operational usage and flight loads study of global express xrs business jet

166 Pages·2012·1.76 MB·English

by  Alhambra L. Yee

OPERATIONAL USAGE AND FLIGHT LOADS STUDY OF GLOBAL EXPRESS XRS
BUSINESS JET

A Thesis by
Alhambra L. Yee
Bachelor of Science, Boston University, 2006

Submitted to the Department of Aerospace Engineering
and the faculty of the Graduate School of
Wichita State University
in the partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science

May 2012
© Copyright 2012 by Alhambra L. Yee
All Rights Reserved
OPERATIONAL USAGE AND FLIGHT LOADS STUDY OF GLOBAL EXPRESS XRS
BUSINESS JET

The following faculty members have examined the final copy of this thesis for form and content,
and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

______________________________
Kamran Rokhsaz, Committee Chair

______________________________
Linda Kliment, Committee Member
______________________________
Alan Elcrat, Committee Member

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DEDICATION

To my family and friends, especially my mother. If not for the premium she placed on education
and commitment to sacrifice and deferment, none of my academic endeavors would have been
ensured
To those seeking knowledge…hopefully for the betterment of something

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A frank teaching fellow once told me acknowledgements were not necessary, that the
development and progression of the individual was the primary goal. I have to disagree. I would
like to thank my committee members, Dr. Rokhsaz, Dr. Kliment, and Dr. Elcrat for their time
and advice. Dr. Rokhsaz and Dr. Kliment’s weekly meetings, drop in open door policy, and non
belief in hesitating to help has been invaluable in my completion of this project. To say that Dr.
Rokhsaz has been with me every step of the way would be an understatement; he has always
been a couple steps ahead. In my frank opinion the figurative pedestal has always been well
placed. I would like to thank Jim D’Ottavi from the FAA for preparing the XRS data for
download. I would also like to thank the FAA for funding this research.

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ABSTRACT
Operational usage analysis and flight loads analysis is performed on one Global Express
XRS business jet. A total of 388 useful flights with 1053 hours and 454,254 nm are analyzed.
Usage analysis performed during airborne is separated into seven flight phases with
information presented for maximum altitude, flight duration, flight distance, indicated airspeed,
pitch, bank, and rate of climb. For a majority of the time the XRS is flown within operational
limits. The rare occurrence of exceeding operational limits is shown to occur during initial
approach, one of the shortest flight segments.
Loads analysis is performed for both ground and air operations. Ground operations are
separated into five phases with longitudinal, lateral, and incremental vertical load analysis
normalized per 1000 flights for these segments. Landing roll is shown to have the most frequent
and severe loads for ground phases. Airborne operations are separated into seven flight phases
and incremental vertical accelerations are separated into maneuver and gusts using the two
second rule. Incremental vertical acceleration is further categorized into discrete and continuous
gust velocities normalized per 1000 hours and per nautical mile. Gust velocities are altitude
dependent and shown to be more severe and occur more frequently at low altitudes.
Continuous turbulence field parameters are derived from continuous gust velocities from
cruise and compared to FAR 25 results in the form of generalized exceedance plots. Most of the
XRS exceedance curves are shown to lie significantly below those from FAR 25.
Data collected from this study can help establish operational and design standards for
larger business jets. The statistical data created will help enable the FAA, the manufacturer, and
the operator to better understand those factors that influence the structural integrity of these
aircraft.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1
A. Background ............................................................................................................. 1
B. Thesis Structure ...................................................................................................... 3

II. METHOD OF ANALYSIS..................................................................................................4
A. Aircraft Analyzed.................................................................................................... 4
B. Recorded Flight Data .............................................................................................. 4
C. Reduction of Raw Data ........................................................................................... 6
D. Data Processing ....................................................................................................... 7
1. Pressure Altitude Averaging ....................................................................... 7
2. Normalizing Acceleration ........................................................................... 7
3. Identification of Liftoff and Touchdown .................................................... 8
4. Standard Atmosphere .................................................................................. 8
5. Calculation of True Airspeed, V................................................................. 9
t
6. Flight Distance .......................................................................................... 10
7. Atmospheric Turbulence ........................................................................... 10
8. Discrete Gust ............................................................................................. 11
9. Continuous Gust ....................................................................................... 12
10. Data Reduction ......................................................................................... 14
11. Flight Phase Separation ............................................................................ 16
12. Flight Loads Counting .............................................................................. 19
13. Determination of Atmospheric Turbulence Parameters, P’s and b’s ....... 20

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION – AIRCRAFT USAGE ..................................................23
A. Available Data ...................................................................................................... 23
B. Overall Usage........................................................................................................ 25
C. Phase-Specific Usage ............................................................................................ 28
1. Departure .................................................................................................. 28
2. Climb ........................................................................................................ 32
3. Cruise ........................................................................................................ 36
4. Descent ...................................................................................................... 40
5. Approach Phases ....................................................................................... 43
6. Liftoff and Touchdown ............................................................................. 54
7. V-n Diagrams ............................................................................................ 57

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION – AIRCRAFT LOADS ..................................................62
A. Ground Loads........................................................................................................ 62
1. Taxi In and Taxi Out ................................................................................. 62
2. Takeoff and Landing Rolls ....................................................................... 65
3. Runway Turnoff ........................................................................................ 67
B. Airborne Loads ..................................................................................................... 69
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)

Chapter Page

1. Departure .................................................................................................. 69
2. Climb ........................................................................................................ 72
3. Cruise ........................................................................................................ 77
4. Descent ...................................................................................................... 85
5. Approach Phases ....................................................................................... 90
C. Atmospheric Turbulence Parameters .................................................................... 97

V. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………… 106

REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………....108

APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………………….111
A. Ground Phase Loads Investigation with Emphasis on Lateral Acceleration ………112
B. Extrapolation of 2N From Continuous Gust Velocity ……………………………. 139
0

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page
1. Global Express XRS Aircraft Specifications ...................................................................... 4
2. Parameters Extracted from 128-Channel Flight Data ......................................................... 5
3. Derived Parameters from Raw Data ................................................................................... 7
4. Local Atmosphere Values ................................................................................................... 8
5. Pressure Altitude Bands .................................................................................................... 14
6. Flight Phase Separation Criteria ....................................................................................... 16
7. Dead Band Limit ............................................................................................................... 19
8. Breakdown of Files ........................................................................................................... 24
9. Summary of Available Information and Some Results .................................................... 24
10. Minimum and Maximum Values for Pitch and Bank Angles and Rate of Climb –
Departure........................................................................................................................... 32

11. Minimum and Maximum Values for Pitch and Bank Angles and Rate of Climb –
Climb................................................................................................................................. 36

12. Minimum and Maximum Values for Pitch and Bank – Cruise ........................................ 40
13. Minimum and Maximum Values for Pitch, Bank, Rate of Climb – Descent ................... 43
14. Minimum and Maximum Values for Pitch, Bank, Rate of Climb – Initial Approach ...... 47
15. Minimum and Maximum Values for Pitch, Bank, Rate of Climb – Middle Approach .... 51
16. Minimum and Maximum Values for Pitch, Bank, Rate of Climb – Final Approach ....... 54
17. Derived Continuous Turbulence Parameters .................................................................... 98
18. Distances from Cruise Continuous Gust Velocities........................................................ 139

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page
1. Excerpt from CSV File ...................................................................................................... 6
2. Excerpt from Fixed-Width Flight File ............................................................................... 7
3. Diagram of Flight Phases .................................................................................................. 15
4. Sample Flight Time History.............................................................................................. 15
5. Peaks-Between-Means Loads Counting ........................................................................... 19
6. Sample of Generalized Exceedance Graph ....................................................................... 20
7. Zero Intercept Extrapolation ............................................................................................. 21
8. Correlation of Maximum Altitude and Flight Distance – All Phases ............................... 26
9. Correlation of Maximum Altitude and Flight Duration – All Phases ............................... 27
10. Coincident Altitude and Maximum Indicated Airspeed – All Phases .............................. 27
11. Maximum Altitude at Coincident Indicated Airspeed – All Phases ................................. 28
12. Coincident Altitude at Maximum Indicated Airspeed – Departure .................................. 29
13. Maximum Altitude at Coincident Indicated Airspeed – Departure .................................. 30
14. Cumulative Probability of Maximum and Minimum Pitch Angle – Departure ............... 30
15. Cumulative Probability of Maximum and Minimum Bank Angle – Departure ............... 31
16. Cumulative Probability of Average Rate of Climb – Departure....................................... 31
17. Coincident Altitude at Maximum Indicated Airspeed – Climb ........................................ 34
18. Maximum Altitude at Coincident Indicated Airspeed – Climb ........................................ 34
19. Cumulative Probability of Maximum and Minimum Pitch Angle – Climb ..................... 35
20. Cumulative Probability of Maximum and Minimum Bank Angle – Climb ..................... 35
21. Cumulative Probability of Average Rate of Climb – Climb............................................. 36
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