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Aircraft Weight and Geometry

The document discusses aircraft weight and geometry. It explains that an aircraft's weight, consisting of empty weight, payload weight, and fuel weight, and its aerodynamic properties primarily determine flight performance. The maximum take-off weight and other limiting weight values are also based on aircraft design and regulations. An accurate weight and balance calculation should be done before each flight. The document also defines aircraft geometry terms like wing planform area, span, chord, taper ratio, mean aerodynamic chord, aspect ratio, and their effects on aircraft performance.

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darshan
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102 views2 pages

Aircraft Weight and Geometry

The document discusses aircraft weight and geometry. It explains that an aircraft's weight, consisting of empty weight, payload weight, and fuel weight, and its aerodynamic properties primarily determine flight performance. The maximum take-off weight and other limiting weight values are also based on aircraft design and regulations. An accurate weight and balance calculation should be done before each flight. The document also defines aircraft geometry terms like wing planform area, span, chord, taper ratio, mean aerodynamic chord, aspect ratio, and their effects on aircraft performance.

Uploaded by

darshan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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12/19/2015

https://sites.google.com/site/aerodynamics4students/tableofcontents/aircraftperformance1/aircraftweightandgeometry?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2

TableofContents
>
AircraftPerformance
>

AircraftWeightandGeometry
Weight
Theweight(W)oftheaircraftanditsaerodynamicpropertiesaretheprimaryfactorsdeterminingitsflightperformance.
Theweightoftheaircraftcanbebrokendownintofundamentalcomponents:
theemptyweightofthevehicle
theweightofthepilot,passengersandpayload
theweightofthefuel.
Therewillbelimitingweightvaluesduetotheaircraftdesignandflightregulations:
maximumweightofpayload
maximumfuelloadorfueltankcapacity
maximumtakeoffweight(MTOW)
maximumlandingweight.

Itisnotsimplyamatterofaddingthecomponentstogethertoobtainafinalanswerfortheaircraftweight.Forexampleitmaybenecessarytoremovefuelweightsothatadditionalpayloadmayb
whilestillmaintainingtherequirementofamaximumtakeoffweight.Forstabilityandhenceflightsafetyconsiderationsanaccurate"weightandbalance"calculationshouldbeperformedpriorto
theaircraft.

Inflighttheaircraftweightwillchangeasfuelisburntbythepropulsionsystemorpossiblydumpedinanemergencysituation.Alltheweightspecificationswillneedtobeidentifiedfromdatagive
aircraftmanufacturerbeforeforceequilibriumcalculationscanbeapplied.

AircraftGeometry.
AtypicalaircraftplanformlayoutisshowninthefollowingFigure.

SWingPlanformArea,
sWingSemispan,
bWingSpan,b=2s.
Thewingplanformarea(S)isshadedasshown.Thewingtaperratiocanbecalculatedastheratiooftipchordtorootchord,

Themeanaerodynamicchordcanbefoundbyintegratingtheindividualsectionchordsacrossthespan.

Where

https://sites.google.com/site/aerodynamics4students/tableofcontents/aircraftperformance1/aircraftweightandgeometry?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2

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12/19/2015

https://sites.google.com/site/aerodynamics4students/tableofcontents/aircraftperformance1/aircraftweightandgeometry?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2

Forwingswithsimplelineartaper,themeanaerodynamicchordwillroughlyequalthemeangeometricchord,

Theaspectratioofthewingwillbe,

andforwingswithrectangularplanformthiswillsimplifyto,

Aspectratiowillplayamajorpartintheefficientperformanceofanaircraft.

https://sites.google.com/site/aerodynamics4students/tableofcontents/aircraftperformance1/aircraftweightandgeometry?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2

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