Model Airplane Design

ENGI 7926

Copyrights Dr. Sam Nakhla, PhD, PEng

 Roadmap to Model Aircraft Design
Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Before the preliminary design

Preliminary design
Design iterations
Final design evaluation
Before the preliminary design
 Before the preliminary design
Keep It Simple and Straightforward

What do you know?

Motor power and weight
Servos (number and weight)
What do you wish to accomplish?
Mission carrier or aerobatic
recall the last slide from the introduction
 Steady Level Flight
Consider an airplane in steady level flight*:

T=D
L=W

*We will assume thrust is parallel to V.

Graphics source: Anderson, Aircraft Performance and Design
 Before the preliminary design
Can we estimate the weight, ?
() = /
for is the motor power in and in
10 < < 15 in / for carrier
6 < < 8 in / for aerobatic
Hence based on the mission, the total weight is
estimated.
Dont forget part of this weight is motor and servos
 Before the preliminary design
Can we size it?
Pick an airfoil

Calculate the wing loading assuming max lift

for is the planform area of the wing (units 2 )

10 12 / 2 (dependent on construction material)


How accurate are the equations for and ?

As accurate as a preliminary design!!!!
cant use them to build a final model!
 Before the preliminary design
Why is the wing loading important?

The wing loading too high means a small

wing (relative to weight) if it crashes, it would be
a catastrophic crash

The wing loading too small means a large

wing it may stall
This also relates to material selection; strong
( + shape = ) and light () to build the
model
 The Design Process
Requirements

Mission

Aerodynamics Design

NO?

Performance YES!!!
Solid Mechanics Flight
Evaluation
 The design iterations
The more iterations the better the design
Example: Motor needs a propeller
A propeller (based on shape and size) determines the
motors Thrust Tom Pikes thrust test
Also the bigger the propeller the greater its own drag
Please dont get entangled in maximizing
we are optimizing
 Tools you may need
Some of the tools are external, some internal
External (2D then 3D calculations)
XFOIL: http://web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/xfoil/
or airfoil tools http://airfoiltools.com/
AVL: http://web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/avl/
or XFLr5 http://www.xflr5.com/xflr5.htm
Internal is your beautiful mind, your knowledge
External flow
Solid mechanics
Your imaginative skills
 Control Surfaces
Ailerons: to Roll
Lateral Axis

Rudder: to Yaw Pitch

Elevators: to Pitch
Roll

Yaw
Longitudinal
Axis
Vertical Axis

Flaps: Lift augmentation device (may not have them)

 The Wings
The bigger wings, the higher the lift pay load
Also the bigger wings, the higher the drag!!! And
the higher the weight (heavy wings)
Tapered wings to decrease the drag

Elliptical wing Tapered wing

 The Tail
Many configurations which one to pick???
 The Control
Control remote device
 Resources and References
Radio controlled model aircraft
http://airfieldmodels.com/information_source/math_and_scien
ce_of_model_aircraft/rc_aircraft_design/index.htm
Some electric motor calculations
http://www.elec-toolbox.com/Formulas/Motor/mtrform.htm