Condor
Active Member
While I am designing/building a 2-3 seater inefficient XC trike (that even a caveman can do) to get in the air fast, I started to think about designing a cost efficient (to build, fly, store) 2-3 seater flying wing or BWB XC plane for a minimum 1000 miles range. The question is: where do I start?
I am not particularly knowledgeable about airplane design and in any case the BWB design is relatively new, so I am looking to get advice about an efficient “design workflow”.
I am thinking to use the Rhino’s efficient T-Spline method to rapidly prototype surfaces (not NURBS), the X-Plane to rapidly test the various configurations, the SolidWorks to do the stress analysis and foam with bonded aluminum skin for efficient construction method. As a matter of fact, my background is more of manufacturing than design, so I will not design anything that I can’t figure out how to build relatively easily. (I have reasonable knowledge of wood and metal working, aluminum or wood skin bonding to foam, but not on fiberglass, although during the trike building, I will have to figure out how to design/build a structural keel and a non-structural fairing and, so I plan to use that as a learning experience to learn about the art of composites.)
But there is a lot of gap in my knowledge base, so I for sure can use expert advice from those who already traveled the road. My main goal is to not to screw up the initial design and fabrication choices, because once one gets to the detail design and building, it is extremely time consuming and costly to change course.
(On flying wing I am thinking in line of the Mitchell Wing U2 enlarged to a 2 seater (see below a single seater) and on the BWB I am thinking in line of the Atlantica Atlantica Blended Wing Body but shrunken down to a 2 seater, but either one with the much simpler aluminum foam sandwich manufacturing method and foldable or removable wings. As a ball park, I am thinking to stay within the LSA category design limits except the top speed and reusing the 80-100 hp auto conversion engine from the trike, once I get there, staying under 20,000 feet, but ultimately I am starting with a blank sheet – except I obviously don’t like tails.)
So specifically, what books, software, manufacturing methods do you recommend to pay special attention to simplify the design process (particularly the complex optimization of the BWB), the building process and to avoid to go down on dead end roads? In other words, how would YOU do it, keeping in mind, rapid prototyping is key? :think:
I am not particularly knowledgeable about airplane design and in any case the BWB design is relatively new, so I am looking to get advice about an efficient “design workflow”.
I am thinking to use the Rhino’s efficient T-Spline method to rapidly prototype surfaces (not NURBS), the X-Plane to rapidly test the various configurations, the SolidWorks to do the stress analysis and foam with bonded aluminum skin for efficient construction method. As a matter of fact, my background is more of manufacturing than design, so I will not design anything that I can’t figure out how to build relatively easily. (I have reasonable knowledge of wood and metal working, aluminum or wood skin bonding to foam, but not on fiberglass, although during the trike building, I will have to figure out how to design/build a structural keel and a non-structural fairing and, so I plan to use that as a learning experience to learn about the art of composites.)
But there is a lot of gap in my knowledge base, so I for sure can use expert advice from those who already traveled the road. My main goal is to not to screw up the initial design and fabrication choices, because once one gets to the detail design and building, it is extremely time consuming and costly to change course.
(On flying wing I am thinking in line of the Mitchell Wing U2 enlarged to a 2 seater (see below a single seater) and on the BWB I am thinking in line of the Atlantica Atlantica Blended Wing Body but shrunken down to a 2 seater, but either one with the much simpler aluminum foam sandwich manufacturing method and foldable or removable wings. As a ball park, I am thinking to stay within the LSA category design limits except the top speed and reusing the 80-100 hp auto conversion engine from the trike, once I get there, staying under 20,000 feet, but ultimately I am starting with a blank sheet – except I obviously don’t like tails.)
So specifically, what books, software, manufacturing methods do you recommend to pay special attention to simplify the design process (particularly the complex optimization of the BWB), the building process and to avoid to go down on dead end roads? In other words, how would YOU do it, keeping in mind, rapid prototyping is key? :think:
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