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L08 – The Right Aircraft

E375
Airframe Structures and Engine Systems

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L08 – The Right Aircraft

Problem 3: Pursuit of Strength (Wing Design and Load Test)

Republic Engineering Corporation (REC), an aircraft airframe manufacturer, has

been tasked develop a new wing box design that is strong and light-weight. You
are to fabricate and test the wing box in Lesson 10 Phase 3.

Resources/Material
Each team to design and construct the wing box using only 80 gsm A4 paper
(max of 25 sheets), 1 roll of masking tape and 1 roll of double-sided tape.
Use of any other materials to strengthen the structure will result in disqualification
of the team.

Requirements/Specifications
1. The wing box should be of minimum dimension: L 30cm x W 15 cm x H 5 cm.
See Table 1 for dimension accuracy requirements.
2. The design must include skins, wing spars and ribs, with a maximum of 2
internal wing spars, and 5 wing ribs.
3. The wing box will be loaded at the center of the wing box. See Figure 1 & 2.
Load Bearing score will be shown in Table 1.
4. The wing box should be as light as possible. Weight penalty will be applied as
per table 1.
5. Team can brainstorm, design, test and validate from week 8 to 9. However,
the actual construction will only commence in Week 10 in class, with
materials provided by the lecturer.

Table 1: Rubrics for Load Test

Score Weight of Box Max Load Dimension
Compliance
5 Less than 100g 3 kg and above Meet all dimension
4 101-150g 2 kg NA
3 151-200g 1.5 kg Meet 2 dimension
2 201-250g 0.5 kg NA
1 251-400g 0.3 kg Meet 1 dimension
0 More than 401g Less than 0.3kg Did not meet any
dimension
Team score for the project will be the total score from the 3 components.

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Deliverables
1. Team: Fabricate Wing Box for load test in Week 10 Lesson, Phase 3.

2. Individual: Learning report (maximum 2 pages) of the wing box project for
CA3 Assignment. The report should include the individual’s ideas and
contribution to the project, how the project evolved from Week 8 to 10, and
reflection on the test results.

Arial Font 12, single spacing. To be submitted in Week 10.

Fig 1: Loading of Wing Box

The loading will be done progressively from 0.3kg and increasing in load until the
structure cannot support the load.

Fig 2: Picture of Actual Loading of Wing Box on 2 Supports

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TASK FOR LESSON 8

Complete the following to be presented in Lesson 8.
Problem Definition Template
What We Know What We Don’t Know What We Need to Find
(based on prior knowledge and (What are the questions in our Out
by reading/observing content of minds when we think about the (What are the specific areas
the problem) problem. List them down) which we think are important to
examine to help us solve the
problem?)
Materials that we are What kind of structure The structure that we
going to use. should we use? are going to use.
Main components of the How do we reduce the How to assemble the
wing box. weight if the wing? parts of the wing box?
Basic structure of the How the wing box (material, technique)
wing box. distribute the load? How the wing box
distribute the load?
Other Considerations based on above selected specifications: light weight,
structure can provide strong support to the load without any deformation.

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Based on lesson 8, a wing box has several functions, such as distribute the
loads, provide structure integrity and integrity of components. It connects the
wing to the fuselage, which allows the load to be transferred from the wing to the
airframe.
A typical wing box consists of the following components: spars, ribs, skins and
stringers, provide strength, shape and support. Here I will illustrate the 4 basic
components:
 Spars (longitudinal): The spar functions as the primary structural beam
of the wing, providing crucial support and distributing loads during flight.
Typically extending from the root to the wingtip, spars connect various
components, ensuring the structural integrity of the wing. They play a key
role in preventing wing bending under loads. Modern aircraft often employ
a 2-spar structure for enhanced strength and stability. Refer to the picture
below for a visual representation of a wing spar. (in red)

 Ribs (transverse): Ribs provide essential support to the skin and shape
the wing, influencing the aerodynamics of the aircraft. Extending from the
leading edge to the trailing edge, ribs transfer loads from the skin to the
spar, contributing to the overall structural integrity of the wing.

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 Stringers (longitudinal): Stringers run parallel to the spars, are smaller in

size, and provide support to the aircraft skin. Extending from the leading
edge to the trailing edge, they play a crucial role in ensuring the strength
and stiffness of the wing.

 Skins: This is the wing skin, forming the aerodynamic surface that is
connected to the ribs and spars. The skin provides structural integrity by
enclosing and protecting the interior components.

With reference to the real aircraft wing box, here is our design:

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This is the initial design out wing

box. There are 3 ribs initially,
after today’s discussion we
realized that 3 ribs are not
enough to support the load,
when we apply load to it, the
wing box will collapse and
cannot stand. We decided to
increase the number of ribs to 4,
as you can see in the photos
below.

These beams act as

the spars of the wing
box, which carries the
load. We put 6 spars to
ensure the structure
integrity and make it
strong enough to carry
the loads.

These paper act as the ribs of

the wing box, which provide the
support to the spars and the
wing shape.
The reason why we choose
cylinders as spars is that
cylinders is not that easy to bend
when there is a load on it
compared with cuboid.

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Skin of the wing

box.

Our wing box

successfully carry
the loads.

Photo credit:
Spars photo: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.quora.com%2FAviation-What-is-Wing-Spar-
Ribs&psig=AOvVaw388MNEdvQmVapuEIjS-
jvY&ust=1706014553320000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CB
IQjRxqFwoTCPjlqNiO8YMDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAI
Ribs photo: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F
%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AWing_structure_-

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_ribs.svg&psig=AOvVaw388MNEdvQmVapuEIjS-
jvY&ust=1706014553320000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CB
IQjRxqFwoTCPjlqNiO8YMDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
Stringers photo: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Ffigure%2FClassical-wing-structure-The-thinner-
wing-boxes-used-on-fighters-and-supersonic-
aircraft_fig4_266876197&psig=AOvVaw16b8pysyOFwZxWUBftS3io&ust=17060
15180389000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjRxqFwoTC
MD8wL2O8YMDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
Aircraft wing photo: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F
%2Fmdpi-res.com%2Fd_attachment%2Factuators%2Factuators-11-
00302%2Farticle_deploy%2Factuators-11-00302-v2.pdf%3Fversion
%3D1666754159&psig=AOvVaw2Vy8msXysekZ3lliJyuQsv&ust=170601564176
2000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjRxqFwoTCJCH-
NaJ8YMDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAI

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