3536. Horizontal Tail Plane Weight Drivers Analysis in Preliminary Aircraft Design

Paper

Abstract

Until a few years ago, keeping the aircraft weight under control during its development phase was the main activity for Mass Properties engineers. Today, with the latest aircraft developments, the next frontier clearly shows how the Mass Properties discipline must be involved very early in the design phases to improve the multi-disciplinary analytical weight estimation processes, minimize the weight uncertainty, and support the optimization of the aircraft configuration.
This paper provides an overview of the Horizontal Tail Plane design, identifying all the weight drivers and explaining their weight impact based on a multi-disciplinary approach. The main objective is to give to overall aircraft designers the most critical parameters with which to optimize the component weight in the preliminary design stages.
First, preliminary definitions and concepts are given and these are: the geometric parameters to define horizontal tail planes, the structural configurations and weight assumptions. The typical Horizontal tail plane design process in early phases is explained, identifying all the main issues and design constrains that will define the assumptions during the weight estimation process.
Then, the main weight drivers are explained, grouping them in two categories: geometrical (Horizontal Tail Area, Aspect Ratio, Taper Ratio, Sweep angle and Thickness Ratio) and structural parameters (Torsion Box spars position and fittings attachments position). Finally, a weight impact comparison between main the drivers is done, identifying the most critical ones.