Airframes Revision Notes myweb.tiscali.co.uk（机身修订指出myweb.tiscali.co.uk）.pdf

361 (Gateshead) Squadron Airframes Revision Notes Airframe Design Features An airframe consists of four main components: • Mainplanes or wings • Fuselage or body • Tail unit (or foreplanes for a canard type aircraft) • Undercarriage The wings are the main components of an airframe. In most aircraft, the wings carry most, if not all fuel, and the undercarriage. In military aircraft they often carry a substantial part of the weapons load and stores. The fuselage serves a number of functions • It forms the body of the aircraft, housing crew, passengers and cargo (payload) and the aircraft systems – hydraulic, pneumatic, electronic and electrical. • It forms the link between the wings and tail or foreplanes. The loads from these items can try to bend and twist the fuselage so it must be strong enough to resist these forces. • Engines may be attached to the fuselage and the forces from these can be very high • It must withstand pressurisation forces It must be strong enough t withstand all these forces for many flying hours. The tail unit consists of a fixed vertical fin with moveable rudder and either fixed horizontal surfaces and moveable elevators, or an all-moving horizontal surface. Some modern combat aircraft use a canard at the front instead of a horizontal tail at the back. The undercarriage serves two purposes: • To support the aircraft on the ground and allow it to move or taxi on the ground. • To absorb landing shocks. It also must resist braking and side loads, and as it is not needed in flight it must be as small and light as possible. It is normally retracted in flight. Weight is critical and aircraft are designed to be as light as possible and the most common way to save weight is to use a combination of different materials.