Aircraft Design –Task -1

Table of Contents

Sr. Name
No.

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Specifications

3.0 Market study

Conclusion
4.0

1.0 Introduction
Fighter aircraft are high-performance military aircraft primarily designed for air-to-air
combat. They play a crucial role in securing airspace dominance and protecting friendly
forces from enemy aerial threats. These agile and powerful machines are the "knights of the
sky," engaging in dogfights to achieve air superiority during conflicts. Fighter aircraft have
played pivotal roles in conflicts throughout history and remain essential components of
modern military forces. They represent the pinnacle of engineering and serve as symbols of
national defence and air power projection.
 aircraft design process there is a compromise between challenges and limitation. The effect
of all these challenges and constrains on each configuration of the aircraft need to be
studied. This process of aircraft design can be divided in to three categories.
1. Conceptual design
2. Preliminary design
3. Detailed design

Fig. 1 Design Cycle [1]

As shown in fig.1 aircraft design is an iterative process which starts with the conceptual
design of the aircraft. Conceptual design of an aircraft starts with the mission requirements
along with the requirements of aviation regulation authority. The mission requirements are
usually provided either by client or it is considered by group of experts based on futuristic
requirements. Design requirements include parameters such as cruise velocity, range, and
passenger or cargo capacity, take off distance and landing distance, manoeuvrability etc.
These design requirements are initially fuzzy which needs to be studied and finetuned based
on available technologies, requirements after 15-20 years and by considering other
parameters. Based on the requirements the design concept is prepared with the help sizing
and trade study. Sizing includes weight estimations, sizing of the wing, tail and fuselage and
other essential parts of the aircraft. Once conceptual design is obtained there will be design
analysis phase where the conceptual aircraft is analysed for the performance and design
requirements of the aircraft. This analysis includes aerodynamics, structural and
performance analysis along with the stability analysis of the aircraft. Based on the analysis
results the conceptual design may be revised to meet the criteria. This way it is an iterative
process. The conceptual phase ends by finalising or freezing one design suitable for mission
requirements. There can be more than one suitable concept for given requirements.

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This assignment is part of conceptual design of an aircraft. The mission requirement given
for the passenger aircraft includes type of the engine, passenger carrying capacity, range,
cruise altitude, cruise speed, takeoff and landing distance etc.

2.0 Design Specifications

Crew 2
Range (ft) 6600000
Max.speed(ma) 1.5
Altitude (ft) 42000
Take off Distance (ft) 1700
Landing Distance (ft) 2400
Service ceiling (ft) 48000

Table-1 Design specifications

Table-1 shows the design requirements for the aircraft. For conceptual design process the first
task is to carryout weight estimation based on mission requirements and trade study as the
weight is an important constraint in the aircraft. Initial sizing gives clear idea about maximum
takeoff weight, fuel weight, and structural weight of the aircraft.
Conceptual aircraft of this assignment is having range of 1250Miles and carries 2 pilots. This
aircraft flies at cruise altitude of 42000ft with the Maximum speed of 1.5Mach and service
ceiling of 48000 ft. The takeoff and landing distance requirements are 1700 ft and 2400 ft
respectively.

3.0 Market Study

The trade analysis and market survey is carried out to understand the mission requirements in
details and understand the available technology and future requirements. The market study is
carried out by considering the important Design requirements for the conceptual aircraft
which is to be designed. These design requirements are range, cruise altitude, max speed,
takeoff and landing distance. There are several aircraft available in this category with
different range and the cruise speed, max speed. In this study JF 17 thunder, Gripen NG, FA
50, MIG-29 aircraft are studied for their performance and design parameters. The summery
of design and performance parameters [3] are given in Table-2.

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 Conceptual FA-50
Aircraft JF-17 Gripen
Golden MIG-29
Thunder NG
eagle
Takeoff
1700 1640 1970 1970 1310
distance (ft)
Landing
2400 NA 1970 1970 2460
Distance (ft)
Max. Takeoff
Weight (kg) 13000 12383 16500 12300 18000
(MTOW)
Range (miles)
1250 2165 2485 1800 1305
Maximum
1.5 1.6 2 1.5 2.25
speed (Ma)
Service
ceiling(ft) 48000 55000 55000 48000 59055

Table-2 performance parameters comparison [3]

4.0 Conclusion

According to the market study done it is fonubd out that the design
specifications of the conceptual aircraft match very similarly to that of HAL
Tejas. The specificatins of Hal Tejas are specified below:

Maximum takeoff weight 13500 kg

Take-off distance 1640 ft
Landing-distance 2600 ft
pilot Weight 160 kg
Maximum speed 1.5 Mach
Service Ceiling 50000 ft
Range 6072000 ft

3.0 Initial Weight estimation

Market study gives understanding of the mission profile and a rough idea about the
size and shape of the aircraft to meet the given design specifications based on available
technology. The weight estimation is carried out based on the mission profile of the
conceptual aircraft. A mission profile is the path through which an aircraft travels. A common
mission profile consists of an airplane taking off and then a climb. Cruising takes place and
as the destination is near it starts descending. Sometimes during descending there is traffic in
the runway, so the aircraft has to loiter. And finally it lands on the runway. Mission profile

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depends on the basic mission of the aircraft of the conceptual aircraft is given bellow in
figure-2.

Fig.2 Mission Profile [2]

The mission profile includes following phases.

1. Take off and climb
2. Cruise and Loiter
3. Ingress
4. Strike
5. Egress
6. Cruise and Loiter
7. Descent and Landing

Warm-up and take off is the initial phase of the mission in which the aircraft starts the engine
and initiate takeoff operation till it achieves the obstacle clearance altitude. During takeoff
phase the fuel weight fraction depends on the power requirement for takeoff. The fuel weight
fraction can be obtained from the aircraft design literatures. After takeoff the aircraft need to
achieve the cruise altitude this phase from takeoff to the cruise altitude where the aircraft
increases its altitude with desired rate of climb is the 2 nd phase, the climb where aircraft
accelerates and achieves required cruise altitude. The transport aircraft spends most of its
flying time in the cruise phase where it flies at constant speed and altitude to cover most of
the range of the mission. The aerodynamic parameters of the aircraft like aspect ratio of the
wing, Oswald efficiency factor, zero lift drag coefficient etc is used to estimate required L/D
ratio for maximum range of the aircraft and from that weight fraction during cruise phase is
obtained. Passenger aircraft of this category normally have aspect ratio in the range of 8 to 12
and the maximum L/D ratio in the range of 15. Descend phase is the phase where aircraft
lowers the altitude to land safely at specified destination. As the aircraft consumes negligible
amount of fuel in this face the weight fraction can be taken as 1 for this phase. For the safety

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aircraft mission is provided 20-30 minutes of loiter time [1].The loiter time is provided so that
aircraft can fly around destination airport till it get clearance to land.