LOADS ON AIRCRAFT

TYPES OF LOADS
An aircraft is basically required to support two types of basic loads:

1) x

 : Encountered by the aircraft during movement on the ground; ie:

2)

 : Loads exerted onto the structure during flight by the manoeuvres
carried out by the aircraft or by wind gusts (such as wind shear).

As well as these, other
 

dc Œ
 

: Pressurised cabin,
dc  



 : Landing on water,
dc £

 
  : High Speed Manoeuvres, Withstand considerable damage

These two loads classes may be further divided into:

a) Surface Loads : Act on the surface of the structure, such as aerodynamic

b) Body forces : Act over the volume of the structure and are generated by
gravitational and inertia effects.

AERODYNAMIC SURFACE LOADS

All flying aircraft flying under steady flight, manoeuvre or gust conditions experience pressure
distributions on the surface of the skin. The resultants of these pressures cause direct loads such
as: bending, shear and torsion in all parts of the structure.

A conventional aircraft consists of : a fuselage, a pair of wings, and a tailplane ( Horizontal &
Vertical Tail section).

The fuselage carries crew, payload, passengers, cargo, weapons, or fuel. The wings provide lift,
and the tailplane contributes to directional control.

As well you have ailerons, elevators and a rudder which enable the aircraft to be controlled, and
flaps provide extra lift during take-off and landing.

The force on an aerodynamic surface (Wing, vertical & horizontal tail) results from a differential

c
c
pressure distribution caused by incidence, camber or both.

For a typical wing, the chordwise pressure distribution looks like this :

Figure 1: Pressure distribution and resultant forces around airfoil

a) The vertical Lift Force component (L), perpendicular to the wind direction.

b) The horizontal Drag component (D), parallel to the wind direction.

Both these resultants act through the centre of pressure (CP) of the airfoil. But as this point will
move depending on the attitude of the airfoil to the incoming wind, the lift and drag forces are
moved to act about the aerodynamic centre (AC) (the quarter chord). This means that an extra
Moment (M) needs to be included to keep the system in equilibrium.

Looking at the wing in a spanwise view, the lift distribution about the AC looks something like
Figure 2, where the wing Lift resultants forces act as shown.

c
c
 Figure 2: Typical lift distribution for a wing fuselage combination
Now that the pressures on the surfaces of an aircraft can be converted to loads, the overall loads
on an aircraft due to symmetrical manoeuvres need to be investigated.

Accelerated Flight (Ý

Increased downward load on horizontal tail, increases lift load causing upward acceleration
normal to the flight path.

This causes the load factor 'n' to be greater than 1. Creating inertia load on the structure to be
nMg, where:

n = 1 + V2/Rg

R = Radius of curvature of the flight path.

c
c
 Steady Banked Turn

The aircraft flies in a horizontal turn without any sideslip and at a constant speed.

where:

n = secf;
tanf = V2/gR, for q = 60o, n = 2

c
c
FUNCTION OF STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS

The aircraft structure has a dual purpose:

a) It transmits and resists all loads applied to it, &

b) It acts as a cover to maintain the aerodynamic shape and protect its content.

The most efficient structure to achieve this is a thin shell structure supported by longitudinal
stiffeners and transverse frames, known as a 



 structure.

Figure 7: Typical 



 structural component. (a) Body, (b) Aerodynamic surface.

The function of the different structural members which go on to make an aircraft are as follows:

c
c
SKIN

1) It transmits aerodynamic forces to the longitudinal and transverse members.

2) It develops shear stresses to react the applied torsional moments

3) Together with longitudinal members it resists axial loads and applied bending

SPAR WEB

Similar to (2) for the skin

STRINGERS OR LONGERONS (with larger cross sectional area)

1) Resist bending and axial loads

2) Divide the skin into small panels

3) Act with skin to resist axial loads caused by pressurisation

SPAR CAPS

Similar to (1) and (2) of stringers.

FRAMES OR RINGS

These are the transverse members of the body, if they cover most of the cross section are
called 

1) Maintain cross sectional shape

2) Distribute concentrated loads

3) Establish column length to prevent buckling

4) Provide edge restraint for skin.

5) Act with skin to resist circumferential loads

BENDING OF BEAMS WITH NON-SYMMETRICAL CROSS SECTIONS

c
c
The majority of aircraft structural components consist of beams with non-symmetrical cross
section acting in bending . For this reason an expression needs to be derived to allow for the
determination of the stresses induced by bending moments to such sections.

SIGN CONVENTION AND NOTATION

Look at the Oxyz system of axis, with an arbitrary beam parallel to the z-axis:

Figure 8 : Notation and sign convention for positive forces, moments and displacements.

Where :

T = Torque

M = Bending Moment

S = Shear Force

 = Distributed load

P = Axial or direct load

u,v,w = Axial displacements

All of these externally applied loads are positive in the direction indicated in the figure. Internal
moment and forces applied to face A are in the same direction and sense as externally applied loads.
However on face B, the positive internal moments and forces are in the opposite sense.

c
c