Sierra_Hotel
Well-Known Member
Since I can't start actual aircraft construction while I'm deployed overseas, I've decided to put my Mustang 2 plans to use and have started drawing/building the plane in Inventor.
At one point in my college career I was a mechanical engineer in training (made it through statics and dynamics, then regrettably switched majors like an idiot), so beam loads, bending, the basic stuff, I've got a reasonable enough handle on. But it occurs to me as I'm "building" up the spar assembly right now, I have no idea how one would determine how many and the layout of the rivets that actually hold the thing together? In the case of the Mustang 2, it's .040" aluminum sheet and 2 T extrusions plus an ample application of rivets, and some vertical angles thrown in for rib attachment.
I have dreams of one day using this whole project as a starting point for my own larger design, but it's the details like this that are beyond my abilities. And, yes, I would have any sort of design fully analyzed by someone qualified to do so before ever calling it good. This is really just a thought experiment at the moment to understand the construction principles.
*ETA: I guess the better question is, where can I read up on aluminum aircraft design?
At one point in my college career I was a mechanical engineer in training (made it through statics and dynamics, then regrettably switched majors like an idiot), so beam loads, bending, the basic stuff, I've got a reasonable enough handle on. But it occurs to me as I'm "building" up the spar assembly right now, I have no idea how one would determine how many and the layout of the rivets that actually hold the thing together? In the case of the Mustang 2, it's .040" aluminum sheet and 2 T extrusions plus an ample application of rivets, and some vertical angles thrown in for rib attachment.
I have dreams of one day using this whole project as a starting point for my own larger design, but it's the details like this that are beyond my abilities. And, yes, I would have any sort of design fully analyzed by someone qualified to do so before ever calling it good. This is really just a thought experiment at the moment to understand the construction principles.
*ETA: I guess the better question is, where can I read up on aluminum aircraft design?
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