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Chapter 1 - Raymer - Design PDF

1. Aircraft design is a specialized discipline that involves creating the geometric description of an aircraft to be built, rather than performing detailed analytical work. 2. An effective aircraft designer synthesizes knowledge from various engineering specialties to intuitively design aircraft configurations that meet requirements with minimal changes needed later. 3. The design process involves both the actual layout work as well as analytical processes to determine what should be designed and how to modify the design to better meet requirements.

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Cris M Rodríguez B
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526 views2 pages

Chapter 1 - Raymer - Design PDF

1. Aircraft design is a specialized discipline that involves creating the geometric description of an aircraft to be built, rather than performing detailed analytical work. 2. An effective aircraft designer synthesizes knowledge from various engineering specialties to intuitively design aircraft configurations that meet requirements with minimal changes needed later. 3. The design process involves both the actual layout work as well as analytical processes to determine what should be designed and how to modify the design to better meet requirements.

Uploaded by

Cris M Rodríguez B
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

1

DESIGN-A SEPARATE DISCIPLINE

1.1 WHAT IS DESIGN?


Aircraft design is a separate discipline of aeronautical engineering-
different from the analytical disciplines such as aerodynamics, structures,
controls, and propulsion. An aircraft designer needs to be well versed in
these and many other specialties, but will actually spend little time perform-
ing such analysis in all but the smallest companies. Instead, the designer's
time is spent doing something called "design," creating the geometric de-
scription of a thing to be built.
To the uninitiated, "design" looks a lot like "drafting" (or in the mod-
ern world, "computer-aided drafting"). The designer's product is a draw-
ing, and the designer spends the day hunched over a drafting table or
computer terminal. However, the designer's real work is mostly mental.
If the designer is talented, there is a lot more than meets the eye on the
drawing. A good aircraft design seems to miraculously glide through subse-
quent evaluations by specialists without major changes being required.
Somehow, the landing gear fits, the fuel tanks are near the center of gravity,
the structural members are simple and lightweight, the overall arrangement
provides good aerodynamics, the engines install in a simple and clean fash-
ion, and a host of similar detail seems to fall into place.
This is no accident, but rather the product of a lot of knowledge and hard
work by the designer. This book was written primarily to provide the basic
tools and concepts required to produce good designs which will survive
detailed analysis with minimal changes.
Other key players participate in the design process. Design is not just the
actual layout, but also the analytical processes used to determine what
should be designed and how the design should be modified to better meet
the requirements. In a small company, this may be done by the same indi-
viduals who do the layout design. In the larger companies, aircraft analysis
is done by the sizing and performance specialists with the assistance of
experts in aerodynamics, weights, propulsion, stability, and other technical
specialties.
In this book, the design layout techniques are discussed primarily in
Chapters 4-11, while the analysis and optimization methods are presented
in Chapters 12-19.
Display model of an Advanced Supercruise Fighter Concept (Ref. 13). Pboto 1.2 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK
courtesy of Rockwell International Nortb American Aircraft Operations.
This book describes the process used to develop a credible aircraft con-
ceptual design from a given set of requirements. As a part of the AIAA

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