Aircraft Design Concepts An Introductory Course

Aircraft Design Concepts: An Introductory Course introduces the principles of aircraft design through a quantitative approach developed from the author?s extensive experience in teaching aircraft design. Building on prerequisite courses, the text develops basic design skills and methodologies, while also explaining the underlying physics.

The book uses a historical approach to examine a wide range of aircraft types and their design. Numerous charts, photos, and illustrations are provided for in-depth view of aeronautical engineering. It addresses conventional tail-aft monoplanes, "flying-wing", biplane, and canard configurations. Providing detailed analysis of propeller performance, the book starts with simple blade-element theory and builds to the Weick method.

Written for senior undergraduate and graduate students taking a single-semester course on Aircraft Design or Aircraft Performance, the book imparts both the technical knowledge and creativity needed for aircraft design.

1. Introduction. 2. Aerodynamic Review. 3. Propeller Analysis. 4. Flying Wing (or Tailless Airplanes). 5. Canard Airplanes and Biplanes. 6. Flight Dynamics. 7. Performance. 8. Balloons and Airships. Appendix A. Multhropp Body-Moment Equation. Appendix B. Alternative Swept-Wing Analysis. Appendix C. Rigid-Body Equations of Motion. Appendix D. Apparent-Mass Effects. Appendix E. Lift of Finite Wings Due to Oscillatory Plunging Acceleration.

James DeLaurier has worked as an aerospace engineer, consultant, and professor. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and has worked at McDonnell Aircraft, the NASA Ames Research Center, the Sheldahl Corporation, and the Battelle Memorial Foundation. Until his retirement in 2006, Dr. DeLaurier was a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Toronto. His specialties include aircraft design, lighter-than-air aerial vehicles, flapping-wing flying machines, and remote-piloted/microwave-powered aircraft.