04.2 - Aerostructures Design, Structural Dynamics, Aeroelasticity
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUSELAGE WEIGHT ESTIMATION TOOL INTO AIRCRAFT MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN ENVIRONMENT
H. Wangı, H. Wangı; ıShanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute, China
Fuselage weight accounts for 20-30% of the total manufacturing empty weight. Traditional fuselage weight estimation adopts semi-empirical equations based on statistical data. These semi-empirical equations are insufficient to capture effect of materials or structural layouts in the overall aircraft conceptual design phase. An estimation tool based on structural sizing is present in this work. Fuselage is discretized into multiple sections composed of several panels and frames. Each section is sized to satisfy both strength requirements and stiffness requirements. A study case is given to estimate the weight of a glider fuselage. Results conclude that the combination of computational speed, accuracy and sensitivity of structural layouts and materials makes this tool suitable for the overall aircraft conceptual design.