User:Eas4200c.f08/Introduction

aircraft design goals: want aircraft to be light, yet strong

aircraft materials: high stiffness, high strength, light weight

two aspects of a structure: geometry and material


 * geometry of aircraft construction: monocoque (single-shell design, thin-shell structures), semi-monocoque (stiffened shell structures)


 * design of aircraft geometry also limited by aerodynamic consideration, such as lift and drag of airfoil


 * want aircraft materials be used to full capacity (to avoid having more weight than is useful)


 * optimize aircraft materials: replace aluminum and titanium by fiber reinforced composites, save 30% to 40% in weight

suggested contribution: the above figure is not clear; it is not easy to distinguish various gray shades. find a better figure showing the structure of an aircraft and the material used in each part. $$\displaystyle \bigstar$$


 * 50% of Boeing 787 is made of composites.

suggested contribution: find a picture of this aircraft. $$\displaystyle \bigstar$$

= Further reading =

Sun (2006), pp.1-2.

monocoque / semi-monocoque : informative wikipedia article with figures, history, links to different specific airplanes built, applications other than aircraft. archived article

T. C. Wittenberg, T. J. van Baten and A. de Boer, Design of fiber metal laminate shear panels for ultra-high capacity aircraft, Aircraft Design Volume 4, Issues 2-3, June-September 2001, Pages 99-113.

suggested contribution: write a short wiki article on fiber metal composite. Discuss the difference with Metal matrix composite. $$\displaystyle \bigstar$$

Lecture plan

Dr. Vu-Quoc