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8Aircraft Weight and Center of Gravity Estimation

8.1 Overview

An aircraft must ascend to heights by defying gravity and sustain the tiring task of cruise – naturally, it is weight-sensitive. Anyone who has climbed a hill knows about this experience, especially if one has to carry baggage. An inanimate aircraft is no exception; its performance suffers by carrying unnecessary mass (i.e., weight). At the conceptual design stage, aircraft designers have a daunting task of creating a structure not only at a low weight but also at a low cost, without sacrificing safety. Engineers also must be accurate in weight estimation, well ahead of manufacture. This chapter presents a formal method to predict an aircraft and its component mass (i.e., weight), which results in locating the CG during the conceptual design phase. The aircraft inertia estimation is not within the scope of this book.

In the past, aircraft weight was expressed in FPS units in pound (lb) weight in the United Kingdom and the United States. With the use of kg as mass in SI, the unit for weight is a Newton, which is calculated as the mass multiplied by gravitational acceleration (9.81 m/s2). This book uses both the FPS and SI systems; this chapter addresses mass in SI and weight in FPS, sometimes interchangeably.

Material strength contributes to structural integrity. As stated previously, aircraft conceptual designers must have broad-based knowledge in all aspects of technology; in this case, they must have a sound knowledge in material properties (e.g., strength-to-weight and strength-to-cost ratios). Higher strength-to-weight and strength-to-cost ratios are the desired qualities, but they act in opposition. Higher strength-to-weight–ratio material is more expensive, and designers must stay current about materials technology to choose the best compromises.

In the early days, designers had no choice but to use the best quality wood for aircraft construction material. Today, it is not a viable option for the type of load encountered and it also poses an environmental issue. Fortunately, the advent of duralumin (i.e., an aluminum alloy) in the 1930s resolved the problem, providing a considerably higher strength-to-weight ratio than wood. Having a mass-produced aluminum alloy also offers a lower material cost-to-strength ratio. Wood is easier to work with, having a low manufacturing infrastructure suitable for homebuilt aircraft, but other civil and military aircraft use predominantly metal alloys and

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Aircraft Weight and Center of Gravity Estimation

composites. The last two decades have seen a growing use of composite material, and more exotic metal alloys offer still better strength-to-weight ratios.

Composites are basically fabric and resin bonded together, generally formed to shape in moulds. The manufacturing process associated with composites is yet to achieve the quality and consistency of metal; hence, at this point, the certifying authorities are compelled to apply reduced values of stress levels to allow for damage tolerance and environmental issues, as well as to keep the factor of safety at 1.5 (see Section 5.6). The manufacturing process also plays a role in deciding the allowable stress level. These considerations can erode the benefits of weight savings. Research on new material, whether metal alloys (e.g., lithium–aluminum and beryllium alloy) or composites (e.g., fabric and resin) or their hybrid is an area where there is potential to reduce aircraft weight and cost. New materials are still relatively expensive, and they are steadily improving in both strength and lower costs.

8.1.1 What Is to Be Learned?

This chapter covers the following topics:

Section 8.2:

Aircraft mass, component mass, and CG position

Section 8.3:

Parameters that act as drivers for aircraft mass

Section 8.4:

Aircraft mass breakdown sequence

Section 8.5:

Desirable CG location relative to aircraft

Section 8.6:

Aircraft mass decomposed into component groups

Section 8.7:

Aircraft component mass estimation methods

Section 8.8:

Civil aircraft rapid mass estimation method

Section 8.9:

Civil aircraft graphical mass estimation method

Section 8.10:

Civil aircraft semi-empirical mass estimation method

Section 8.11:

Bizjet example

Section 8.12:

Methodology to establish aircraft CG with Bizjet example

Section 8.13:

Military aircraft rapid mass estimation method

Section 8.14:

Military aircraft graphical method for mass estimation

Section 8.15:

Military aircraft semi-empirical mass estimation method

Section 8.16:

AJT and CAS examples (military aircraft)

Section 8.17:

Methodology to locate aircraft CG with AJT and CAS examples

8.1.2 Coursework Content

The coursework task continues linearly with the examples worked out thus far. Readers must now estimate aircraft-component mass, which gives the aircraft mass and its CG location. This is an important aspect of aircraft design because it determines aircraft performance, stability, and control behavior.

Experience in the industry has shown that weight can only grow. Aircraft performance is extremely sensitive to weight because it must defy gravity. Aerodynamicists want the least weight, whereas stress engineers want the component to be strong so that it will not fail and have the tendency to beef up a structure. The structure must go through ground tests when revisions may be required. It is easy to omit an item (there are thousands) in weights estimation. Most aeronautical companies

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