Preface

About AA241

This material is based on course notes for the class AA241A and B, a graduate level course in aircraft design at Stanford University. The course involves individual aircraft design projects with problem sets and lectures devoted to various aspects of the design and analysis of a complete aerospace system. Students select a particular type of aircraft to be designed and, in two academic quarters, define the configuration using methods similar to those used in the aircraft industry for preliminary design work. Together with the vehicle definition and analysis, basic principles of applied aerodynamics, structures, controls, and system integration, applicable to many types of aerospace problems are discussed. The objective of the course is to present the fundamental elements of these topics, showing how they are applied in a practical design.

About the Web Version of These Notes

This internet-based version of Aircraft Design: Synthesis and Analysis is an experiment. It is a new type of textbook whose pages may be distributed throughout the world and accessable via the world-wide-web. The text will be evolving and new items will be added continually.

Why a Digital Textbook?

There are several reasons for using this format for the course notes:

• They are easily updated and changed -- important for aircraft design so that new examples and methods can be added.
• Analysis routines can be built into the notes directly. The book permits you to build up a design as you progress through the chapters.
• The format permits easy access to information and organizes it in a way that cannot be done in hardcopy.
• It is inexpensive to include color pictures and video.
• It is possible, by providing just a couple of custom pages, to tailor the textbook for a particular course. If the material on supersonic flow is not appropriate for the class, a new outline and contents page may be created that avoids reference to that material.

About the Authors

Ilan Kroo is a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He received a degree in Physics from Stanford in 1978, then continued graduate studies in Aeronautics, leading to a Ph.D. degree in 1983. He worked in the Advanced Aerodynamic Concepts Branch at NASA's Ames Research Center then returned to Stanford as a member of the Aero/Astro faculty. Prof. Kroo's research in aerodynamics and aircraft design has focussed on the study of innovative airplane concepts and multidisciplinary optimization. He has participated in the design of high altitude aircraft, human-powered airplanes, America's Cup sailboats, and high-speed research aircraft. He was one of the principal designers of the SWIFT, tailless sailplane design and has worked with government teams on several UAV programs. He directs a research group at Stanford consisting of about ten Ph.D. students and teaches aircraft design and applied aerodynamics at the graduate level. In addition to his research and teaching interests, Prof. Kroo is Chief Scientist of Desktop Aeronautics, Inc. and the Aerion Corporation, and is an advanced-rated hang glider pilot.

Richard Shevell was the original author of many parts of these notes. He worked in aerodynamics and design at Douglas Aircraft Company for 30 years, was head of advanced design during the development of the DC-9 and DC-10, and taught at Stanford University after that for 20 years. To a large extent, this is his course.

Copyright Notice

Important: These notes are in development and have not been released for public use. Certain figures and computations are in draft form and should not be used for critical applications.

This textbook is copyright by Desktop Aeronautics, Inc.. Figures and text were either prepared originally for this book or used with permission. In certain cases royalty payments have been arranged. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without express written permission from:

Desktop Aeronautics
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