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Seeking expert opinions on my design approach

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Markproa

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Messages
199
Location
Bellingen, NSW. Australia.
Hi, I'm new to posting on this site though I've spent many late night reading through the composite threads. I'd like to let you know my experience as it is relevant to a question I wish to raise. I am a multihull yacht designer and builder so I have plenty of experience with most areas of composites including carbon masts and spars. I want to design and build a composite aircraft and would like to hear from some of the more expert members of this forum whether my approach will work designing an aircraft.
When I design a new model of multihull yacht I draw it up in 3d CAD using Rhino software. I use my experience to determine core, laminate and reinforcement thickness and some simple engineering to calculated rig loads to determine laminates for carbon chain plates etc. When I have the entire boat modeled I send it off to a composite engineer who then does an finite element analysis and who then comes back to me with advise on where I can save weight or gain needed strength or stiffness.
This is basically the approach I would like to take to design my plane. I will draw it up using cores and layups that I think will work from my experience, from calculations and from information gleaned from existing designs. I will send it off to my composite engineer friend who can run it through an FEA.
I am particularly taken by the Millennium Master, Tarragon, Blakshape sort of plane so I'm thinking of buying a set of Asso x plans as a good design basis for designing a composite version.
What do you guys think?
 
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