STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

An aircraft wing is designed to allow for large amounts of deflection at the wingtip. This is to
accommodate for high stresses during manoeuvring, severe turbulence, and general design safety
requirements. However, during general straight and level flight and/or light-turbulent flight conditions,
the wingtips do not deflect as significantly as they are capable of doing. It is common for the wing tip
deflection to remain within a ± 5% range of the wingspan length. Based on the information given in
the figure and table below, you are to select at which location on the wing the engine should be fitted
such that the wingtip deflection remains within satisfactory limits. For the engine to be placed, you
need to consider two conditions, i.e. (i) during flight, and (ii) during non-flight conditions. The
satisfactory deflection limits of the wingtip, for both non-flight and flight conditions, are +4.8% (above
the horizontal) and -3.7% (below the horizontal) of the wingspan length. Factors such as the self-weight
of the wing, the fuel (that is distributed evenly across the wingspan length), the engine as well as the
lift produced over the wing during flight all need to be considered. The aircraft wing can be modelled
as a cantilever with a fixed end with a hollow rectangular tubed of constant cross-section. Ignore the
dihedral angle of the wing. Only the one wing indicated in the figure below needs to be considered.

Wingspan (L)

Figure: Aircraft

Table: Wing details

E 70 GPa
Wingspan (L) 20 m
Weight of wing 𝐹_𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 2.5 + 1/2 𝑥 𝑘𝑁/𝑚
Weight of fuel 𝐹_𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 = 2.2𝑥 𝑘𝑁/𝑚
Weight of engine 50 kN
Lift produced over wing 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑡 = −𝐹_𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 (𝑥^2 − 2𝑥𝐿)/𝐿^2
𝐹_𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 90𝑘𝑁/𝑚
Width (B) of wing 2.5m
Height (D) of wing 0.7m
Wing skin thickness 0.01m

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

1. Draw a FBD of the wing during flight with the engine at an arbitrary value of 𝑥, 𝑥 = 𝑎. Also include a
drawing of the cross section of the wing and calculate moment of inertia of the wing.

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________
2. For all distributed loads (i.e. do not include engine load), provide separate bending moment and
deflection equations in the space provided below, in symbolic form, with the origin of 𝑥 at the wingtip,
as shown in the figure. Clearly state which equations belong to which distributed load. Define the
symbols you are using, making sure that the correlate to the symbols you used in question 1.
(By defining the influence of each of the loads individually, you will be employing the method of
superposition in solving this problem.)
x = linspace(0,20,21);

E = 70*10^9;
I = 6.47572*10^-3;

Wingspan = 20;

Width = 2.5; Height = 0.7; Thickness = 0.01;

B = Width; D = Height; T = Thickness;

EngineWeight = 47*10^3;
Flight = 81*10^3;

DeflectAbove = 4.8/100;
DeflectBelow = 3.7/100;

Moment_of_Inertia = (1/12)*Width*Height^3 - (1/12)*(Width-2*Thickness)*(Height-

2*Thickness)^3;

Moment of Inertia: 0.006476 m

Lift equations:
W_Lift = -Flight.*((x.^2 - 2.*x.*Wingspan)./(Wingspan.^2)) ;
V_Lift = (-Flight./Wingspan.^2).*(x.^3./3 - 2*x.^2.*Wingspan/2) ;
M_Lift = (-Flight./Wingspan.^2).*(x.^4./12 - 2*x.^3.*Wingspan/6) ;

Slope_Lift = ((-Flight./Wingspan.^2).*(x.^5./60 - x.^4.*2*Wingspan./24) -

Flight.*Wingspan.^3./15)./(E.*I) ;

Deflection_Lift = ((-Flight./Wingspan.^2).*(x.^6./360 - x.^5.*2.*Wingspan./120) +

- Flight.*x.*Wingspan.^3./15 + Flight.*19.*Wingspan.^4./360)./(E.*I) ;

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

Fuel weight equations:

W_Fuel = -(2.2.*x).*10.^3 ;
V_Fuel = -(1.1.*x.^2).*10.^3;
M_Fuel = -((1.1.*x.^3)./3).*10.^3;

Slope_Fuel = -((1.1.*x.^4)./12 - 1.1.*Wingspan.^4./12 ).*10.^3/(E.*I) ;

Deflection_Fuel = -((1.1.*x.^5)./60 - 1.1.*x.*Wingspan.^4./12 +

11.*Wingspan.^5./150).*10.^3./(E.*I) ;

Weigth of Wing equations:

W_Wing = -(2.5 + 0.5.*x).*10.^3 ;
V_Wing = -(2.5.*x + 0.5.*x.^2./2).*10.^3;
M_Wing = -(2.5.*x.^2./2 + 0.5.*x.^3./6).*10.^3;

Slope_Wing = -(2.5.*x.^3./6 + 0.5.*x.^4./24 - Wingspan.^4./48 -

5.*Wingspan.^3./12).*10.^3./(E.*I);

Deflection_Wing = -(2.5.*x.^4./24 + 0.5.*x.^5./120 + x.*(-Wingspan.^4./48 -

5.*Wingspan.^3./12) + Wingspan.^5./60 + 5.*Wingspan.^4./16).*10.^3./(E.*I);

Engine location equations:

V_Engine = EngineWeight;
M_Engine = -(EngineWeight*(Wingspan-x) - Wingspan.*EngineWeight); % a = x

Slope_Engine = -(EngineWeight.*Wingspan.*x - EngineWeight.*(x.^2)/2 -

Wingspan.*EngineWeight.*x + EngineWeight.*Wingspan.^2./2)./(E.*I);

Deflection_Engine = -(EngineWeight.*Wingspan.*x.^2./2 - EngineWeight.*(x.^3)/6 -

Wingspan.*EngineWeight.*x.^2./2 + EngineWeight.*x.*Wingspan.^2./2 -
EngineWeight.*Wingspan.^3./3)./(E.*I) ;

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

3. By how much, and in which direction, would the wing tip deflect during non-flight conditions without
taking the engine load into account? Use specific values given on SUNLearn from now on for Fflight,
engine weight and wingtip deflection.
Total_Deflection_nonFlight = Deflection_Wing(1) + Deflection_Fuel(1);

Total defelction for wing tip: -0.7456 m.

Note - I used (1) after my deflections, because they are saved as arrays for the values of a = 0 to 20.
Therefore, the value 1 is the first position ( a = 0 ) of the deflection.

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

4. Draw the bending moment diagram of the wing root as a function of the engine location during non-
flight conditions. Let the engine location be defined as 𝑥 = 𝑎, with the origin of 𝑥 at the wingtip, as
shown in the figure.

M_Total_nonFlight = M_Wing(21) + M_Fuel(21) + M_Engine;

plot(x,M_Total_nonFlight)

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

5. Draw the bending moment diagram of the wing root as a function of the engine location during flight
conditions.
M_Total_Flight = M_Total_nonFlight + M_Lift(21);
plot(x,M_Total_Flight);

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

6. Draw a diagram of wingtip deflection as a function of the engine location, 𝑣_0 (𝑎), for the flight
condition.
Deflection_Engine = -Deflection_Engine ;

Deflection_Flight = Deflection_Fuel(1) + Deflection_Wing(1) + Deflection_Lift(1)

+ Deflection_Engine ;
plot(x,Deflection_Flight);

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

7. Draw a diagram of wingtip deflection as a function of the engine location, 𝑣_0 (𝑎), for the non-flight
condition.
Deflection_nonFlight = Deflection_Fuel(1) + Deflection_Wing(1) +
Deflection_Engine ;

plot(x,Deflection_nonFlight);

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

8. For which values of engine location does the wingtip deflection meet the required wingtip deflection
during flight?
Allowed_Deflection_Positive_8 = 3.66/100*Wingspan;
Allowed_Deflection_Negative_8 = -3.91/100*Wingspan;

Deflection_Q8 = @(k) Deflection_Fuel(1) + Deflection_Wing(1) + Deflection_Lift(1) +

(EngineWeight.*Wingspan.*k.^2./2 - EngineWeight.*(k.^3)/6 -
Wingspan.*EngineWeight.*k.^2./2 + EngineWeight.*k.*Wingspan.^2./2 -
EngineWeight.*Wingspan.^3./3)./(E.*I) - Allowed_Deflection_Positive_8 ;
ans = fzero(Deflection_Q8,[0 20]);

For all values of a < 14.2211 the deflection of the wingtip is less than the
allowed deflection.

9. Explain what effect(s) the engine location has on the wing?

The deflection during non-flight conditions is below the horizontal. The

deflection during flight is above the horizontal. The position of the engine
influences the displacement on the tip of wing. Finding the correct spot for the
engine will ensure that the deflection does not exceed the allowed deflection for
the wing.

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

10. If the satisfactory deflection limits of the wingtip for non-flight and flight conditions are +4.8% (above
the horizontal) and -3.7% (below the horizontal) of the wingspan length, which range of locations may
the engine be placed on the wing? Also give the range in wingtip deflection for these engine locations

Allowed_Deflection_Positive_10 = 4.8/100*Wingspan;
Allowed_Deflection_Negative_10 = -3.7/100*Wingspan;

Deflection_FLight_Q10 = @(k) Deflection_Fuel(1) + Deflection_Wing(1) +

Deflection_Lift(1) + (EngineWeight.*Wingspan.*k.^2./2 - EngineWeight.*(k.^3)/6 -
Wingspan.*EngineWeight.*k.^2./2 + EngineWeight.*k.*Wingspan.^2./2 -
EngineWeight.*Wingspan.^3./3)./(E.*I) - Allowed_Deflection_Positive_10 ;

Deflection_nonFLight_Q10 = @(k) Deflection_Fuel(1) + Deflection_Wing(1) +

(EngineWeight.*Wingspan.*k.^2./2 - EngineWeight.*(k.^3)/6 -
Wingspan.*EngineWeight.*k.^2./2 + EngineWeight.*k.*Wingspan.^2./2 -
EngineWeight.*Wingspan.^3./3)./(E.*I) - Allowed_Deflection_Negative_10 ;

fplot(Deflection_nonFLight_Q10,[0 20]);
fplot(Deflection_FLight_Q10,[0 20]);

Under these conditions, the positive deflection for flight conditions are all
allowed. The non-flight conditions are not the same though. They are all below the
allowed deflection, which means none of them are allowed. Therefore, there are no
values. that the engine location can be restricted to.

Juan Terblanche – 26352036

 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS W244

Programming project 2023

Deadline: Friday, 27 October, 17h00, SUNLearn

__________________________________________________________________________________

11. Out of the engine location range found above, which single location would you select? Explain why.

I would put the engine at 5m from wing tip. Even though I can put it all the way to
14.2 in my calculations from question 8, this does not account for unexpected
situations like turbulence. Turbulence can cause the wing to deflect drastically.
We do not want the wing breaking during flight, so I would rather be safe and move
the engine a bit closer to the tip and have a bigger safe zone.

Juan Terblanche – 26352036