Aircraft Structures

Aircraft Structures – Overview

• Aircraft are generally built up from the following

basic components
– Wings, Fuselages, Tail (H & V) , and control surfaces
• Delta wing aircraft have no horizontal tail
– Example : TEJAS, M2000, RFAEL
• Some have a canard configuration such as that of the
Eurofighter (Typhoon).
• Each component has one or more specific functions
and must be designed to ensure that it can carry out
these functions safely.
 Aircraft Structures – Overview

• The structure of an aircraft is required to support two

distinct classes of load:
– Ground loads, includes all loads encountered by the
aircraft during movement or transportation on the ground
such as taxiing and landing loads, towing and hoisting
loads
– Air loads, comprises loads imposed on the structure during
flight by manoeuvres and gusts.
 Aircraft Structures – Overview

• Aircraft designed for a particular role encounter loads

peculiar to their sphere of operation.
– Naval aircraft, are subjected to catapult take-
off and arrested landing loads
– Large civil and practically all military aircraft
have pressurized cabins for high altitude flying
– Amphibious aircraft must be capable of landing on water
– Low altitude high speed aircraft have tremendous loads due
to high density and turbulence.
 Aircraft Structures – Loads

• There are basically two ways loads are transferred

– Surface forces which act upon the surface of the structure,
e.g. aerodynamic and hydrostatic pressure
– Body forces which act over the volume of the structure and
are produced by gravitational and inertial effects.
• Eg. Turns, dive pull-up etc
• Pressure distribution over the various surfaces of an
aircraft’s structure is obtained from aerodynamics
calculations.
 Typical Aerodynamic Loads

Pressure distribution Replaced by loads

 Typical Aerodynamic Loads

Note : The reduction near the centre line (fuselage effect)

and tips (tip effect)
Loads During Dive Pull-up

As W*n = L 
Random Gust Loads
V-n Diagram
 Typical Ground Loads

• Ground loads encountered in landing and taxiing

subject the aircraft to concentrated shock loads
through the undercarriage system.
• The majority of aircraft have their main undercarriage
located close to the wings,
– Nosewheel or tailwheel in the vertical plane of symmetry.
• Position of the main undercarriage should take care of
the stability
– When the aircraft is on ground.
Typical Aircraft sub assemblies
Aircraft structures examples
Typical Structural Breakdown
Bomber
Harrier Jumpjet
Commercial Plane
 Structural Components

• The basic functions of an aircraft’s structure

– transmit and resist the loads
– provide an aerodynamic shape
– and to protect passengers, payload, systems, etc. from the
environmental conditions encountered in flight.
• Monocoque : Thin shells which rely entirely on
their skins for their capacity to resist loads
 Structural Components

• Semi-monocoque : thin shell structures where

the outer surface is usually supported by
– longitudinal stiffening members
– and transverse frames to enable it to resist
bending, compressive and torsion loads without buckling.
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific

Skin
1. Resists the applied torsion and shear forces by
• Transmitting aerodynamic forces to the
longitudinal and transverse supporting members
• Supports the longitudinal members in resisting the
applied bending and axial loads
• Supports the transverse members in resisting the
hoop, or circumferential, load when the structure is
pressurized.
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific
Ribs and Frames : The skeleton
1. Structural integration of the wing and fuselage
2. Keep the wing in its aerodynamic profile
Typical Wing construction
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific
Spar
1. Resist bending and axial loads
2. Form the wing box for stable torsion
resistance
 Function of Aircraft Structures:
Part specific
Stiffener or Stringers
1. Resist bending and axial loads along with the skin
2. Divide the skin into small panels and thereby
increase its buckling and failing stresses
3. Act with the skin in resisting axial loads caused by
pressurization.
 Simplifications

1. The behavior of these structural elements is often

idealized to simplify the analysis of the assembled
component
2. The webs (skin and spar webs) carry only shearing stresses.
3. The longitudinal elements carry only axial stress.
4. The transverse frames and ribs are rigid within their own
planes, so that the cross section is maintained unchanged
during loading.
 Aircraft Structures

1. Truss-type Structures
– Had struts and wire-braced wings
– Occupants sat in open fabric-covered cockpits,

2. Stressed-skin Structures
– All of the structural loads are carried by the skin.
– Thin wood skin Or aluminum-alloy sheets
 Structures

• Wing Construction Truss-type

 Airframe Units

1. Fuselage : Bulkheads, Frames, Stringers

2. Wings : Spars, Ribs stiffeners
3. Tail plane : Stabilizers , Flight control
surfaces, Landing gear
 Structural Loads/Stress

• Deformation : Nonpermanent Deformation

– Deformation disappears when the load is removed.
• Permanent Deformation
– Wrinklesobserved on topof wing and bottom of
horizontal stabilizer.
– Stretch marks on the bottom of the wing or top o the
stabilizer. (positive g’s)
 Materials For Aircraft Construction

• Wood : Old small 2 seat aircrafts,

Pushpak, Tigermoth
• Aluminum Alloys : Most modern planes use a variety
of alloys of Al
• Honeycomb : Sandwiches
• Magnesium & Steel : Very specific
Stainless applications
Old examples : Wood
 Fuselage Construction
• This is the preferred method of constructing an
all- aluminum fuselage.
– A series of frames in the shape of the fuselage
cross sections are held in position on a rigid fixture, or jig.
– These are then joined with lightweight longitudinal elements
called stringers.
– These are then covered with a skin of sheet
aluminum, attached by riveting or by bonding with special
adhesives.
– The fixture is then removed from the completed
fuselage shell
– Most modern large aircraft are built using this technique
Fuselage Construction
Fuselage
B747 Fuselage
Typical Skin Stiffeners
 PEMP
ACD2501

Fuselage Construction

• Monocoque : Virtually no internal framework

• Semi-monocoque Internal
: arrangement of formers and
stringers is used to provide additional rigidity and strength to
the skin.
Semi-monocoque
Cantilever
Cantilever Wing
Braced Wing

In flight Lift acting

upwards
countering weight

On ground no
Lift, only weight
Load Relief Due Fuel in Wing
 Wing Construction

• Spar : main structural member

Ribs
of the wing, running at
right angles to the fuselage.
• The spar carries flight
and
loads the weight of the
wings whilst on the ground.
• Generally there are 2 spars in
most aircraft wings.
• Other structural and
forming members are Ribs.
Spa
r
 Structures
• Stressed-skin Wing Construction
Control Surface Construction
 Undercarriage
• Landing gear is the structure under a plane's fuselage
that allows it to land safely
• Older landing gear had two wheels forward of the
aircraft's center of gravity and a third, smaller wheel at
the tail. This configuration has the nickname the
"taildragger”
• Tricycle landing gear consists of a forward (nose)
wheel and a pair of wheels located midway on the
fuselage. The nose gear is steerable by means of the
rudder pedals.
 Undercarriage
• Tandem landing gear (also called bicycle landing
gear) consists of a main gear of two sets of wheels
set one behind the other.
 Elements of Structures
• Three common structural elements are used:
– skins, stiffeners, and beams
• Materials may experience both tension, and compression
– Compression can cause the elements to buckle
– Requires determination of air loads
– Requires determination of mass properties (weights)
– Check for parts exceeding yield stress
– Check for buckling
 Fatigue

• Structural fatigue occurs when an element is

subjected to repeated application and removal of
loads
– e.g. Wing experiencing unsteady gusts
– The number of load cycles a material can tolerate depends
on the stress level
– Smaller cross sections, will have higher stresses, easily fail
– Structural analyses can identify “hot spots” where fatigue
will first occur
Composition of Composites
 Types of composites

• Composite material include :

– Fabric glass material used to repair the parts including wing
trailing & leading edge panel, floor panel & body fairing.
– Honey comb material used in floor panel, body fairing &
wing panels and galley partition.
– Graphite reinforced plastic or carbon reinforced plastic
(CFRP or CRP) used in some major structural area (eg:
B777 cabin lateral floor beam structure)
Composites : Pros & Cons
 Typical Aircraft Material

Fuselage
& Wing
LE
Fuselage
fairings
skin &
aircraft
structure
s
Use of Composites in B767
Use of Composites in B777
 Boeing 787 - Dreamliner

• Materials by weight, are 50% composite, 20% aluminum,

15% titanium, 10% steel, and 5% other.
• Aluminum is used on wing and tail leading edges,
titanium used mainly on engines and fasteners