Emirates Aviation University

Airframe structural
concepts and
construction
Airframe loading, structural members and general structural concepts

Abdul Durrani
[Date]
Introduction
This assignment will cover the understanding of airframe loading, structural members as
well as the general structural concepts. The first task will explain the different types of
loads that the aircraft has to handle, which include static loads, dynamic loads and
cyclic fatigue loads. The second task is about the structural members followed by the
primary, secondary and tertiary structures. This is followed by explaining the
airworthiness and the importance of aircraft alignment and symmetry checks. The final
task will compare the three most important structural design concepts that are used in
aviation. These include the safe-life, fail-safe and damage tolerance.

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Static load:
Several different forces and stresses act on an aircraft, both when it is in flight and when
it is on the ground and static. When the aircraft is static, the force of gravity is what
generates the weight that is needed to be supported by the landing gear. Therefore
static loads are due to the weight of the aircrafts engine, fuselage, wings, fuel, cargo as
well as the passengers. These loads need to be supported properly by the aircrafts
structure and designs. For example, the weight of the aircraft needs to be supported,
the landing gear absorbs the forces imposed on the aircraft by takeoffs and landings.

Dynamic loads:
Dynamic loads are those that occur because of any type of manoeuvre of the aircraft
which can cause a quick acceleration or deceleration. This will increase the stresses
acting upon the wings as well as the fuselage. The dynamic loads are how the aircraft
will respond to gust winds, bumps and landings. The gust winds can accelerate the
aircraft for a short period of time, however the frequency of the gust will would cause the
wings to bend in a certain way. The vibrations due to this bending will then result in
more loads being generated across the aircraft. This will affect other structures on the
aircraft because of aerodynamic and inertial forces.

Cyclic fatigue load:

Fatigue is the constant or progressive damage to the structure over a duration of time. It
occurs when the structure of the aircraft is subject to repeated fluctuating stress and
stain which can affect the aircraft performance. This can be very common in the aircraft
wings as they are under a lot of bending stresses put on them when flying and landing
as well. Fatigue cracks can occur due to plastic deformation or other materials. It starts
off with a small nick or scratch and becomes worse when under more stress.

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  Beams: a beam is a structural member that is used to help support bending and
shear loads. The beams are the load carrying members of the floor structure in a
large aircraft.

 Struts: this is used to help oppose compression forces within the structure. A
compression strut can be used in an aircraft’s wings to support its compression
loads. The wing to fuselage strut will support the compression loads on the
ground and tension loads while in flights.

 Ties: these are used when there is a tension force acting on the structure. They
are needed to aid in stopping the structure from pulling apart due to the tension.
Examples of ties are the drag and anti-drag wires in wings.

Fuselage loads, the loads experienced by the aircraft fuselage are those such as those
due to maneuvering, turbulence and gusts. As well as cabin pressurization and landing
impacts. Also loads due to the weight of passengers. The loads taken by the wings are
more like bending stresses while in flight. They mainly occur when the aircraft is in flight
and not static. The bending actions create a tension stress on the bottom of the wings
and compression stress at the top of the wings. The undercarriage loads are mainly
applied to the aircrafts landing gear as it makes impact by making contact with the
ground. It suffers through ground loads. Less critical ground loads occur during the
landing run, for instance due to the application of wheel brakes, turning or swinging of
the aircraft.

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Primary structures:
The primary structures of an aircraft are the most significant and important structures.
Without them the aircraft will not be able to fly and therefore it is important they don’t get
damaged while in flight. If there is severe damage to the primary structures then it will
fail the entire aircraft. They carry the main loads of the aircraft and their failure would
result in injury or death of the passengers. They are the top priority in terms of structural
importance. Examples of primary structures in the aircraft are those such as; upper and
lower fuselage, forward bulkhead and fin ribs.

Secondary structures:
The secondary structures on the aircraft are not as prioritized as the primary structures,
but are still relatively important. They are the structures of the aircraft that only carry
inertial loads. Their failure would not reduce the structural integrity of the airframe.
Therefore the aircraft will be damaged but the damage will not be fatal. The components
that are classified as secondary structures include ones that do not form an integral
portion of the main fuselage, such as access panels. These structures can be
weakened without a heavy risk of failure. If these structures are to be damaged, it would
not seriously danger the safety of the aircraft or cause passenger and crew risk,
however the damage could cause significant damage to the aircraft and should be fixed
when given an opportunity. Examples of these structures include the belly fairing, upper
cowl and access panels.

Tertiary structures:
The tertiary structures of the aircraft are those that would not endanger the safety of
anyone present on the aircraft at all or cause any significant damage to the actual
aircraft. They are very small issues that can occur and will not affect the flight of the
aircraft or passengers and crew on the flight. They don’t form an integral portion of the
fuselage. Flight can continue as normal if a failure of a tertiary structures occur.
Examples of tertiary structures include; wing tip ports, rudder horn, tail plane tips.

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A lightning strike can affect the aircraft operations and also cause delays, service
interruptions as well as possible fatality for the aircraft and passengers and crew. These
lighting strikes to airplanes are not very common but they do occur from time to time,
therefore they need to be prepared.
When a commercial aircraft is struck by lightning, the damage can be very serious,
which would require extensive repair that could take it out of service. The typical effects
of a lightning strike on an aircraft is when it comes into contact with a ferromagnetic
material as it may become strongly magnetized. A strike of high intensity can cause the
electrical components to be damaged, such as the electrically controlled fuel valves and
generators.
The basic protection method is through having a metal structure in place because it
adds sufficient thickness to be resistant to a lighting strike. The metal skin of the aircraft
will also protect the aircrafts internal spaces, as well as electromagnetic energy entering
into the electrical wiring of the airplane.
For most aircrafts the outer skin is generally aluminum and it is a great conductor of
electricity. Therefore to protect the aircraft from a lightning strike is to allow the current
to flow through the skin from its point of impact to a different point to exit from. This will
allow no interruption to occur or damage to the interior of the aircraft. The general first
contact with the lightning strike is at the nose or wing tip. As the aircraft will continue to
fly through the areas of opposite charges, the lighting will transit through the aircrafts
skin and it will then exit from a different point where it will be harmless, most commonly
the tail.

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For any aircraft to be considered as airworthy it needs to conform to the regulations
under which it has been certified. There are different regulations for structural strength
for an aircraft, such as: CASR 1998 for Australia, EASA CS-25 for Europe and FAR for
USA. The strength requirements are specified in terms of the limit loads and maximum
loads. The limit load is the maximum amount of loads to be prepared for or expected
while in service. Ultimate load is the limit loads multiplied by prescribed factors of safety.
The loads including air, ground and water must be placed in an equilibrium with inertia
forces with respect to the items of mass. The loads should be similarly represented to
the actual conditions. There needs to be a proof of the structure strength and structural
analysis may be used if the structure is shown to be completely reliable. Ultimate loads
tests could be needed in cases where limit load tests could be inadequate.
The structural design requires to be tested as well. The structure is tested to have
certain requirements that it needs to meet. These include; static strength, fatigue
strength, durability (economic requirement) and damage tolerance which is a general
requirement. The static strength includes the design limit load, this is where no failure or
unacceptable deformations should be shown. The design limit load is where no failure
however permanent deformation is allowed and acceptable.
For an aircraft that is equipped with systems that can affect the structural performance,
their failure conditions should be taken into consideration. An additional procedure must
be used to analyze the structural performance.
A civilian aircraft airframe structure is required to meet both the limit load and ultimate
loads criteria. This includes the structure being able to support limit loads without
allowing a permanent deformation. As well as the structure being able to support the
ultimate loads without a failure for at least three seconds unless specified otherwise.
The aircraft also needs to be designed to withstand vibrations and buffering to an
accepted level. Structural vibration that is forced resulting from any failure or
malfunction should also be reduced or stopped by the aircraft. The primary factors to be
considered in aircraft structures primarily are the strength, weight and reliability. The
airframes should be strong but lightweight at the same time. All the materials that are

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used must be reliable materials, as this will reduce the possibility of dangerous and
unexpected failures or issues.

Aircraft alignment and symmetry check:

A rigging check is known to be when an examination of the relative alignment and
adjustment of an aircraft’s main structural components is completed. This process of
rigging involves two principal type operations which include structural alignment and the
alignment of the control surfaces. The position or the angle of the main structural
components should be related to the longitudinal datum which is a line in parallel to the
aircraft centerline. Also the lateral datum line parallel to the line that joins the wing tips.
One of the methods used to for checking the structural alignment is the grid method.
There are special rigging boards that can be placed to help determine the angles used
on some aircrafts. On many aircrafts, alignment can be checked using a transit and
plumb bobs.
Aircraft symmetry checks are very important and need to be completed. They are
carried out in the aircraft as regular maintenance routine when the pilots feel it is
needed after an accident with the aircraft. It is used to help verify the angular and linear
symmetry assists and locating any type of structural damage. The symmetry checks are
also done to mitigate any type of adverse lift or adverse yaw. This can be an issue if a
flap on one side of the aircraft did not defect fully, then that side would produce a lower
lift and the aircraft would then roll on its side. A lower lift at low angle of attack would
usually mean lower drag on that side. This would lead to the aircraft yawing in the other
direction. This can be very destabilizing for the aircraft. Symmetry checks will make sure
this problem does not occur as every component and structure should be symmetrical
to each other.

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Effect of aircraft performance if wings and empennage are out of symmetry:
The structural elements of the aircraft such as the wings and empennage, need to
always be symmetrical to each other to create the proper balance for the aircraft while it
is flying. The aircrafts are designed and manufactured symmetrically on horizontal axis.
When it flies straight and level flight, both the wings should share an equal load of lift. If
in an accident or where structural damage has occurred, the alignment checks are
carried out to make the aircraft symmetrical again. If there is a minor asymmetry to
either the wings or the tail of the aircraft, it will imbalance the flying characteristics as
well as endanger the aircraft while it is flying. If a single flap is too defected fully then
one side will produce less lift then the other. Therefore the aircraft will roll on its side
unnaturally. The lower lift at the lower angle of attack would cause drag on that one
side. Leasing to the aircraft yaw in the other direction. This can be very dangerous for
the aircraft and the passengers and crew on board.

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Safe life:
The safe life approach concept means designing for only a finite life during which no
fatigue or heavy and significant damage will occur. The component or system designed
will not fail within a certain given period. The airframe components will go through
alternating loads over the lifetime of the aircraft. This will make them more susceptible
to metal fatigue. At the end of the expected life of the component or system, the part will
be removed. If there is significant damage in certain main structures of the aircraft, such
as the wings or tail, the structural failure in flight can be extremely dangerous and could
cause a failure in flight. It is imperative that the component or system will not fail until a
certain period of time, so there needs to be testing and analysis. These analysis mainly
include fatigue testing to estimate how long the component can be used in service until
it is more likely to fail. The information gathered from the tests and analysis can still not
fully guarantee that the part will perform without any failure at all. Therefore the factor of
safety should be considered and included to help prevent any catastrophe.

Fail safe:
Fail safe designs are those that will incorporate a variety of different techniques to
reduce the losses sue to a system or component failure. It is recognized that fatigue
cracks could occur and therefore the structure is designed so that the damage or cracks
will not lead to a failure of the structure, before they are detected and fixed by the
routine inspections. The assumption of the design is that a failure will eventually occur
but when it does the system will fail in a safer manner and cause less harm. The fail-
safe designs need to have backup systems, if the failure of a major system occurs it will
cause severe losses. That’s why a backup system should be installed and applied.
There should also be multiple load paths so if a structure fails, the load that it was
carrying will be spread across and transferred to the other members.
A leak before break method uses pressure vessels to prevent explosive failures. The
pressure vessels are designed in a way where a crack will propagate completely

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through the vessel before it reaches the critical stage. Leaks are generally easy to
detect and therefore they should be detected long before the crack can reach its critical
length.

Damage tolerance:
Damage tolerance is also known as safety by inspection. This approach is that while the
cracks are being produced due to the fatigue and corrosion, the process of this can be
controlled and understood. There should be a development of a programme that will
inspect to detect the cracks before they are able to affect the aircrafts structure as well
as flight safety. A damage tolerant structure is designed to sustain the cracks without
resulting in a catastrophic failure until the damage has been detected through the
regular inspections, the damaged part should be immediately replaced with a new part.
The inspections and tests that should take place are; finding the initial damage, finding
the stresses in the structure, which part is damaged, repairing that part or replacing it
with a new part. These factors will affect how long the structure will operate normally
while it is in the damaged condition before more inspection and testing is required for it.

In the safe life method, an S-N curve is used to design the component or structure in a
unique way where it will not fail within a pre-determined number of cycles. The
components durability is also estimated, this is done by evaluating the highest amount
of stress on the component and then comparing the highest operational stress to the
stress scale on the S-N curve for that particular component or structure. If the
components stress is below the fatigue strength on the S-N curve, then the component
is designed for an infinite life. However, if the stress of the component is above the
fatigue strength, then it means its life in finite and limited. To make sure that the
component will not fail, it should be removed and replaced by a newer component.

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The fail-safe method is different from the safe life method. It is different as it assumes
that the component will eventually fail and therefore that component is designed so that
when it does fail, it fails in a safe manner. The overall system will not fail but the failed
component can be detected and replaced or repaired.
For damage tolerance it understands that a failure will occur, similarly to the fail-safe
method, and it will try to prevent the failure from happening. The part will be analyzed
and examined so it can be detected for a crack. This part is different from the fail-safe
method as instead of letting the part fail in a safer way, damage tolerance tries to
prevent the part from failing in the first place.
As opposed to the safe-life method, modern damage tolerance methods employ finite
elements to help determine how the stress in the component or structure is distributed.
In safe-life method, a single peak component stress is used. However in the damage
tolerance a stress distribution can be applied.
For the safe-life method the parts will be replaced right before they fail, as they are
designed to only last a certain amount of time. This leads to a requirement of parts after
a certain period of time. This is different to both the fail-safe and the damage tolerance
methods as they both try to prevent and slow down the failure of the components. They
both use tests and analyze the components before they fail. The difference between
them is that the fail-safe will fully expect the component to fail eventually and therefore it
is designed in a safe way for when it does eventually fail. Damage tolerance will replace
the part immediately when there is a sign that the component will fail, it will repair the
component or replace it completely, depending on the amount of damage.

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References

 http://vextec.com/structural-design-concepts-overview-safe-life-damage-
tolerance/

 https://www.cfinotebook.net/notebook/aerodynamics-and-performance/aircraft-
components-and-structure

 https://phys.org/news/2018-03-electrically-planes-struck-lightning.html

 http://www.flight-mechanic.com/aircraft-rigging-rigging-checks-part-one/

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