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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Wing planform geometry effects on large subsonic military transport airplanes. Final technical report March 1976-February 1977

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6558266

A Preliminary Design Study of large turbulent flow military transport aircraft has been made. The study airplanes were designed to carry a heavy payload (350,000 lb) for a long range (10,000 nmi). The study tasks included: Wing geometry/cruise speed optimization of a large cantilever wing military transport airplane; Preliminary design and performance evaluation of a strut-braced wing transport airplane; and Structural analyses of large-span cantilever and strut-braced wings of graphite/epoxy sandwich construction (1985 technology). The best cantilever wing planform for minimum takeoff gross weight, and minimum fuel requirements, as determined using statistical weight evaluations, has a high aspect ratio, low sweep, low thickness/chord ratio, and a cruise Mach number of 0.76. A near optimum wing planform with greater speed capability (M = 0.78) has an aspect ratio = 12, quarter chord sweep = 20 deg, and thickness/chord ratio of 0.14/0.08 (inboard/outboard).

Research Organization:
Boeing Co., Seattle, WA (USA). Commercial Airplane Group
OSTI ID:
6558266
Report Number(s):
AD-A-056124; D-6-46317
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English