THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A HUMAN-POWERED AIRPLANE A THESIS Presented to ...

83 Pages·2006·8.92 MB·English

THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A
HUMAN-POWERED AIRPLANE
A THESIS
Presented to
the Faculty of the Graduate Division
"by
James Marion McAvoy^ Jr.
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
June _, 1963
A/
:o
TEE DESIGN AND DETERMENT OF A
HUMAN-POWERED AIRPLANE
Approved:
Pate Approved "by Chairman: M(Ly Z7. /q£3
In presenting the dissertation as a partial fulfillment of
the requirements for an advanced degree from the Georgia
Institute of Technology, I agree that the Library of the
Institution shall make it available for inspection and
circulation in accordance with its regulations governing
materials of this type. I agree that permission to copy
from, or to publish from, this dissertation may he granted
by the professor under whose direction it was written, or,
in his absence, by the dean of the Graduate Division when
such copying or publication is solely for scholarly purposes
and does not involve potential financial gain. It is under
stood that any copying from, or publication of, this disser
tation which involves potential financial gain will not be
allowed without written permission.
i "J-lW*
11
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to express his most sincere appreciation to Pro
fessor John J, Harper for acting as thesis advisor, and for his ready ad
vice at all times.
Thanks are due also to Doctor Rohin B. Gray and Doctor Thomas W.
Jackson for serving on the reading committee and for their help and ad
vice .
Gratitude is also extended to,all those people who aided in the
construction of the MPA and to those who provided moral and physical sup
port for the project. Among these are Professor Donnell W. Dutton, Mr.
George W.-D. Cook, Mr. Dewey L. Ransom, Mr. John A. Ellis, Mr. David A.
Shelton, Mr. Royce 1. Hall, Mr. Robert W. Ritchie, and Mr. David R. Fern.
The author further wishes to acknowledge the material aid fur
nished hy The Du Pont Company, Lockheed Aircraft Company of Georgia, and
the Shell Chemical Corporation.
Last, "but not least, the author sincerely acknowledges the help of
his patient wife who typed the rough draft and who helped with the con
struction.
iii
TABLE.OF CONTENTS
Page
ACiCNOWLEDGMEMTS ........... ii
LIST OF FIGURES .... ...... iv
LIST OF TABLES vi
LIST OF SYMBOLS vii
SUMMARY ........ ix
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. DESIGN ANALYSIS k
General Considerations
Preliminary Design
Propulsion System
Stability and Control Analysis
III. RESULTS . 17
IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 21
REFERENCES 2k
APPENDICES 25
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Dimensional Data for MPA ...................... 19
2. Drag Polars for Four Configurations Tested 30
3. Profile Drag Polar for Constant Chord. Wing
Operating Out of Ground Effect 31
k. Wing Spars ........ 34
5. Balsa Wood Ri"b Section 35
6. Ribs and Spars Joined Together — . 36
7a. Completed Wings Before Assembly to Aircraft 37
7b • Wing Internal Structures 38
7c. Wing Section Showing Aileron 39
7d. Airplane Left Side View During Final Assembly k-0
7e. Airplane Front View After Final Assembly kl
• 8a. Fuselage Front View ij-3
8b. Side View of Fuselage and Shroud .. k-k
9a. Front Propeller During Construction 45
9b. Top View of Shroud While Jigged During Construction 46
9c. Side View of Shroud During Construction 47
9d. Rear View of Shroud and Propellers After Assembly to
Aircraft , 48
9e. Propeller Hub and Front Shroud Mounting Struts 49
10. Camber Effect on the Section Minimum Drag Coefficient of
Thick NACA Laminar Flow Airfoils at a Constant Reynolds
Number as Taken from the NACA Data 52
11. Section Drag Characteristics of the NACA 65 4l8 Airfoil
Taken from the War Time Report ACR.Number L4H11 53
V
Figure Page
12a. Top View of Buckled Spar Cap ............................... 59
12b. Front View of Buckled Spar Cap ................. 60
12c. Bear View of Buckled Spar Cap 6l
13• Horsepower-Endurance Chart for a One Hundred and
Sixty Pound Man 72
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Propeller Section Data 67
2. Shroud Mean Camber Line 69
LIST OF SYMBOLS
A Area of wing spanned by an aileron
AR Aspect-ratio^ b /S
b Wing span
CL Airplane drag coefficient
C„ Airplane skin friction drag
C^ Fuselage drag coefficient based on fuselage wetted area
f
C Wing lift coefficient
T
Lt
D Drag
TV
H Horsepower, -r^rr
h Altitude
L Lift
M Wing bending moment due to actual loads
m Wing bending moment due to.a one-pound vertical load at
the tip
m.a.c. Mean aerodynamic chord
P Roll velocity
P Euler column buckling load
q. Dynamic pressure
R Propeller radius
r Blade station measured from center of propeller
S Wing planform area
T Propeller thrust
V Velocity of resultant wind
W Weight
y Station along wing semi-span
z Height of tip plate
Subscripts
a Aileron
e Effective
f Fuselage
g Geometric
int Interference
sh Shroud
tp Tip plate
w Wing
Greek Symbols
P Blade hound vortex strength
* Propeller . induced
& Indicates increment of change
C Correction factor "between ideal (elliptic) and
true lift distributions
*l Non-dimensional semi-span position^ rp-
-ri Propeller efficiency
-J" Aileron effectiveness
0 Angle between propeller blade resultant velocity
and propeller disk
V
Volume flow through propeller