Structural Design and Analysis of a Light Aircraft Wing

Abstract

Wing structure consists of skin, ribs and spars sections. The spars carries flight load and the weight of the wings while on the ground. Other structural and forming members such as ribs are attached to the spars, with stressed skin .The wings are the most important lift producing part of the aircraft. The design of wings may vary according to the type of aircraft and its purpose .Experimental testing of wing structure is more expensive and time consuming process. In the present study, both aerodynamic and structural design and analysis of a light aircraft wing are covered .The aerodynamic analysis is achieved by using Schrenk,s Approximation Method simulated in MATLAB. In addition, finite element software package MSC/NASTRAN/PATRAN is implemented to perform static stress analysis on the wing configuration under consideration when subjected to the generated aerodynamic loads to examine its structural reliability .The stress analysis of the wing structure is carried out to compute the stresses at wing structure. On the other hand, and based on the finite element model, a free-vibration analysis is performed for the whole wing model. The frequencies for the first six modes and the corresponding mode shapes are presented .The purpose of this calculation is to correlate and validate the finite element model against the modal test in preparation for further complex analysis. The finite element results have shown that the suggested wing configuration is a safe candidate for the present light aircraft implementation.