GRADUATED AIRCRAFT DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION METHOD.

摘要

In a design and construction method, for a graduated series of aircraft of various sizes, development costs are minimized by maintaining a consistent scale configuration from model to model, and production costs are minimized through the use of a universal tooling concept for the manufacturing of detail parts, subassemblies and components of the airframes. Each model (M11, M12...M1n) of a series size-graduated elements such as the main wing airfoils (31, 32, 33) is designed with similar characteristics and overlapping dimensions. A common set of tools for constructing these elements is built to accommodate the largest dimensions, such as the root chord (34) of the largest airfoil (31), down to the smallest dimension, such as the tip chord (35) of the smallest airfoil (33). The maintaining of a consistent geometric-scaled relationship between the wing, horizontal and vertical airfoils of the various models for specific manufacturer's size-graduated series of aircraft and the maintenance of the structural bending and torsional stiffness coefficients consistent from model to model provides for consistent flying qualities and performance characteristics assuming that the thrust to weight ratios are also maintained constant from one model to another throughout a specific manufacturer's size-graduated series of aircraft. The universal tooling concept provides for a set of tooling to be used by a specific manufacturer for the making of all of the detail parts and the assembly of these parts, materials and components into completed airframes for each model in a specific manufacturer's size-graduated series of aircraft.