating and pressurization, do
not result in structural failure

Weight and Integrity Development of Aircraft Structures

Aircraft cost, take-off and landing distances are all Early aircraft were built with light wood, tension wire, and
highly correlated with the empty weight of the aircraft. fabric
 Next step was the substitution of metal for wood; steel
Structures must be strong enough to either and aluminium were used around 1920

 Fail safe: Will not fail during the life of the  External bracing slowly disappeared; drag decreased
component.  Later designs relied on stressed skins, stiffened with
stiffeners or stringers to carry some of the load
 Safe fail: If a component fails, an alternate load
 The skin thickness varied from root to tip of a wing, to
path must be available to carry the loads, so that no reduce the weight
single failure will be hazardous to the aircraft.
 Fail safe design was achieved by using multiple spars –
a beam that runs from the root to tip of a wing

Airframe Materials Airframe Materials

Airframes are built using materials that have a There are other things to consider apart from
high ratio of strength to weight (SWR). the SWR:
The following groups of materials come into  A material must be consistent and
this category: predictable in its properties so that we know
 Aluminium and magnesium alloys (light what to expect from its behaviour.
alloys)  It must be homogeneous i.e. have the same
 Steels and steel alloys properties throughout.

 Titanium and titanium alloys  It must not suffer badly from corrosion.

 Plastics and composites

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Airframe Materials Aircraft Structures

It should be non-inflammable All airframes:

It should be easily available at a The smooth exterior provides a streamlined shape,
reasonable cost, and should be easy to with extra supporting structure underneath to provide
work using standard processes. the strength and stiffness needed to operate efficiently.

It should not suffer badly from fatigue, Outer skin hides a complex piece of structure that
or be used in places where this does not must be strong, stiff and long-lasting.
cause a problem.
Aircraft structure can be broken down into groups of
fairly simple components, each doing a specific task.

Structural members Structural members - Ties

The Structure of most airframe components is made up of
four main types of structural members: Ties are members subject purely to tension
(pulling).
Ties: These resist tension or ‘pulling’ forces
Because tension will not cause a tie to buckle,
Struts: These resist compression or ‘squashing’ it does not need to be rigid, although it often is.
forces

Beams: These resist ‘bending’ forces Ties can be made from rigid items, such as
tubes, or simply from wire, like the bracing wires
Webs: These resist ‘twisting’ and ‘tearing’ forces on a biplane.

These elements are often also referred to as structural Force Tie Force
members

Structural members - Struts Structural members - Beams

Struts carry compression loads. Because compressive Beams carry loads at an angle (often at right angle) to
loads can cause the member to buckle, the design of a strut their length, and so are loaded primarily in bending.
is more complex than a tie.
Many of the Major parts of an airframe are beams,
If overload, struts will fail in one of two ways: a long, thin such as the main spars.
strut will buckle; a short, thick strut will collapse by cracking
or crushing, as the material from which it is made is The fuselage and wings themselves are structural
overstressed. members, and are beams, because they support the
bending loads imposed by weight, inertia and
Hollow tubes generally make the excellent struts, because aerodynamic loads. Force
the material is evenly loaded, so that the strength to-weight
ratio is high in compression. BEAM
STRUT
Force Force
Support Support

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Structural members - Webs Aircraft Structures
Webs are thin sheets carrying shear loads in the Each airframe is either a tie or a strut or a beam or
plane of the material. a web, but this is not so. Some items such as wing
spars, act almost entirely as one type of member, but
Ribs are the skin itself are shear webs. others act as different members for different loads.

Thin sheets are ideal for carrying shear, especially if For instance, the fuselage skin may be subjected to
they are supported so that they resist buckling. tensile and shear loads simultaneously. Pure bending
loads almost never exists alone; they are almost
Force
always related to a shear load.

WEB So a beam will normally carry both bending and

shear loads.
Force

Aircraft Structures Aircraft Structures

By carefully mixing these members, and making sure There are many uses of struts in an
that each part of each member is taking its share of the
airframe, including the supports for the
loads, the designer will achieve the greatest strength
with minimum weight, and so get the best operating floor in transport aircraft, undercarriage
efficiency and maximum safety. legs, actuation jacks of all kinds and
pushrods for operating flying controls.
It is the designer’s aim to ensure that each part of the
structure is used effectively. Struts also frequently act as ties when the
load they carry is reversed; actuation jacks
weight of an airframe can be made as low as possible,
while still providing adequate strength. are typical examples of this.

Aircraft Structures Aircraft Structures

Major factors influencing aircraft construction

The cantilever structure is widely used in aircraft,
which contain many structures that are attached to – Loads
one end.
– Materials
The wing is just one example. Because wings need Aircraft structure development made possible by
to do much stronger and stiffer at the root (the the stressed skin construction
attachment to the fuselage), they are wider and
deeper there than at the tip, where loads are much Load transfer principles are important in
less.
structural construction
Connections are also key elements in
construction

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Sandwich Structures Sandwich Structures

A major limitation of stressed skin

construction is lack of rigidity
Sandwich structure comprises
– Two end thin plates
– Light and fairly rigid core placed in the middle
– Parts bonded together with adhesive

Honeycomb cells is the most common

sandwich structure currently in use The honeycomb structure in sandwich panels provide
high strength to weight ratio.

Laying up a sandwich panel STRUCTURAL MEMBERS

Longitudinal Lateral

Spar caps, stringers

Wing Ribs
and skin (panel)

Stringers and skin

Fuselage Frames
(panel), beams

Curved and flat sandwiched panels can be constructed

Wing Box Fuselage Skin

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Aircraft Wing Aircraft Final Assembly

Any Questions?