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Airframe Structure-General

Concepts

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Airworthiness requirements
● Airworthiness is a condition in which aircraft is
– Is congruent with the approved type
– Is modified according to approved specifications by
authority
– Is in order with mandatory maintenance
– Does not install inadequate parts
● AD are notifications to owners and operators of
certified aircraft (from regulatory authority)
concerning a know safety deficiency on a
particular model of aircraft engine, avionics or
other system that must be corrected

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AD and SB
● AD comes with time constraints and required
action must be carried out before time
otherwise the airworthiness of the aircraft is
compromised
● If an AD is emitted for emergency, it must be
done before next flight
● SB is issued by manufacturer of the aircraft and
is categorize into optional, recommended, alert,
mandatory, informational, etc
● Differentiation between non-mandatory service
bulletins is done and decided only by the
regulatory authority
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Structural Classification

● Structures responds to the aerodynamic and


mechanical force requirements and to reliability
conditions
● They are classified into following groups
– Primary structure
– Secondary structure
– Tertiary structure

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Primary Structure
● The structure that carries flight, ground,
loads, and whose failure would reduce the
structural integrity of the airplane or may
result in injury or death to passengers or
crew is defined as primary structure
● Examples
– Engine Mountings
– Fuselage Frames
– Main Floor members
– Main Spars

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Secondary structure
● Secondary structure includes all portions of the
aircraft which would normally be regarded as
primary structure, but which unavoidably have
such a reserve of strength over design
requirements that appreciable weakening may
be permitted, without risk of failure
● Their failure would not impair the safety of an
aircraft
● Examples include
– Ribs and parts of skin in the wings.
– Skin and stringers in the fuselage

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Tertiary structure
● These are a Structure in which the stresses are
low, but which, for various reasons, cannot be
omitted from the aircraft
● Typical examples include fairings, fillets and
brackets which support items in the fuselage
and adjacent area

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FAIL SAFE
● A fail safe structure is one which retains, after
initiation of a fracture or crack, sufficient
strength for the operation of the aircraft with an
acceptable standard of safety, until such failure
is detected on a normal scheduled inspection
● There is a redundancy in the aircraft structure
which means more than a single element
carries a load so if there is a failure other
elements will perform its function

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SAFE LIFE
● Safe life structure and components are granted
a period of time during which it is considered,
that failure is extremely unlikely
● It may be expressed in flying hours, elapsed
time, number of flights or number of
applications of load, i.e; pressurization cycles
● It is used for systems which are difficult to
repair or may cause severe damages to the
structure (primary structures)
● After the safe life component is removed even if
it performs correctly

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Damage tolerance
● Damage tolerance is a property of a structure
relating to its ability to sustain defects safely
until repair can be done
● This allows certain damage to the structure to
go unrepaired between scheduled maintenance
● Following conditions must be met
– If some lacks are generated the structure must be
able to support them without catastrophic effects
– The lack identification will happen in reasonable
time and its speed of propagation must be slow
– The damage tolerance requires periodic controls
and a specific maintenance program

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ZONAL SYSTEM
● The aircraft is divided into zones as Major
zones, Major sub zones and unit zones
● Major zones are identified by the hundreds as
– 100 Lower half of the fuselage to aft pressure bulkhead
– 200 Upper half of the fuselage to aft pressure bulkhead
– 300 Stabilizers
– 400 Nacelles
– 500 Left hand Wing
– 600 Right hand Wing
– 700 Landing gear
– 800 Doors
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ZONAL SYSTEM
● Major Sub – Zones are identified through tenth
digit of the three digit zone number.
● Numbering takes places within the major zone
from front to rear and from inboard to outboard,
e. g. 210, 220 etc
● Unit Zones defines a certain position within that
sub zone. They are identified through single
digit Numbering, counting from 0 to 9

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ZONAL SYSTEM

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Station number
● The station (STA) number is the distance in
millimeters of the cross-section from a
reference point

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LOADS FOUND WITHIN THE STRUCTURE
● Force acting on aircraft per unit area is called
stress and the deformation produced due to
stress is called strain
● Types of stress acting on aircraft are
– Compression
– Tension
– Bending (a combination of compression and
tension)
– Twisting/Torsion
– Shear

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Hoop Stress
● The hoop stress is the force exerted
circumferentially (perpendicular both to the axis
and to the radius of the object) in both
directions on every particle in the cylinder wall
● Due to pressurization cycle hoop stress act on
the fuselage
● This stress determine the life of the fuselage
structure which is usually expressed in cycles

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Aloha Airlines Flight 243
● In 1988 aloha airline fight 243 suffered one
fatality (of lead cabin crew)
● Aircraft was the 152nd Boeing 737 airframe
manufactured and was built in 1969
● It had accumulated 35,496 flight hours prior to
the accident, those hours included over 89,680
flight cycles (takeoffs and landings), owing to its
use on short flights
● This is twice the number of flight cycles it was
designed for

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Metal Fatigue
● Weakness in metal caused by repeated
variations of stress is metal fatigue, it causes
weakening of metal, resulting in an
accumulation of small cracks
● Load reversals refer to a material being
continually loaded and unloaded and as long as
the elastic limit is not exceeded, the material
should be unaffected and return to its original
state
● Fatigue cracking accelerate the onset of
corrosion by exposing unprotected metals to
the surface

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Bonding
● Bonding is an electrical connection between
different conductive objects
● This is done to avoid the electrical weakening of
the part
● Main aim is to eliminate the potential
differences among different parts of the
structure others are
– Protect aircraft and personnel from lightening
discharge hazard
– Protect personnel from shock hazards
– Protect development of radio interference

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DRAINAGE
● The aircraft structure requires many different
types of drain holes and paths to prevent water
and other fluids such as fuel, hydraulic oil etc.,
from collecting within the structure
● These could become both a corrosion and fire
hazard
● These are divided into different areas which are
– External drains
– Internal drains

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External Drains

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External Drains

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Internal Drain

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Internal Drain

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Ventilation

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