Abstracto

Design and Analysis of A Spar Beam For The Vertical Tail of A Transport Aircraft

Vinod S. Muchchandi, S. C. Pilli

Vertical tail and the rudder are important structural components of an aircraft. Movement of the rudder controls the yawing of an aircraft. Structurally speaking vertical tail is a typical mini-wing construction. A major difference could be absence of ribs and multiple spars (more than 2) in the vertical tail construction. Vertical tails have symmetrical airfoil cross sections. Therefore in the absence of rudder deflection there is no aerodynamic load acting on the fuselage. However significant side loads develop due to rudder deflection and this is the major design load for the vertical tail. For transport aircraft side gust load is also important from a design point of view. In this project a typical spar of a vertical tail of a transport aircraft will be analysed. Loads representative of a small transport aircraft will be considered in this study. An efficient tapered spar beam will be designed for this load. SOM approach will be used for preliminary sizing of the spar. This will be followed by FEA for a more accurate stress analysis that will be used to improve the design.