308. A Simplified Method for Estimating the Wetted Area of Aircraft Fuselages
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Paper
Abstract
This paper was presented at the Twenty-First National Conference of the Society of Aeronautical Weight Engineers at Seattle, Washington, May 14 – 17, 1962. This paper presents a method to quickly estimate the wetted area of aircraft fuselages to an accuracy that is sufficient for use in preliminary design. The method consists of constructing a geometric model which approximates the surface area by using only a few basic parameters. The example of a commercial transport aircraft is shown where the constant section is represented by a cylinder, the nose section by one half of an ellipsoid, and the tail section by one half of a parabola rotated about an axis normal to the parabolic axis. Straight line equations were developed for the ellipsoid and parabolic surfaces. The advantages of this method are discussed including the ease and speed of application, the increased accuracy, and the ease of changing equations for special cases.
