20810306 - Costruzioni e tecnologie aeronautiche

The class aims at providing the basic knowledge of aeronautical constructions and structures, with emphasis on regulations, mathematical and technical tools for evaluating their state of stress and strain, and to perform their first-level design. The student will also acquire basic knowledge of aeronautical technologies and materials, including composite materials. The educational path aims to provide the student with the skills to 1) communicate issues relating to the structural design of aircraft with clarity, competence, and language properties; 2) to face, through the acquired analysis methodologies, simple structural problems, evaluating their adequacy to the project specifications; 3) proceed with the first level static design of structural elements typical of aircraft, such as wing structures and fuselage structures.
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Programma

The Aircraft Structures and Technologies course is part of the activities of the Construction and Aerospace Structures (ING-IND/04 SSD).

The teaching program is structured to provide students with knowledge and skills in the structural design of aeronautical components, using methods widely used in the aircraft conceptual and preliminary design phases.

The teaching program is divided into 36 lectures (equal to 9 CFU) divided into the following four main sections:

Introduction to aircraft design and semi-monocoque structures: loads acting on aircraft, regulations for aircraft design, box-wing concept, fuselage structure, and landing gear. Review of aeronautical materials and failure criteria of fragile and ductile materials. Structural design criteria: safe life, fail-safe, and damage tolerance.

Stress and strain analysis on beams: a review of bidirectional bending, torsion, and shear of open and closed thin-walled beams. Torsion and shear in multicell thin-walled beams.

Structural analysis of semi-monocoque structures: beam theory for torsion and shear of multicell thin-walled beams, stiffened and tapered. Structural idealization. The fuselage and box-wing stress and strain analysis. Cut-outs in wings and fuselages. Joints and connections.

Introduction to structural instability: buckling of beams (Euler's critical load); buckling on aeronautical structures.


Testi Adottati

- T.H.G. Megson, Aircraft Structures for Engineering Students, Arnold, London, 1999 (for all the contents of the syllabus)

- Lecture notes by the teacher (for all the contents of the syllabus)

The educational material used by the teacher from time to time is indicated during lectures. The lecture notes are available on the Moodle platform to facilitate their use for attending and non-attending students. On the same platform, are also made available the specifications of the project the students have to perform during the year, as well as a collection of written tests of previous exams, to provide students with a valid and realistic test bench for the final exam.


Bibliografia Di Riferimento

C.T. Sun, Mechanics of Aircraft Structures, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1998 Lecture notes by the teacher (for all the contents of the syllabus)

Modalità Erogazione

The teaching is structured in 36 class lectures. Some classes are devoted to practical applications of theoretical arguments, through appropriate tutorials led by the teacher. Some classes are also dedicated to the presentation and discussion of a project in the field of aeronautical structures, that has to be carried out as group work by the students and presented at the final exam. The project is distributed in time to guarantee students the opportunity to take the exam at the first call after the end of the course. The educational material is available on the Moodle platform to facilitate its use for attending and non-attending students.

Modalità Frequenza

Class attendance, although recommended, is not mandatory.

Modalità Valutazione

Students' learning is assessed through a written test of 2 hours and a half and an oral examination. The written test includes an exercise and one or two theoretical questions with open answers aimed at verifying the level of understanding of the concepts and the ability of students to apply them in real-life contexts. Passing the test is the prerequisite to participate in the oral test, which includes theoretical and practical questions related to the entire program. The oral examination foresees a PowerPoint presentation of the group project carried out during the year and a critical discussion of the obtained results. The course website contains a wide range of exam papers from previous years. Several elements determine the final grade, such as the level and quality of knowledge of the topics, the ability to analyze a problem critically, the ability to apply theories and concepts to real-life contexts, and the use of vocabulary appropriate to the discipline