Course syllabus

Aim of the course

The main goal of the course is to teach the practice of conceptually design aircraft having as a starting point a pre-defined set of top-level requirements. This involves developing an insight into how the different aeronautical disciplines interrelate at an early stage of aircraft design.

Learning outcomes

After completion of the course the student should be able to:

• of carrying out an entire process of aircraft conceptual design, having as a starting point a pre-defined set of top-level requirements.
• to appreciate and discuss the interrelationship between the different disciplines of aircraft design.
• to differentiate between the different components involved in design and identify the most critical ones for a particular application case.
• to evaluate the final design and provide solutions or alternative layouts for the most critical components.
• to present and report his work to peers.

Content

The course effectively bridges the most important disciplines of aeronautical engineering to address the conceptual design of aircraft. The course will allow the students to appreciate the interdependencies between mechanical and aerodynamic design of aircraft structures and propulsion systems and how these impact on the final concept. The ambition is that the student becomes familiar with the different elements that comprise a modern aircraft and their impact on the integrated design and overall performance. 

The course will address the following aspects of aircraft design (based on course literature):

• Lec1: What is design, sizing from a sketch, Chap. 1, Chap. 2, Chap. 3.
• Lec2: Airfoil and wing/tail, thrust-to-weight and wing loading, Initial sizing, Chap. 4, Chap. 5, Chap.6.
• Lec3: Aerodynamic and structural considerations. Crew station, passengers and payload, landing gear, Chap. 8, Chap. 9, Chap. 11.
• Lec4: Propulsion and fuel systems, integration and performance, Chap. 10, Chap. 13.
• Lec5: Climate impact from Aviation, emissions and mitigation (Invited lecture Feijia Yin, TU Delft)
• Lec6: Aerodynamics, Chap. 12.
• Lec7: Structures, loads, and weights, Chap. 14, Chap. 15.
• Lec8: Flight performance, Chap. 17 (Invited lecture, Daniel Rosell, SAAB).
• Lec9: Spacecraft design.
• Lec10: Stability and control, Chap. 16.
• Lec11: New concepts, electric, hybrid electric, hydrogen (Invited lecture, Anders Lundbladh GKN Aerospace).

The students will be provided in the beginning with a design project that starts with a set of top-level requirements that are provided by the teacher. The project will be divided into 3 design tasks with increasing complexity. Each design task requires the submission of an intermediate report and will include two seminar sessions.

Organization

Two lectures per-week. Tutorials integrated into the lectures. Project work:

• DT1: Sizing from sketch, study on technology availability, initial trade-study.
• DT2: Initial design (“dash-1”) with a general 3D representation of the different sections of the aircraft and internal components.
• DT3: starts with the Dash-1 design and will include the implementation of more sophisticated methods to analyse the aircraft performance in relation to the initial requirements. Phase 3 will include aerodynamic performance, flight stability and weight calculations. 

Literature:

• Raymer, Aircraft design: a conceptual approach, Sixth Edition (Course book)

Additional literature:

• Snorri G., General aviation aircraft design, applied methods and procedures, Second Edition. (online version available at Chalmers library).
• Egbert Torenbeek, Advanced aircraft design: Conceptual design, analysis and optimization of subsonic civil airplanes (online version available at Chalmers library).
• Egbert Torenbeek, Synthesis of subsonic airplane design (online version available at Chalmers library).

Examination including compulsory elements

There are 5 moments of examination in connection with the three design tasks, the final seminar and the final written exam. At the end of each design task period the students are expected to deliver a report for assessment. At the end of the course there is a written review assignment and discussion where the different groups are expected to provide a review and to challenge another’s project work. Students will be examined with respect to:

• 60% (4.5 credits) performance in the design project.
• 20% (1.5 credits) the final presentation and the review assignment.
• 20% (1.5 credits) written exam.

In addition, each student shall compile a project diary describing the tasks carried out by you in the project.

Contacts

Examiner: Carlos Xisto, tel : 072-9723069, email: carlos.xisto@chalmers.se  

Course assistant: Peter Miltén, email : milten@chalmers.se (design project)