Introduction to Aircraft Design

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Apply computational analysis and modelling in the aircraft design process
• Identify information requirements and critically appraise sources of data and analysis for aircraft design and evaluation
• Apply fundamental engineering analysis knowledge as part of an aircraft design process
• Critically analyse alternative aircraft design configurations and design choices

Partial CEng Programme Level Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Students will learn to apply numerical and statistical methods for aerodynamic analysis, weight estimation and mission analysis of an aircraft. They will be assessed based on their implementation of these analyses in their coursework for assessment of an aircraft of their choice.
• Apply knowledge of engineering management principles, commercial context, project and change management, and relevant legal matters including intellectual property rights. Specifically, students discuss as part of the assessment how aircraft designs are shaped by their commercial context and, where applicable, IP constraints.
• Select and apply appropriate materials, equipment, engineering technologies and processes, recognising their limitations. Assessed in the context of the analysis of aircraft primary structure material choices.
• Discuss the role of quality management systems and continuous improvement in the context of complex problems. Continuous improvement examined in the context of the iterative evolution of aircraft designs.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Collate and synthesise/prioritise information according to design objectives

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The place of analytical and numerical simulation techniques in the aircraft development process
• The aircraft design engineering process, as constrained by regulatory and certification requirements
• Systematic design methodologies

Full CEng Programme Level Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Students will learn how to analyse aircraft in-flight emissions. They are asked and assessed to include in-flight emission analysis in their coursework.
• Students will learn and be asked (assessed) to implement integrated iterative design approaches for solving aircraft mission simulation problems to determine the required fuel for aircraft missions.
• Students need to use design manuals and open-source data to create a parametric CAD model of their aircraft in their coursework. They also need to use certification regulations documents to identify the requirements for their aircraft design and implement them in their coursework.
• Use legacy design data in a discerning way
• Students will learn how to mathematically formulate aircraft mission analysis by defining an iterative analysis loop between aerodynamics, weight, and performance assessments. They will be assessed based on the quality of their implementation of such methods in their coursework and the accuracy of their results.
• Students learn aircraft design processes and tools and are assessed by their implementation of a reverse design to re-design an existing aircraft. They need to show in their coursework how they considered requirements from certification regulations.
• In their assignment, students have to select proper analysis models for their aircraft aerodynamic and weight analysis. They need to justify their choices and discuss the limitations of the techniques they employed.

Aircraft design as an optimization problem: objectives and constraints. Typical constraints and objective functions in aircraft design. Formulation of the design problem.

Stages of the design process: conceptual, preliminary, detailed. Design decision making along the design process. Typical tools and methods at each stage.

Airworthiness. The need for certification. Organisations in the UK and abroad. Documents (standards) and certification categories.

Mission modelling from take-off to landing.

Constraint analysis. Classical thrust to weight and wing loading space analysis in a computational optimisation framework.

Parametric geometry modelling. Parameterization principles.

Computer Aided Design in aircraft engineering. Setting up the parametric CAD model of an aircraft, from 2d sketches to 3d whole aircraft models.

Value-driven design, cost modelling, systems engineering aspects Basic life cycle cost analysis. A systems-level view of aircraft design.

Lectures

Supervised laboratory exercises

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.