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Airplane Configuration Layout Design Using Object-Oriented Methods

Conference Paper · October 1997

DOI: 10.2514/6.1997-5510

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 Airplane Configuration Layout Design Using
Object-Oriented Methods
William A. Anemaat, Kurt L. Schueler
DARcorporation

ABSTRACT layout) fits into the design process, and how geometry data is
exported to Aero-CAD. It gives a brief description of the
DARcorporation developed an interactive, user- capabilities of Aero-CAD. The development of an airplane
friendly windows based computer program to perform geometry design assistant is described with its advantages.
preliminary design and analysis functions for fixed wing
airplanes. This paper shows a new development in presenting DESIGN METHODOLOGY
airplane geometric configuration data in a user-friendly
manner. The ease of use will bring computer aided design and The airplane design methodology is described in
drafting methods to people previously not exposed to these Refs. 2-3. Figure 1 shows a summary of the preliminary
methods because of the high amount of difficult computer and design process. A detailed explanation of the design process is
software knowledge needed. described in Refs. 4-9.

INTRODUCTION
MISSION SPECIFICATION

In 1994 DARcorporation started the development of a

new General Aviation design code. The program, called G.A.-
CAD for General Aviation Computer Aided Design, is based PRELIMINARY SIZING AND
on Advanced Aircraft Analysis (AAA) as described in Ref.1. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
AAA and G.A.-CAD are based on Refs. 2-3. Both G.A.-CAD
and AAA run in a PC Windows environment and AAA is also
hosted on UNIX workstations. Detailed descriptions of G.A.- PRELIMINARY CONFIGURATION LAYOUT AND
PROPULSION SYSTEM INTEGRATION
CAD can be found in Refs. 4-8. As part of G.A.-CAD a
computer aided drafting program, Aero-CAD has been
developed.
CLASS I ANALYSIS AND
Airplane analysis and design software require large CONFIGURATION COMPARISON
amounts of geometric input. Many programs use proprietary
file formats to store these data and are often incompatible with
other programs for analyzing and designing airplanes. These CLASS II ANALYSIS AND
programs make the process tedious and error prone. Scaling CONFIGURATION REFINEMENT
from drawings and entering data into a computer without
visual feedback to the user increases errors.
FINAL DESIGN
DARcorporation is currently working on a new
development of an object-oriented geometry design assistant to
enter geometric data into analyses programs and interface with
a CAD program. All components of an airplane are presented Figure 1. AAA and G.A.-CAD Preliminary Design Process
as an object with unique properties. The setup of the system is
similar to that of an object-oriented programming language. This paper deals with the third (grayed) box,
preliminary configuration layout.
This paper first describes how geometry is presented
in G.A.-CAD and AAA, where geometry (configuration GEOMETRY IN AAA AND G.A.-CAD
1
 AAA and G.A.-CAD are divided in 10 application For G.A.-CAD, a new submodule has been developed
modules. These modules are: to deal with all geometric properties that are needed to draw a
three-view of the airplane. Components for which geometric
• Weight data are required in AAA and G.A.-CAD are:
• Aerodynamics
• Performance • Wing
• Geometry • Horizontal Tail
• Propulsion • Canard
• Stability and Control • Vertical Tail
• Dynamics • Fuselage
• Loads • Nacelles
• Structures • Flaps
• Cost • Gear
• Canopy/Windshield
The purpose of the Geometry module is to help the • Aileron
user determine the geometry of the fuselage, wing, horizontal • Elevator
tail, vertical tail and canard and calculate related parameters. • Canardvator
The methodology used to calculate the airplane component • Rudder
geometries is described in Reference 2. The geometry module • Spoiler
is divided into a submodule to enter geometric data and • Stores
calculate derived properties and a submodule to interface with • Pylons
Aero-CAD.

Figure 2 shows a typical Input/Output window for G.A.-CAD summarizes the data needed to export to
calculating straight tapered wing geometry. Properties of the Aero-CAD. Figure 3 shows a window for wing geometric
fuselage, wing, horizontal tail, canard and vertical tail can be data. To export to Aero-CAD, all lifting surfaces are divided
entered in similar submodules and a planform picture can be into panels. Each panel has a root and tip chord for which the
plotted on the screen. All lifting surfaces can also be created airfoil must be defined. Aero-CAD uses this information to
as cranked wings, where the surface is divided in multiple draw the actual airfoils. The airfoils are selected from a list of
panels. The program calculates an equivalent straight tapered airfoil files stored on the hard-disk. These airfoil files contain
planform given a multi-paneled cranked surface. geometric data of the airfoil planform. Once the user has
verified if all data are available by pressing calculate, the data

AAA Main
Window

Command Bar
Input Group

Output Group

Calculator
Input/Output
Window

Figure 2. AAA Input/Output Window for Wing Geometry

2
 Figure 3. Wing Panel Definition

can be exported by using the export feature of G.A.-CAD. • Points

The export option writes coordinates of each component into • Straight single segment lines
an ASCII file. Aero-CAD can read and write these files. • Poly straight segment lines
• Circles/Arcs
AERO-CAD • Ellipses
• B-Splines
On of the features developed for G.A.-CAD is an • Conics
interface to a CAD program called Aero-CAD (Ref. 8). Aero-
CAD is a fully functioning three-dimensional drafting tool
which can be used to share geometric information about an The following utilities are available for modification
airplane configuration with G.A.-CAD and AAA. Aero-CAD of the curves listed above:
supports multiple layering and import/export of common file
formats of most commercially available drafting tools, • Trim/Break/Extend
contains a surface modeler and has all standard PC-CAD
• Corner/Fillet/Chamfer
capabilities. Aero-CAD contains airplane specific design tools
• Project/Convert/Smooth/Join
such as wing planform, airfoil cross-section, wetted areas,
center of gravity, etc. These airplane specific tools are
contained in AeroPack. Figure 4 shows a typical drawing in
The curves and utilities listed above can be used to
Aero-CAD.
construct a three dimensional outline of any component or
assembly and can then be used to construct surfaces and
Aero-CAD supports the generation of the following
wireframe models.
types of curves:

3
 Figure 4. Aero-CAD Work Screen

Aero-CAD supports the generation of the following • Surface trimming to a curve or surface
types of surfaces: • Surface fillets and blending

• Skins/Covers
• Surface of revolution about a straight axis or curve The surfaces and utilities listed above can be used to
• Extruded surface along a single straight line, a single draft detailed drawings of airplane components and
curve or two rails. The two rails can be straight or assemblies.
curved, parallel or not.
• Tube surface constructed form a straight or curved Aero-CAD contains a group of tools specifically
line designed for airplane design drafting. The group of tools is
• Offset surface from another surface called AeroPack and includes:

• Polyconic surfaces: A polyconic surface is a surface

The following utilities are available for modification constructed along a path of smoothly changing conic
of the surfaces listed above: sections. This type of surface is common in modern,
smoothed airplanes constructed using layup
• Parent/Child associativity (modify a curve that a composite type constructions.
surface is based upon, and the surface updates • Tangent surfaces: This tool allows for construction of
automatically) a polyconic surface fillet between any two surfaces.
• Curve on surface projections • Airfoil generation: Airfoils can be constructed from
• Curve/surface, surface/surface, plane/surface files (spline through digitized points) or from
intersections NACA/NASA equations.
4
 • Planform generation: Lifting surface planforms can geometry definition.
be generated automatically given different
combinations of span, root chord, tip chord, sweep, Objects are lifting surfaces, bodies, panels, airfoils,
aspect ratio, taper ratio and surface area parameters. etc. A lifting surface can be a wing, canard, vertical or
• Area curve: This tool calculates and displays as a horizontal tail. Lifting surface is build-up from panels and
graph the cross sectional area of a component or airfoils. Fuselages, tailbooms, nacelles are bodies.
complete configuration as a function of the distance
along a specified axis. This tool is useful for area- Objects such as lifting surface panels have properties
ruling transonic or supersonic cruise airplanes. (data encapsulation), which need to be defined by the user. A
• Obscuration Plots: The field of view of a pilot, sensor lifting surface consists of multiple panels and inherits all data
or antenna can be calculated and plotted. and behavior from these objects.

An airplane can be built-up from the different

OBJECT-ORIENTED CONFIGURATION DEFINITION components or objects. A graphical user-interface gives the
user feedback on the design. Wings can be designed by
To enter geometry of an airplane directly into Aero- entering data or actually drawing the panels using the design
CAD and exporting it to AAA or G.A.-CAD requires many assistant. Each panel is an object by itself and consists of root
steps and is a tedious process. To simplify this process, a new chord, tip chord, span, twist angle, root incidence, dihedral and
set of tools is being developed: the airplane geometry design root and tip airfoil. These parameters are the properties of a
assistant. These tools are set up in an object-oriented fashion panel. Supplying airfoils is simplified by using an airfoil
similar to modern object-oriented programming languages. geometric layout tool (see Figure 5) containing numerous
The airplane is divided into different components and each existing airfoils and also has the capability to enter new airfoil
component is broken down into smaller components which are shapes.
called objects.
The fuselage is divided in a number of cross-sections.
The airplane geometry design assistant is a stand- Each cross-section is an object with several properties. These
alone program to be used in conjunction with AAA, cross-sections can be modified graphically (see Figure 6) or by
G.A.-CAD and Aero-CAD. changing characteristic numbers. Currently an interface is
being developed to import and export data from and to
An object in a programming language encapsulates G.A.-CAD, AAA and Aero-CAD.
data and data-access functions and inherits data and behavior
from objects they are derived from (ancestors). The same Currently, these object only have properties. For
principle is used in the newly developed tools for airplane future developments, methods (data-access function

Figure 5. Airfoil Geometry Tool

5
 Figure 6. Fuselage Cross-section Definition

encapsulation) will be added to these objects. Methods are for methods will lead to reduced design time, better products and
instance drag, weight and area calculations. reduced design cost. Engineers can spend their time on
engineering problems instead of data file compatibility and
software related problems by using this system. By using
standard windows components, learning time for this software
ADVANTAGES OF USING OBJECT-ORIENTED will significantly be reduced, thus enhancing the design and
METHODS analysis process.

Using object-oriented methods for presenting airplane REFERENCES

configuration data makes the design process more structured.
Objects created by either G.A.-CAD, AAA or Aero-CAD are 1.Roskam, J., S.M. Malaek and W. Anemaat; “AAA
the same, independent of the program used to create them. (Advanced Aircraft Analysis) : A User-friendly approach to
Any program that can write or read the object and its Preliminary Aircraft Design”. ICAS-90-2.10.2, ICAS, Sept.
properties in a common format can share its data. It is no 1990
longer necessary to specify a specific wing, fuselage, etc., but
use objects presenting these components instead and giving 2.Roskam, J.; Airplane Design Part I-VIII. Design,
them a name such as wing and fuselage. Whether a lifting Analysis and Research Corporation, Lawrence, Kansas, 1989
surface is the main wing or a vertical tail does not matter when
using object-oriented representation. 3.Roskam, J.; Airplane Flight Dynamics and
Automatic Flight Controls, Part I and II. Design, Analysis and
Research Corporation, Lawrence, Kansas, 1996.

CONCLUSION 4.Anemaat, W.; G.A.-CAD, A Personal Computer

Aided Design System for General Aviation Aircraft
By supplying a graphical environment, easier to use Configurations. SAE Paper 951158, presented at the SAE
than a CAD program, the configuration layout process of an General, Corporate & Regional Aviation Meeting &
airplane can be significantly enhanced. Using the above Exposition Wichita, Kansas, May 1995.
6
 5.Roskam, J., W.A. Anemaat; General Aviation
Aircraft Design Methodology in a PC Environment. SAE
Paper 965520, presented at the 1996 World Aviation
Congress, October 21-24, 1996, Los Angeles, CA.

6.Anemaat, W., K.L. Schueler, C.T. Kofford; General

Aviation Airplane Design Tools for PC’s. SAE Paper 971473,
presented at the SAE General, Corporate & Regional Aviation
Meeting & Exposition Wichita, Kansas, April 1997.

7.Locke, J., K.L. Schueler, W.A. Anemaat; General

Aviation Preliminary Structural Design in a PC Environment.
SAE Paper 971501, presented at the SAE General, Corporate
& Regional Aviation Meeting & Exposition Wichita, Kansas,
April 1997.

8.Olson, T.; Aircraft Design Tools for PC’s. SAE

Paper 971474, presented at the SAE General, Corporate &
Regional Aviation Meeting & Exposition Wichita, Kansas,
April 1997.

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