DESIGN OF A REAR FUSELAGE

Figure A.1 shows the elevation of Sirius Aircraft. It is required to carry out the detailed structural design of the portion of the rear fuselage between the sections AA and BB.

Figure A.1 Sirius

A.1 Specification The required flight envelope for this particular aircraft is shown in Figure A.2 where

( ( ) )

Note also that airworthiness requirements specify that since Further requirements are that:

the point D2 lies on the

axis.

(i) at any point in the flight envelope an additional pitching acceleration is given by ( )

(ii) for asymmetric flight an angle of yaw given by

A.2 Data Preliminary design work has produced the following data. AIRCRAFT Fully loaded weight = 7.56 k.N. Moment of inertia of fully loaded aircraft about the center of gravity = -0.0155. The engine has a maximum horsepower of 115hp and the propeller efficiency is 85%. WING The wing has a span of 9.75m and gross area of 11.89m2. Its aerodynamic mean chord, the variations of the moment and lift coefficients with incidence are shown in Figure A.3. and

Figure A.3 Wing characteristics

Also, the pitching moment coefficient is given by

TAILPLANE The tailplane has a span of 2.65m and a gross area of 1.46m2; the position of the aerodynamic center, P, of the tailplane is shown in Figure A.1 which is 20% of the tails mean aerodynamic chord. Due to the asymmetry of the slipstream induced by the yaw asymmetric loads are induced on the tailplane. These loads, upwards on one side and downwards on the other, result in a torque given by

FIN The fin has a height of 1.143m, an area of 1.04m2 and an aspect ratio of 1.3. Also, it may be shown that the lift-curve slope, , of the fin is given by ( )

The position of the centre of pressure of the fin depends upon the geometry of the pressure distribution. Calculations show that the centre of pressure is 0.45m above the axis of the rear fuselage and a distance of 2.78m aft of the section AA. A.3 Initial Calculations FLIGHT ENVELOPE The positive stall curve in the flight envelope of Figure A.2 is found from the basic aerodynamic wing theory is given by ( ( Then ( FIN LIFT-CURVE SLOPE ( ) )

) ) ( )

)(

( (

)( )(

)(

) ) )

A.4 Balancing out Calculations The tailplane and fin loads corresponding to the various critical points in the flight envelope will now be calculated so that, subsequently, values of shear force, bending moment and torque acting on the rear fuselage may be determined. ( )( )( )

Also ( )( )

A first approximation for the wing lift, L, is obtained by neglecting the tailplane lift, P, ( ( The angle of yaw is, ( The coefficient of lift and total pitching moment coefficient is, ( ( )( ( so that ( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) ) ( ) ) ) ) ) )

The additional pitching moment acceleration is, ( The tail load . ) ( )

The torque produced by the asymmetric loading on the tailplane is given by,
( )

)(

) (

)(

)(

The load on the fin caused by the yawed flight is given by, ( )( ) ( )( )( )

The torque produced on the fuselage by this fin load is 663.3652 0.45 = 298.5143 Nm. The total torque on the rear fuselage is therefore given by ( A.5 Fuselage loads The dimensions of the portion of the rear fuselage to be designed are given in Figure A.1. FUSELAGE SECTION For the Sirius aircraft the fuselage is unpressurized so that the frames will not support significant loads. However they will be required to maintain the fuselage shape but may therefore be nominal in size, suitable frame sections will be suggested later. The combination of stringers and skin will resist the shear forces, bending moments and torques produced by self-weight and aerodynamic loads. For this purpose a circular cross-section will meet the design requirements of the aircraft and be simple to fabricate and design. )

Figure A.4 Stringer arrangement in rear fuselage.

Figure A.4 shows a possible section. Twenty-four stringers arranged symmetrically, each having the same cross-sectional area.

MATERIAL An aluminium alloy will be used for both stringers and skin and has the following properties:

SELF-WEIGHT In a conventional single-engined aircraft of the type shown in Figure A.1 it is usual to assume that the fuselage weight is from 4.8% to 8.0% of the total weight and that the weight of the tailplane/fin assembly is from 1.2% to 2.5% of the total weight. It will be further assumed in this case that half of the fuselage weight is aft of the section AA and that the weight distribution varies directly as the skin surface area.
( ( ( )( ) )( ) )

Figure A.5 Rear fuselage sections.

For ease of calculation the rear fuselage is assumed to taper uniformly as shown in Figure A.5; CC is a section midway between AA and BB. The total skin area is given by ( )( ( ( ) )( ) ( )( ) ( ) )

( (

)( ) ( )( ) (

) )

Also the center of gravity of the tailplane/fin assembly has been estimated to be 1.64m from the section AA on a line parallel to the fuselage centre line. SHEAR FORCES AND BENDING MOMENTS DUE TO SELF-WEIGHT At the section AA ( *( )( ) ( )( ) ) ( )( )+

At the section CC [ *( )( ( ) ( )( )( ) ( )] )( )+

At the section BB [ *( )( ) ( ( )( )( ) ( )] )( )+

TOTAL SHEAR FORCES, BENDING MOMENTS AND TORQUES The values of shear force, bending moment and torque at the sections AA, BB and CC will now be calculated.

Section AA The shear force due to the self-weight and tail load is, ( ) ( )

The shear force due to the fin load is, ( ) The bending moment due to the self-weight and tail load is, ( ) ( )

The bending moment due to the fin load is, ( )

The torque due to asymmetric flight and the fin load is,

Section CC ( ( ) ( Section BB ( ( ) ( A.6 Fuselage design calculations In this case, Elastic design will be used. The working, or allowable, stresses are then ) ) ( ( ) ) ) ) ( ( ) )

The proposed fuselage section is circular as previously shown in Figure A.4. The design process is required to produce suitable stringer sections and a skin thickness. Suppose that each stringer (or boom) has a cross-sectional area B mm2 and that the skin thickness is t mm. The idealized fuselage section is shown in Figure A.6.

Figure A.6 Idealized fuselage cross-section

STRINGER SECTIONS The direct stress in each stringer produced by bending moments Mx and My is given by,

where

Section AA (diameter

At stringer 7, Then ( Similarly ( ( ) ) ( ( ) ) ) ( )

( ( ( ( )

) ) ) (

( ( ( )

) ) )

Section CC (diameter

( ( ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ) ) ( )

) ( ( ( ( ( (

( ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Section BB (diameter

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) ) ( )

( ) ( ( ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ) ) )

From the above it can be seen that the maximum direct stress at each fuselage section occurs in stringer 10. Also the stress in stringer 10 (and all other stringers) is lower at section CC than at section AA and lower at section BB than at section CC. Therefore if fuselage frames are positioned at each of these sections lighter stringers may be used between CC and BB than between AA and CC. An additional frame will be positioned midway between AA and CC and between CC and BB, and will be slotted to allow the stringers to pass through. The arrangement is shown diagrammatically in Figure A.7. The allowable direct stress in a stringer is . The maximum direct stress in stringer 10 at the section AA is . The required stringer area of cross-section is then given by

Figure A.7 Arrangement of fuselage frames

SKIN THICKNESS The fuselage cross-section is subjected to shear loads symmetry. and along two perpendicular axes of

Since,

) is constant round the fuselage section and

Consider the action of

) only. Then

Referring now to Figure A.6 ( ( ( ( ( ( From symmetry so that ) ) ) ) ) )

giving

Then ( )

Similarly

Consider now the action of

only.

From symmetry

The shear flow produced by the applied torque is given by

The total shear flow in each of the panels 76 to 21 is then

Section AA (diameter

Then, ( ( ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ) ) ) ( ( ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ) ) ) ( ( ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ) ) )

Section CC (diameter

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) )

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) )

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) )

Section BB (diameter

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) )

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) )

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) )

The skin will be of constant thickness so that the maximum shear stress in the skin will occur in the panel in which the shear flow is a maximum. This, from the above, is 1.06 N/mm in panel 43 at section BB.

RIVET SIZE Skin/stringer rivets

Section AA (diameter

( ( ( ( ( ( ( Section CC (diameter ) ) ) (

( ) )

( ( ( ( ( ( ) (

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) ) ( )

) ) ) ) )

) ) ) (

( ( (

) ) ) ) (

( ( ( ( ( ( ( Section BB (diameter ) ) ) ) ) )

) ( ( ( ( (

( ) ) ) ) ) ) ( )

( ( ( ( ( ( (

) ) )

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) ) ( )

) ) ) )

( ( ( ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ) )

) ( ( ( ( (

( ) ) ) ) ) ) ( )

( ( ( ( ( ( (

) ) )

( ( ( ( ( (

) ) ) ) ) )

) ) ) )

( )

From the above it can be seen that the maximum load on the rivets occurs at section BB in stringer 9 and is 0.28 N/mm. The number of rivets/m is given by