Conceptual Aircraft Design

Road Map of the Book

1 Objectives and Aims

The objectives and aims of this book are to give an understanding of aircraft design fundamentals as practised during the conceptual phase of a new aircraft project. Attempts are made to adhere, as best as possible, to the typical industrial methodologies, simplified for academic usage. The book is geared towards understanding the physics involved in shaping aircraft components and then assembling into a finished aircraft configuration. Many of the details of research findings are avoided unless the information can be made useful by applying in a meaningful manner; wherever appropriate, demonstrated through worked‐out examples. Sufficient references are provided on the related research.

Piecemeal topical design examples are avoided. Aircraft design has to be practised in totality. From the given aircraft design specifications, the work flow of the worked‐out examples starts from scratch, progressing linearly chapter‐by‐chapter, going through the full process, ending in a final frozen aircraft configuration and their performance substantiation for management‐review to consider for the project ‘go‐ahead’ or not. Worked‐out examples of three different classes of aircraft (Bizjet, AJT and TPT) are configured from scratch to completeness. The three different aircraft bear close similarities with aircraft currently in operation for the readers to compare the results. To suit academic curriculum, only one configuration from each class of aircraft ...