Scribd
Upload
229 views1 page

Lofting PDF

Lofting is the process of defining an aircraft's external geometry. Production lofting provides an exact, mathematical definition of the entire aircraft down to small details. This allows different parts to be designed separately but fit together perfectly during assembly. For initial layouts, the major components like the fuselage, wings, and tails must be defined enough to show internal components will fit within a smooth aerodynamic contour. Early lofting techniques used flexible rulers connected by splines, but this required trial and error and did not provide a unique mathematical surface definition.

Uploaded by

Vikrant Yadav
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
229 views1 page

Lofting PDF

Lofting is the process of defining an aircraft's external geometry. Production lofting provides an exact, mathematical definition of the entire aircraft down to small details. This allows different parts to be designed separately but fit together perfectly during assembly. For initial layouts, the major components like the fuselage, wings, and tails must be defined enough to show internal components will fit within a smooth aerodynamic contour. Early lofting techniques used flexible rulers connected by splines, but this required trial and error and did not provide a unique mathematical surface definition.

Uploaded by

Vikrant Yadav
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Aircraft Design:

Lofting

Q. Explain Lofting

 "Lofting" is the process of defining the external geometry of the aircraft. "Production
lofting," the most detailed form of lofting, provides an exact, mathematical definition
of the entire aircraft including such minor details as the intake and exhaust ducts for
the air conditioning.
 A production-loft definition is expected to be accurate to within a few hundredths of
an inch (or less) over the entire aircraft. This allows the different parts of the aircraft
to be designed and fabricated at different plant sites yet fit together perfectly during
final assembly.
 For an initial layout it is not necessary to go into as much detail. However, the overall
lofting of the fuselage, wing, tails, and nacelles must be defined sufficiently to show
that these major components will properly enclose the required internal components
and fuel tanks while providing a smooth aerodynamic contour.
 To provide a smooth longitudinal contour, points taken from the desired cross-
sections were connected longitudinally on the drawing by flexible "splines," long, thin
wood or plastic rulers held down at certain points by lead "ducks" .
 This technique was used for early aircraft lofting, but suffers from two disadvantages.
 First, it requires a lot of trial and error to achieve a smooth surface both in cross
section and longitudinally.
 Second, and perhaps more important, this method does not provide a unique
mathematical definition of the surface. To create a new cross section requires
tremendous amount of drafting effort, In addition to the time involved this method is
prone to mismatch errors.

www.wingsofaero.in
[email protected]

You might also like