Aircraft%20Fuel%20Systems

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Aircraft Fuel Systems

• AIAA Team 1 (Shelley Biagi Curtis Black)
• A/C Design Class
• Tuesday, September 19, 2006

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Business and Commercial Aviation Magazine

• An aircraft's fuel system has a more profound
  effect on aircraft performance than any other
  airframe system. Without fuel, the mission
  inevitably comes to an abrupt stop and, unless
  the flight crew is very, very lucky, the ensuing
  forced landing will cause severe or catastrophic
  aircraft damage. Fred George, 6/20/06
  http//www.avweek.com/avnow/news/channel_bca_story
  .jsp?idnews/fuel0606.xml

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Fuel Types

• Civilian
• Jet A
• Jet A-1
• Jet B

• Military
• JP-4
• JP-5
• JP-8

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Typical Fuel Tanks

• Integral
• Rigid Removable
• Bladder
• Rule of Thumb for max. fuel volume 85 for wing
  tanks and 92 for fuselage tanks, measured to the
  external skin surface (exception bladder tanks,
  77 and 83, respectively)
• External

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Components

• Main Tanks
• Header Tank (separate from main tanks, holds
  enough fuel for engines to run during complicated
  maneuvers)
• Gravity Feed (small aircraft only)
• Electric/Engine-driven Fuel Pumps

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Fuel distributed around center of gravity
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Fuel Dumping Systems

• Needed to meet landing weight limits of landing
  gear or runway length
• System of fuel pumps and valves
• Usually ejected from wingtips
• Sometimes from aft-most point of fuselage
• Usually designed to allow the plane to go from
  max take-off weight to max landing weight in 15
  minutes or less.

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777 Fuel Dumping http//www.aerospaceweb.org/ques
tion/planes/q0245b.shtml
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http//www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_
of_Technology/refueling/Tech22G5.htm
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In-Flight Refueling

• Original motivation endurance records
• Currently used only in the military sector
• Two main types
• Boom and Receptacle
• Probe and Drogue
• http//www.answers.com/topic/aerial-refueling

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References

• Ask A Scientist http//www.newton.dep.anl.gov/aska
  sci/eng99/eng99417.htm
• Aerospaceweb.org http//www.aerospaceweb.org/ques
  tion/planes/q0245b.shtml
• Refueling http//www.centennialofflight.gov/essay
  /Evolution_of_Technology/refueling/Tech22G5.htm
• PBS http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/concorde/anat-n
  f.html
• Wikipedia http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_tank
• Raymer Aircraft Design A Conceptual Approach
  4th ed. By Daniel Raymer
• George, Fred Business and Commercial Aviation
  Magazine, June 2006 issue. http//www.avweek.com/a
  vnow/news/channel_bca_story.jsp?idnews/fuel0606.x
  ml

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• Any Questions?