Airplane Design

Lecture Topics

• Design steps
• Conceptual design
• Preliminary design
• Detailed design
• Weight estimation

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 Preliminary Comments
• There are as many ways to design
airplanes as there are airplane
designers
• Design is an iterative process
• It has to be cost-effective

Finance
Boeing 777
Seven years to production cost $10B
~ $50M profit per airplane
=> 200 airplanes to break even
=> 50 months @ 4 airplanes / month
=> 11.2 years break even w/ bank yield
(In 11 years bank yield would be ~ $7B @ 5%)

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 Decision to Build

• Market Analysis
• Design Specifications
• Costs
• Labor
• Competition

Market

• Airlines
• Military
• General Aviation

• Demand
• Growth
• Economy

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 Civilian
• Airlines need to make money

• New routes sometimes profitable

• Boeing 767 was hub & spoke

“buster” for North Atlantic

• Boeing 777 & Airbus A340 try to do

same for Pacific

Military
• Old Method
– Military makes detailed specifications
– High cost
• New Method
– Minimal specs from military
– Companies must create internal specs.
• Future Method
– still in flux

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 Airplanes Become Complex
• Up to mid 1940’s integration of all design elements
was under direction of one person
• B-29 was so complex that no one person could
comprehend it all
• Russians kept 3 B-29s after WWII
– They tore one apart & had each component duplicated.
– 2 yrs later they were flying exact duplicates
– One Russian official claimed that these airplanes were
so similar that “their engines caught fire too”

Design Specifications

?
• Specs passed on to engineering dept.
• Engineers come up w/ design to meet
performance goals
• In some cases, not all specs can be met

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 General Design Specifications
• Payload
– Large size, High power, Low weight
• Cruising Speed
– Low drag, Small size, High power
• Range / Endurance
– Low weight, Low drag
– Low fuel consumption, Large fuel capacity
• Airports of Operation
– Takeoff distance
• High power, Large wing area, High lift airfoil, Low drag, Low weight
– Landing distance
• Large wing area, High lift airfoil, Low weight
• Cruise Altitude
– Climb rate and ceiling
– High power, Low drag, Low weight

Military Design Specifications

1) Functional rqmnt’s; air-to-air, air-to-ground, bomber, aerial
re-fueling tankers, transport
2) Performance rqmnts: payload, range, cruise speed, etc.
3) Design rqmnts: engineers specifies configuration to meet
performance goals
4) verification rqmnts:
a) inspection
b) analysis
c) demonstration (normal operating functions)
d) flight test
e) lifetime ?

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 Performance (old paradigm)
• Lift to Drag ratio (“L over D”)
• Power to Weight ratio
• Wing Loading (TOGW / wing area)
• Weight

New Paradigm
• Cost
– Development / Engineering
– Retail price
– Lifetime maintenance
– Fuel consumption
• $Fuel ↑ Speed ↓

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 Costs
sample only

People
Fuel Airline costs
Maint.
Ownership

Labor

Materials

Manufacturing costs Parts

Overhead

Labor

• Do we have the:
– Engineers ?
– Machinists ?
– Support network ?

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 Competition
• Airbus / Boeing
• Existing airplanes
• Interchangeable parts
• International agreements

Competition
• Late 1960’s:
– Lockheed L-1011
– McDonnell-Douglas DC-10
• DC-10 / L-1011 direct competition
• Lockheed bowed out of commercial
business

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 FAA Regulations
• Federal Aviation Administration
– Responsible for safety regulation of civil aircraft
• Part 23: Airworthiness Standards
– Come from crash investigations
– Normal, Utility, and Acrobatic Category
(< 12,500 lb TOGW)
• Part 25: Airworthiness Standards
– Transport Category Airplanes
( > 12,500 lb TOGW)
• Part 103: Ultralights

Design Steps
• Conceptual Design
– Basic characteristics considered
• Preliminary Design
– Aerodynamics, final configuration,
performance details
– Formal review, CEO involved
• Detailed Design
– Structural design
– Actual hardware and parts are drawn

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 Conceptual Design

Jet engine powered

Or, propeller ?

Conceptual Design

Land based

Or, amphibian ?

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 Conceptual Design

Wing mounted
Engines
(707, 737-787)

Or, tail
Mounted ?
(DC9, 717, 727)

Engine Location

B-17

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 Engine Location - Fire

B-17

Engine Location - Landing Gear

B-52

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Engine Location - Stealth Capability

F-117A Retired 2008

(Prototype named “Have Blue” 60% scale)

Engine Location - Stealth Capability

Tacit Blue - 1996

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Engine Location - Compression Lift

XB-70 Valkyrie

Conceptual Design
• Most fun part: but few jobs
• AA101 airplane example
– 100 passenger commuter jet
– land-based
– tail mounted engines
– short fields (3,500 ft runways)

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 Conceptual Design Goals
(AA101 Design Project)

• What requirements drive design ?

• What does it look like ?
• What trade-offs should be considered ?
• What should it cost ?
• Initial weight estimate ?

Preliminary Design

What do we do next ?

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 Preliminary Design
• Expensive phase
• “Freeze configuration”
– Aerodynamics
• Develop lofting
– Detailed drawings
• Develop test and analytical base
– Wind tunnel
• Design major items
• Develop actual cost estimates
– Weight and performance estimates advertised

Freeze Configuration

• Basic layout done

• Engines selected

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 Develop Lofting

Develop Test & Analytical Base

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 Design Major Items
ribs

wing box

engine mounts

Develop Actual Cost Estimate

Parts
Avionics
Labor
Materials

124

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 Preliminary Design
• More engineers required
• Many airplanes at this stage still do
not get built
• Many challenges

Detailed Design
• Design actual pieces to be built
• Design tooling and fabrication
• Test major items - structure,
landing gear, etc.
• Finalize weight and performance
estimates

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 Parts Design

Design Tooling & Fabrication Process

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 Parts Testing

landing gear
wing ultimate load test drop test

Finalize Weight & Performance

Estimates
? • Range
• Endurance
• Payload
1234
• Takeoff Weight

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 Detailed Design
• Most of design labor is here
• Many engineers involved
• Can be less than exciting
– Individuals work in their specialized fields
• Failures still possible
– 1st commercial jet => British comet
– 2 major crashes
– Failures due to fatigue at windows

Primary Design Elements of Feasible Flight Vehicle

Aerodynamics

Forces sufficient to
lift & control vehicle
in sustained flight

Structures Propulsion

Materials & configurations of Engines of low weight & high

low weight & sufficient strength fuel efficiency with sufficient
to accommodate forces thrust to sustain flight

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 AA101 Conceptual Design
• 100 passenger commuter jet
• 3,000 mile range
• tail mounted engines
• short fields (3,500 ft runways)
• made out of aluminum

Take-off Weight Buildup

Wo = Wcrew + Wpayload + Wfuel + Wempty

Wo is Design Takeoff Gross Weight

Wempty is dry weight of airplane, i.e.,

unloaded & unfueled

To start, assume Wo = 100,000 lb

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 Empty Weight Estimation (Wempty)
0.6

0.575

0.55

0.525
AA101
W empty/ W o

0.5

0.475

0.45
existing designs
0.425

0.4 4
10 105 106
Takeoff Gross Weight

Wempty ~ 0.52 x Wo = 52,000 lb

Fuel Estimation
Mission Fuel Consumption
cruise: 300mi T.O. 0.03
loiter
Climb 0.02
Cruise 0.16
T.O. land Loiter 0.04
Landing 0.005
Reserve Fuel ? Fuel Fraction = 0.255
Wfuel = 0.255 x W0 = 25,500 lb

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 Crew and Payload Weight
• Crew: 175 lb + 30 lb of baggage
– 205 lb per crew member
• Passengers: 175 lb + 35 lb bags
– 210 lb per passenger

5 crew * 205 lb + 100 passengers * 210 lb

=> Wcrew + Wpayload = 22,025 lb

Takeoff Weight Calculation

• Wcrew + Wpayload = 22,025 lb

• Wempty = 52,000 lb
• Wfuel = 25,500 lb

Result: TOGW = W0 = 99,525 lb

If not close, then re-iterate; i.e., adjust

payload, fuel, and/or initial mass and
determine impact on range…

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Weight Estimation Tool

Summary
• Design steps
• Conceptual design
• Preliminary design
• Detailed design
• Weight estimation

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 Airbus A380

2007
W0 = 1,300,000 lb
$325 M
525 - 850 passengers

Boeing 747-800

W0 = 970,000 lb
$300 M
470 passengers

2008

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 Sonic Cruiser

Mach 0.95
Cancelled 2002
Some features
incorporated in
New Boeing 787

New Fuel Efficient Concepts

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