MrHorsepower
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2006
- Messages
- 39
Along the lines of educating one's self about airplane design. Can anyone recomend some good books/reading about airplane structrual design that are designed for the non-engineer?
I have purchased plans for a Vision from American Affordable Aircraft, and I really like the Idea of moldless composite construction. My problem is, I would really like to build a tandem, somthing along the lines of an Extra or a Velox II. CAD plans for both of these aircraft are available in RC form, and I'm something of a Solidworks/CAD guru. I think it would be relatively easy (go ahead and laugh now) to use one of these plans, sub in the right airfoils, scale up the lofting and build it. I know that there are a couple of plug-ins for solidworks that do Finite Element Analisys and Aero and Fluid dynamic forcasting, they are expensive; but, cheaper than many parts of the airplane would cost.
In order to use these programs you would need to know how strong certain materials are. Are there any books\websites\dvds\cd roms out there that "dumb down" the design process just enough to make it understandable for a smart, math savey guy without an engineering backround?
Maybe I'm just being stupid, but why can't we generalize just a little? Show me something that says a main spar needs to be of 3 ply's of BID, laid out in such a fashion to carry X amount of wheight. If the moment from the CG to the tail feathers is this long, it need to be this thick, etc. Does any such text exist? Do I just need to buy plans for as many composite planes as I can and take a guess?
Thanks in advance for all the help I know I'm about to recieve.
Dave
P.S. For a little info about my backround, see my "FREE LABOR!!!!!" post in the new member intros.
I have purchased plans for a Vision from American Affordable Aircraft, and I really like the Idea of moldless composite construction. My problem is, I would really like to build a tandem, somthing along the lines of an Extra or a Velox II. CAD plans for both of these aircraft are available in RC form, and I'm something of a Solidworks/CAD guru. I think it would be relatively easy (go ahead and laugh now) to use one of these plans, sub in the right airfoils, scale up the lofting and build it. I know that there are a couple of plug-ins for solidworks that do Finite Element Analisys and Aero and Fluid dynamic forcasting, they are expensive; but, cheaper than many parts of the airplane would cost.
In order to use these programs you would need to know how strong certain materials are. Are there any books\websites\dvds\cd roms out there that "dumb down" the design process just enough to make it understandable for a smart, math savey guy without an engineering backround?
Maybe I'm just being stupid, but why can't we generalize just a little? Show me something that says a main spar needs to be of 3 ply's of BID, laid out in such a fashion to carry X amount of wheight. If the moment from the CG to the tail feathers is this long, it need to be this thick, etc. Does any such text exist? Do I just need to buy plans for as many composite planes as I can and take a guess?
Thanks in advance for all the help I know I'm about to recieve.
Dave
P.S. For a little info about my backround, see my "FREE LABOR!!!!!" post in the new member intros.
