Publication: Aircraft of the light sport aircraft category. Common problems of conceptual design; development of aircraft layout; choice of structure; design of main airframe units
Date
2009-03-01
Authors
Ting, Wen Ong
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Abstract
The purpose of this project is to choose a suitable structure of LSA, and design its main airframe units. The high humidity of Malaysia climate condition and geographical location of Malaysia which is surrounded and near the sea pose a great challenge for LSA designers. Another reason to design a LSA is that Malaysia has market potential for LSA since the concept of experimental aircrafts has been well established in Malaysia. This project started by comparing different kind of structures and materials. It is found that the aluminum-tube-and fabric construction is the best choice. The reason behind it simply because of the excellent corrosion resistance properties of aluminum alloy 6061-T6, which is widely used in aviation industry. After that, the aircraft configuration is determined. High wing, flapless wing and tricycle landing gear are the main features of this LSA. Another feature of the LSA is light weight. It is light because the material is aluminum alloy, and the LSA is covered by fabric. The fuselage is designed based on the concept of ultralight, with a tail-boom fuselage structure. This is another cost saving design. Besides that, at the tail part of LSA, rudder is designed to have a similar tube structure as elevator, while vertical stabilizer has a similar tube structure as horizontal stabilizer. This will save the cost of manufacturing of LSA. The final parts are designing and drawing of main airframe units of the aircraft using CATIA. Because there is no structural analysis is done on the aircraft parts, without accurate dimension of the LSA, I find it difficult to coordinate and assemble the airframe units together.