Man had the opportunity to observe and study free-flying "vehicles" long before the creation of the first aircraft - he always had an example of a flying bird before his eyes. In the legends of any people, you can find a fairy-tale hero who can move through the air, and these methods are extremely diverse.

The ideas about the mechanism of flight of birds were just as varied. It has even been suggested that the lifting force of the wing is caused by the electric charges generated on the loose feathers when the bird spreads its wings.

However, flight on an apparatus heavier than air became possible quite recently (by the standards of human history) and more than a hundred years after the first flight on hot-air balloon(balloon) of the Montgolfier brothers.

Gliders, or non-powered aircraft

Observations of birds hovering have led to experiments using updrafts and the creation of gliders... However, a serious disadvantage of the airframe as a vehicle is that it cannot take off on its own.

In 1891, Otto Lilienthal made a glider from willow rods covered with fabric. During the period from 1891 to 1896, he made up to 2000 flights. On August 9, 1896, Otto Lilienthal was killed. A copy of his apparatus can be seen in the N.E. Zhukovsky Museum in Moscow on ul. Radio.

Gliding was popular in the 30s of the XX century. Most of the famous aircraft designers began with glider projects, for example, O. K. Antonov, S. P. Korolev, A. S. Yakovlev. The use of modern materials and aerodynamic forms has led to the fact that in conditions of stable updrafts, for example, in mountainous areas, gliders are capable of flying for many hours and even many days.

The aerodynamic schemes of gliders have become the basis for vehicles heavier than air, driven by the force of human muscles - "musculolette", as well as other vehicles with a low flight speed.

The descendants of gliders are "hang gliders" and "paragliders". Paragliding is extremely popular nowadays.

Reduced models of paragliders are used as a sports equipment for towing mountain and water skiers. Such a device can be made independently, even at home.

Attempts to create an aircraft capable of independently taking off, landing at a given point and taking off again from there ended in failure, not only due to a lack of knowledge, but also due to the lack of a suitable engine. It is equally true that the emergence of a new engine, lighter and more powerful or based on a different principle of creating a motive force, leads to a revolutionary breakthrough in the development of aviation.

The theoretical foundations of the flight of vehicles heavier than air were developed by N. Ye. Zhukovsky at the beginning of the 20th century. The necessary experimental data were obtained back in the 19th century by A.F. Mozhaisky, O. Lilienthal, and others.

The dream of the conquest of air space by man is reflected in the legends and traditions of almost all peoples inhabiting the Earth. The first documentary evidence of human attempts to lift an aircraft into the air dates back to the first millennium BC. Thousands of years of attempts, work and reflection led to full-fledged aeronautics only at the end of the 18th century, or rather to its development. First came the hot air balloon, followed by the charlier. These are two types of aircraft lighter than air - aerostat, in further development aerostatic technology led to the creation - airships. And these aerial leviathans were replaced by vehicles heavier than air.

Around 400 BC. e. in China, kites began to be used en masse not only for entertainment, but also for purely military purposes, as a means of signaling. This apparatus can already be described as a device heavier than air, having a rigid structure and using the aerodynamic lifting force of the incoming flow due to jet air currents to maintain in the air.

Aircraft classification

An aircraft is any technical device, which is intended for flights in air or outer space. In the general classification, lighter-than-air, heavier-than-air and space vehicles are distinguished. V Lately the directions of designing related vehicles, especially the creation of a hybrid of an air-space vehicle, are developing more and more widely.

Aircraft can be classified differently, for example, according to the following criteria:

• by the principle of action (flight);
• by the principle of management;
• by purpose and scope;
• by the type of engines installed on the aircraft;
• by design features concerning the fuselage, wings, empennage and landing gear.

Briefly about aircraft.

1. aeronautical aircraft. Aircraft are considered lighter than air. The air envelope is filled with light gas. These include airships, balloons and hybrid aircraft. The entire structure of this type of apparatus remains wholly heavier than air, but due to the difference in the densities of the gas masses in and outside the shell, a pressure difference is created and, as a result, a buoyant force, the so-called Archimedes force.

2. Aircraft using aerodynamic lifting strength. This type of apparatus is considered to be already heavier than air. Their lifting force is created already due to the geometric surfaces - the wings. The wings begin to support the aircraft in the air only after air currents begin to form around their surfaces. Thus, the wings begin to work after the aircraft reaches a certain minimum “actuation” speed of the wings. Lift begins to form on them. Therefore, for example, to get an airplane into the air or to descend from it to the ground, you need a mileage.

• Gliders, airplanes, ground-effect aircraft and cruise missiles are vehicles in which lift is generated when flowing around a wing;
• Helicopters and similar units, their lifting force is formed due to the flow around the rotor blades;
• Aircraft with a load-bearing body, created according to the "flying wing" scheme;
• Hybrid are devices vertical takeoff and landing, both aircraft and rotorcraft, as well as devices that combine the qualities of aerodynamic and space aircraft;
• Devices on dynamic air cushion ekranoplan type;

3. to smicheskie aircraft. These devices are specially designed to work in airless space with negligible gravity, as well as to overcome the gravitational force of celestial bodies, to enter outer space. These include satellites, spaceships, orbital stations, rockets. Displacement and lift is created by jet thrust, by throwing away part of the mass of the apparatus. The working fluid is also formed due to the transformation of the internal mass of the apparatus, which, before the start of the flight, still consists of an oxidizer and fuel.

The most common aircraft are airplanes. When classified, they are subdivided according to many criteria:

Helicopters are in second place in terms of prevalence. They are also classified according to various criteria, such as the number and location of rotors:

• having single screw a scheme that assumes the presence of an additional tail rotor;
• coaxial scheme - when two rotors are on the same axis one above the other and rotate in different directions;
• longitudinal- this is when the rotors are on the axis of movement one after the other;
• transverse- the propellers are located on the sides of the helicopter fuselage.

1.5 - transverse diagram, 2 - longitudinal diagram, 3 - single-rotor diagram, 4 - coaxial diagram

In addition, helicopters can be classified by purpose:

• for passenger transportation;
• for combat use;
• for use as vehicles for the transportation of goods for various purposes;
• for various agricultural needs;
• for the needs of medical support and search and rescue operations;
• for use as air-crane devices.

A Brief History of Aviation and Aeronautics

People who are seriously involved in the history of the creation of aircraft, determine that some device is an aircraft, primarily based on the ability of such a unit to lift a person into the air.

The earliest known flight in history dates back to 559 AD. In one of the states on the territory of China, a person sentenced to death was fixed on a kite and, after launch, he was able to fly over the city walls. This kite was most likely the first glider of the "wing-type" design.

At the end of the first millennium AD on the territory of Muslim Spain, the Arab scientist Abbas ibn Farnas designed and built a wooden frame with wings, which had a semblance of flight controls. He was able to take off on this prototype of a hang glider from the top of a small hill, hold out in the air for about ten minutes and return to the starting point.

1475 - The first scientifically serious drawings of aircraft and parachutes are those made by Leonardo da Vinci.

1783 - the first flight with people in the Montgolfier air balloon was made, in the same year a helium-filled balloon rises into the air and the first parachute jump is performed.

1852 - The first steam powered airship successfully flew back to the starting point.

1853 - a glider with a man on board took off.

1881 - 1885 - Professor Mozhaisky receives a patent, builds and tests an aircraft with steam engines.

1900 - the first rigid Zeppelin airship is built.

1903 - The Wright Brothers perform the first truly controlled flights in piston-powered aircraft.

1905 - The International Aeronautical Federation (FAI) was established.

1909 - the All-Russian Aero Club, created a year ago, joins the FAI.

1910 - the first seaplane rose from the water surface, in 1915 the Russian designer Grigorovich launches the M-5 flying boat.

1913 - the founder of bomber aviation "Ilya Muromets" was created in Russia.

1918, December - organized by TsAGI, headed by Professor Zhukovsky. This institute will determine the directions of development of Russian and world aviation technology for many decades.

1921 - Russian civil aviation was born, carrying passengers on the Ilya Muromets aircraft.

1925 - ANT-4, a twin-engine all-metal bomber aircraft, is in flight.

1928 - the legendary U-2 trainer was adopted for serial production, on which more than one generation of outstanding Soviet pilots will be trained.

At the end of the twenties, the first Soviet gyroplane, a rotary-wing aircraft, was designed and successfully tested.

The thirties of the last century is a period of various world records set on aircraft of various types.

1946 - the first helicopters appear in civil aviation.

In 1948, the Soviet jet aviation was born - the MiG-15 and Il-28 aircraft, in the same year the first turboprop aircraft appeared. A year later, the MiG-17 was launched into serial production.

Until the mid-forties of the XX century, the main building material for the aircraft there were wood and fabric. But already in the first years of the Second World War, wooden structures were replaced by all-metal structures made of duralumin.

Aircraft structure

All aircraft have similar structural elements. For aircraft lighter than air - some, for vehicles heavier than air - others, for space - still others. The most developed and most numerous branch of aircraft are devices heavier than air for flights in the Earth's atmosphere. For all aircraft heavier than air, there are basic common features, since all aerodynamic aeronautics and further flights into space proceeded from the very first structural scheme - the airplane, aircraft in a different way.

The design of such an aircraft as an airplane, regardless of its type or purpose, has a number of common elements that are required for this device to fly. The classic scheme looks like this.

Airplane glider.

This term is called a one-piece structure, consisting of the fuselage, wings and tail. In fact, these are separate elements with different functions.

a) Fuselage - it is the main power structure of the aircraft, to which the wings, empennage, engines and takeoff and landing devices are attached.

The fuselage body assembled according to the classical scheme consists of:
- the bow;
- central or bearing part;
- the tail section.

In the bow of this structure, as a rule, there is a radar and electronic aircraft equipment and a cockpit.

The central part carries the main power load, the wings of the aircraft are attached to it. In addition, it houses the main fuel tanks, central electrical, fuel, hydraulic and mechanical lines. Depending on the purpose of the aircraft, inside the central part of the fuselage, there may be a passenger compartment, a transport compartment for storing transported cargo, or a compartment for placing bombs and missiles. There are also options for tankers, reconnaissance aircraft or other special aircraft.

The tail section also has a powerful load-bearing structure, since it is designed to attach the tail unit to it. In some aircraft modifications, engines are located on it, and for bombers such as IL-28, TU-16 or TU-95, this part may have an air gunner's cabin with cannons.

In order to reduce the frictional resistance of the fuselage against the incoming air flow, the optimal shape of the fuselage with a pointed nose and tail is selected.

Taking into account the heavy loads on this part of the structure during flight, it is made of all-metal metal elements according to a rigid scheme. The main material in the manufacture of these elements is duralumin.

The main structural elements of the fuselage are:
- stringers - providing longitudinal rigidity;
- spars - ensuring the rigidity of the structure in the transverse relation;
- frames - metal elements of the channel type, having the form of a closed frame of different sections, fastening stringers and ailerons in a given shape of the fuselage;
- outer skin - pre-prepared in the shape of the fuselage metal sheets of duralumin or composite materials, which are attached to stringers, spars or frames, depending on the aircraft design.

Depending on the shape set by the designers, the fuselage can create a lift from twenty to forty percent of the total lift of the aircraft.

The lifting force, due to which the aircraft is heavier than air, is kept in the atmosphere - this is a real physical force generated when the incoming air stream flows around the wing, fuselage and other structural elements of the aircraft.

The lift is directly proportional to the density of the medium in which the air flow is formed, the square of the speed with which the aircraft moves and the angle of attack that the wing and other elements form with respect to the incoming flow. It is also proportional to the area of ​​the aircraft.

The simplest and most popular explanation for the occurrence of lift is the formation of a pressure difference in the lower and upper parts of the surface.

b) Airplane wing is a structure that has a bearing surface for generating a lifting force. Depending on the type of aircraft, the wing can be:
- direct;
- arrow-shaped;
- triangular;
- trapezoidal;
- with backward sweep;
- with variable sweep.

The wing has a center section, as well as left and right half-planes, they can also be called consoles. In the event that the fuselage is made in the form of a bearing surface, as in an aircraft of the Su-27 type, then there are only left and right half-planes.

By the number of wings, there can be monoplanes (this is the main design of modern aircraft) and biplanes (An-2 can serve as an example) or triplanes.

By location relative to the fuselage, the wings are classified as low-lying, mid-lying, overhead, “parasol” (that is, the wing is located above the fuselage). The main structural elements of the wing structure are spars and ribs, as well as metal sheathing.

Attached to the wing is a mechanization that provides control of the aircraft - these are ailerons with trim tabs, and also related to takeoff and landing devices - these are flaps and slats. The flaps, after their release, increase the wing area, change its shape, increasing the possible angle of attack at low speed and provide an increase in lift in takeoff and landing modes. Slats are devices for leveling the air flow and preventing turbulence and jet stalling at high angles of attack and low speeds. In addition, aileron spoilers can be installed on the wing - to improve the controllability of the aircraft and spoiler spoilers - as additional mechanization that reduces the lift and brakes the aircraft in flight.

Fuel tanks can be placed inside the wing, for example, as in the MiG-25 aircraft. Signal lights are located at the wing tips.

v) Tail unit.

Two horizontal stabilizers are attached to the aft fuselage of the aircraft - this is the horizontal tail and the vertical keel is the vertical tail. These structural elements of the aircraft provide stabilization of the aircraft in flight. Structurally, they are made in the same way as the wings, only they have a much smaller size. Elevators are attached to the horizontal stabilizers, and the rudder is attached to the keel.

Takeoff and landing devices.

a) Chassis - main device belonging to this category .

The landing gear. Rear bogie

Aircraft landing gear is a special support designed for takeoff, landing, taxiing and aircraft parking.

Their design is quite simple and includes a strut with or without shock absorbers, a system of supports and levers that ensure a stable position of the strut in the extended position and its quick cleaning after takeoff. Wheels, floats or skis are also available depending on the type of aircraft and the landing surface.

Depending on the location on the glider, different schemes are possible:
- landing gear with a front strut (basic layout for modern aircraft);
- a chassis with two main struts and a tail support (an example is the Li-2 and An-2, which are practically not used at present);
- bicycle chassis (such a chassis is installed on the Yak-28 aircraft);
- a chassis with a front strut and a rear bar with a wheel extending upon landing.

The most common design for modern aircraft is a front strut and two main landing gear. On very heavy machines, the main legs are multi-wheeled carts.

b) Brake system. After landing, the aircraft is decelerated with the help of wheel brakes, spoilers-spoilers, brake parachutes and engine reverse.

Propulsion power plants.

Aircraft engines can be located in the fuselage, suspended from the wings using pylons, or placed in the rear of the aircraft.

Design features of other aircraft

1. Helicopter. The ability to take off vertically and rotate around its axis, hover in place and fly sideways and backwards. All these are the characteristics of a helicopter and all this is provided thanks to a movable plane that creates a lift - this is a propeller that has an aerodynamic plane. The propeller is constantly in motion, regardless of the speed and in which direction the helicopter is flying directly.
2. Rotorcraft. The peculiarity of this aircraft is that the aircraft take off due to the main rotor, and the speed gain and horizontal flight due to the classically located propeller installed on the theater, like an aircraft.
3. Tiltrotor. This aircraft model can be attributed to devices with vertical takeoff and landing, which are provided by rotary TVD. They are fixed at the ends of the wings and, after take-off, rotate into an airplane position, in which thrust is created for level flight. The lift is provided by the wings.
4. Autogyro. The peculiarity of this aircraft lies in the fact that during the flight it relies on the air mass due to the freely rotating propeller in the autorotation mode. In this case, the propellers replace the static wing. But to maintain flight, it is necessary to constantly rotate the propeller, and it rotates from the oncoming air flow, therefore, the apparatus, despite the propeller, needs a minimum speed for flight.
5. The aircraft is vertical takeoff and landing. Take off and land at zero horizontal speed using thrust jet engines, which is directed in the vertical direction. In world aviation practice, these are aircraft such as Harrier and Yak-38.
6. WIG craft. It is a vehicle capable of traveling at high speed, while using the effect of an aerodynamic screen, which allows this aircraft to stay several meters above the surface. Moreover, the wing area of ​​this aircraft is less than that of a similar aircraft. An aircraft using this principle, but capable of rising to a height of several thousand meters, is called ekranolet. Its design features a wider fuselage and wing. Such a device has a large carrying capacity and a flight range of up to thousands of kilometers.
7. Glider, hang glider, paraglider. This aircraft is heavier than air, as a rule, non-motorized, which use lift for flight due to the air flow around the wing or the bearing surface.
8. Airship. This apparatus is lighter than air, using a propeller motor for controlled movement. It can be with a soft, semi-rigid and hard shell. Currently used for military and special purposes. but whole line advantages, such as low cost, high carrying capacity and a number of others, give rise to discussions about the return of this type of transport to the real sector of the economy.

Topic: Aircraft are heavier than air. Flies. Aircraft. The development of military aviation. Civil Aviation.

3.1. Aircraft are heavier than air

The first model of an airplane flew in 1647. Its designer was the Italian Burattini. This aircraft had four pairs of wings along the fuselage and a tail unit. The two middle pairs were motionless, while the movement according to the ornithop principle was carried out due to the springs installed on the front and rear pairs of wings.

A few words should be said here about flies. Macholeta are aircraft heavier than air, in which the lifting force arises from the flapping movements of the wings, like a bird. Another name for these devices is ornithopers. Distinguish between flywheels with a drive due to the muscular strength of a person (musculolettes) and with a mechanical drive from various types of engines: spring, steam, internal combustion engines, etc.

Subsequently, up to 1809, various aircraft projects were created, but the matter did not come to their practical implementation. The ancestor of the scientific stage in the development of aircraft construction is called the Englishman D. Keighley. His experiments on a rotary machine in 1804 became the first aerodynamic experiments, thanks to which it was possible to accurately determine the lift developed by a low aspect ratio wing at different speeds and angles of action on it. When testing the model of the glider, it was possible to establish the values ​​of the coefficient of lift, and in 1808 to determine the points of application of this force.

A year later, i.e. in 1809, Keighley created a full-size aircraft with a pilot's seat, tail assembly and additional flapping wings. Jogging in gusts of wind allowed him to rise into the air for only a few minutes.

Kayleigh's work "On Air Navigation" was soon published - the first among others. theoretical works on flights of a fixed-wing vehicle. The inventor, confident that a person's muscular strength was not enough to lift him into the air, gave great attention the development of a caloric (use of hot air), powder engine and an internal combustion engine running on liquid fuel.

The first proposals for the creation of aircraft in Russia date back to the 1860s. The inventor A.V. Ewald presented to the public a description of the "ideal aircraft design", which provided all the elements necessary for flight: an engine, a propeller, a streamlined shape that provides low drag, fragments to achieve stability and steering. Unfortunately, it has not been worked out in detail.

A.F. Mozhaisky said a special word in the field of aircraft construction. It is known that in 1877 he proposed to the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire to build an airplane. The project he proposed spoke of a monoplane with one pulling and two pushing screws, with

wing in the form of a plane of slight elongation. Despite financial difficulties, by 1883 a brace monoplane with two steam engines and three propellers (one in front and two on the sides) had been created. The fuselage, which housed steam engines (in the bow and central parts), a boiler, oil tanks, instruments and seats for the crew, was a boat with a wooden frame and linen sheathing. The rectangular wooden wing of small elongation, made in the "gull" type (slightly curved upward), had a multi-spar structure and silk lining impregnated with varnish to ensure airtightness.

The bearing surfaces were supported by steel braces connected to the masts on the fuselage and to the landing gear. The tail unit consisted of two twisting rudders (Fig. 3.1.).

Rice. 3.1.- Airplane designed by A.F. Mozhaisky

The plane took off after a long run on wooden rails. The newspaper notes of that time contain information about the test flight of the Mozhaisky monoplane, which ended in an accident.

An important milestone in the history of aircraft construction is the creation by the German Nikolaus Otto of a four-stroke gas internal combustion engine (1876), which resulted in a qualitative improvement in the characteristics of the motors. A few years later, Otto's compatriot, G. Daimler, invented a gasoline engine, which led many designers to think about the problem of using such engines in aircraft construction, especially since by the end 19th century The prospect of using internal combustion engines in aviation was not in doubt by anyone.

Russian scientist K.E. Tsiolkovsky, who in 1894 published a project of a cantilever monoplane of the classical scheme with a gasoline internal combustion engine, the material for which was supposed to be aluminum, also spoke about this.

In the 90s of the XIX century, for the first time, the idea of ​​using a device on an aircraft that ensures the automatic stability of an aircraft in the air when flying in a turbulent atmosphere arose. Attempts to use the pendulum as an autopilot showed its serious drawback - the presence of acceleration forces in flight led to a disruption in its operation. And soon the pendulum was replaced by a gyroscopic automaton, which is a small disk rapidly rotating under the influence of an electric current, fixed on the axes in such a way that its plane always remains stationary relative to the projectile. It wasn't until the 1930s that he found life in aviation.

By 1910, there were two directions in aircraft construction: two-seat biplanes without a fuselage with a pushing propeller and an elevator located under the wing and single-seat monoplanes with a fuselage and tail assembly

and pulling screw. Each of these designs had its own advantages: biplanes were distinguished by their high carrying capacity and the best overview for the pilot and passenger, they were often used as training machines, while high-speed monoplanes were more suitable for amateur pilots and athletes. Thus, there were prerequisites for the evolution of aircraft of both types, and for several decades there was a sharp struggle between mono- and biplanes.

V that period, not only the general designs of aircraft were improved, but also individual systems: control devices, power plants, chassis. The cockpits were unified: there were pedals connected to the rudder, and a lever that controls the elevator and ailerons. Thus, the pilot could fly the plane with one hand and feet, which was very important for military purposes (shooting, photographing the area and other tasks). The layout, which has become standard, is used in modern aircraft as well. In the pre-war years, wheeled and skid-wheeled chassis. The most common types of propellers were propellers with solid wood blades and high efficiency for that time. The hull and wings were covered with wood or canvas, steel was used mainly in the chassis structure, wing and fuselage connectors, braces and control wiring. Metal was used very rarely as a structural material.

The most typical biplane design was the Wright brothers' aircraft,

created by them on the basis of the airframe (Fig. 3.2.). It has been complemented by a proprietary water-cooled four-cylinder in-line petrol engine with 12 hp. The engine rotated two pushing propellers rotating in opposite directions. The pilot controlled the tilt of the wing by moving his hips, the levers located in front of him served to turn on the engine and control the elevator. The first flight took place on December 14

Rice. 3.2.- Airplane of the Wright Brothers Design

Further modernization of biplanes contributed to the improvement of their aerodynamic performance: they became quite stable, streamlined and were able to develop high speed. The carrying capacity of these aircraft has also increased. By the beginning of the First World War, bodyless biplanes were replaced by more promising two-wing aircraft (bimonoplanes) with a propeller located in front and a fully sheathed hull.

In the Russian Empire, the first self-made airplanes appeared in 1909. However, the development of domestic aircraft construction proceeded at a slow pace for the simple reason that the Russian industry did not produce engines suitable for use on airplanes.

Over time, the government, having assessed the potential of home-made aircraft, became interested in the fate of the domestic aircraft industry. Provisions were made for the construction of experimental machines. Soon the flight of the Gakkel-3 machine took place, made in the form of a bimonoplane according to the design of the engineer Yakov Gakkel. In 1911, the "Gakkel-7" apparatus (Fig. 3.3.) With a powerful engine, aileron control, reinforced structure and increased carrying capacity won the First military competition of aircraft created in the Russian Empire. This car was the only one that passed all the tests. In 1912, "Gakkel-7" received the Great Gold Medal, thereby recognizing the merits of the Russian inventor.

Rice. 3.3.- Airplane "Gakkel-7"

Gakkel's work on the creation of the bimonoplane was continued by Igor Sikorsky. His plane "C-6" with a hull sheathed with thin, carefully polished and varnished wooden planks, acquired a streamlined shape. Thanks to this, the talented aircraft designer managed to set world speed records: with two passengers on board - 111 km / h, with five - 106 km / h. For two years, Sikorsky's airplanes won prizes in military aircraft competitions, in no way inferior to the leading European models.

In the meantime, pure monoplanes were developed. In 1907, the talented French aviator and designer Louis Blériot began to create monoplanes. His aircraft were the first monoplane with movable surfaces for lateral control: some of his models had rotary wingtips, others - movable rudders on the tail. These innovations allowed the aviator to be the first pilot in the world to master monoplane maneuvering.

The historic flight across the English Channel on July 25, 1909 made her Bleriot the most popular model. From that moment on, mankind stopped looking at the plane as a means of entertainment for the public and turned it into one of the most promising species transport intended for the transport of people, goods and warfare.

An important step towards improving the monoplane was the implemented project of the Frenchman E. Nieuport, which was based on the "Bleriot-11". Its robust, stable in flight, responsive to steering deviations and good planning, the Nieuport 4 soon took its rightful place in the armed forces of France, Russia and Italy.

In 1912, the designer and head of the aviation company A. Düperdüssen for the first time used a monocoque structure in aircraft construction. The airplane, named after him, had a wooden skin that was glued under pressure on a blank in the form of a fuselage. After removing the blank, the wooden shell was pasted over from the outside and from the inside with a sheet, and then varnished. The resulting body with a wall thickness of 4.5-5 mm, obtained as a result of this procedure, was distinguished by high rigidity and strength.

Now the designers were faced with the task of increasing the aircraft carrying capacity. It could only be increased by increasing the takeoff weight, which required an increase in the power of the power plant. And since then

At the time, there were no strong engines, it was supposed to put several engines on the planes.

An illustrative example in this regard was the creation in Russia of the "Grand" ("Russian Knight") and "Ilya Muromets" airplanes, projects of which belonged to Igor Sikorsky. The models had four wing-mounted engines. In front of the fuselage of the "Russian Knight" there was a glazed cockpit with compartments for the pilot, passengers, a toilet and rooms for spare parts and tools. There was a small space in front of the cockpit where one could exit during the flight. When any of the tandem engines stopped, the aircraft could continue its flight without hindrance (Fig. 3.4.).

Rice. 3.4.- Airplane "Grand" ("Russian Knight")

The Ilya Muromets aircraft, built in October 1913, became the successor to the Grand. It was a biplane with a solid fuselage, in the bow of which there was a glazed cockpit with electric lighting and heating (Fig. 3.5.). The biplane took off for the first time on December 23, 1913. Experiments with two engines turned off and takeoffs on skis from the snow turned out to be very successful. World records for carrying capacity, range and flight altitude were set.

Rice. 3.5.- Plane "Ilya Muromets"

Construction and design of aircraft

Chapter 1. General information about flying machines.

Aircraft are heavier than air.

Aircraft of this type include: airplanes, gliders, airplanes, shells, rockets, helicopters, gyroplanes, ornithopters.

An airplane is an aircraft heavier than air for flying in the atmosphere using engines and a wing stationary relative to other parts of the aircraft (excluding aircraft with an angle formation / excluding wings with variable sweep). Fuel: kerosene and atmospheric air.

The reasons for the aircraft becoming the main means of transportation in the air:

1. High speed

2. Large lifting capacity and range

3. Reliability in operation

4. High maneuverability, stability and controllability

The main parts of the plane:

Fuselage

Plumage

Power plant (these are not only engines, but also elements of automation, power supply systems and vital functions of engines)

Wing creates a lift when the aircraft is moving. Usually it is fixed on the fuselage, but for vertical take-off and landing aircraft, it rotates about the transverse axis. Rudders of roll are installed on the wing - ailerons and wing mechanization elements, i.e. devices capable of increasing the bearing capacity and resistance of the wing during takeoff, landing and maneuvering (flaps, flaps, slats, etc.).

Fuselage serves to accommodate the crew, passengers, cargo and equipment.

Chassis are designed to move the aircraft around the airfield and absorb the impact energy during landing. They are supplied with brakes. Chassis are retractable and non-retractable. The latter have greater drag, but they are simpler in design and lighter.

Plumage serves to ensure stability, controllability and balance of the aircraft; are placed behind the wing and consists of movable and fixed surfaces.

Fixed horizontal tail - stabilizer, vertical - keel. The elevator is hinged to the stabilizer, and the poisoning rudder to the keel. If necessary, gas rudders can be used for control.

The power plant is used to create thrust. It consists of aircraft engines, as well as systems and devices that ensure their operation and change in thrust.

Currently, the power plant is used:

TRD - turbojet engines

TRDD - bypass turbojet engines

TRDF - afterburner turbojet engines

TRDDF - by-pass turbojet engines with afterburner

TVD - turboprop engines

Ramjet - ramjet engines

SPVRD - supersonic ramjet engines, or hybrid

Civil Aviation: TRD, TRDD, TRDF, TRDDF

Military aviation: TRDF, TRDDF

Local Aviation: TVD

The operation of the engine is provided by the following systems: fuel, lubrication, air intake, gases, start-up, control and automatic control

The aircraft equipment consists of: instrumentation, radio and electrical equipment, anti-icing devices, high-altitude, airborne and special equipment.

Instrumentation equipment:

1. Flight and navigation (variometers, compasses, speed indicators, autopilot).

2. Control over the operation of the engine (manometers, thermometers, flow meters).

3. Auxiliary (ammeters, voltmeters).

Electrical equipment provides the operation of instruments, controls and radio, engine starting systems, lighting systems.

Radio equipment is a means of radio communication and radio navigation, radar equipment, automatic take-off and landing systems.

High-altitude equipment ensures the safety and protection of a person in flight (air conditioning systems, oxygen supply).

The onboard equipment ensures the convenience of accommodating passengers.

Special equipment - devices for placing and spraying chemicals for Agriculture, for transportation of sick and wounded, for loading and securing special bulky cargo, for aerial photography.

A glider is a non-propulsion aircraft heavier than air. The lift is created by a wing stationary relative to the body. The forward motion is created by the action of the component force of the weight. Takeoff is carried out using rubber shock absorbers, a winch with a cable or a towing aircraft. The flight in calm layers of the atmosphere is carried out with a constant descent at an angle to the horizon. Airframe characteristics:

1. Flight altitude - 14 km

2. Flight range - 1000 km

3. The rate of descent - 0.4-0.8 m / s

4. Flight speed - 80-100 km / h

5. Wingspan - 29 m

6. Wing extension - 20-36 m

Projectiles and rockets are unmanned aerial vehicles heavier than air. These include:

1.ballistic aircraft

2. rockets for launching artificial satellites

3. rockets for launching manned spacecraft

Helicopter (g (x) helicopter) is an aircraft heavier than air, in which lift and thrust are created by rotary rotors in a horizontal or almost horizontal plane. The main screws are driven by piston or jet engines through a gearbox and a vertical shaft. In jet helicopters, the propeller rotates from a jet engine or attachments mounted on the propeller blades. Compressed air from the compressor is supplied to the nozzles. Lift is generated without the helicopter moving in translation. The main rotor replaces not only the wing of the helicopter, but also the pulling rotor, which allows the device to:

Move forward, backward and sideways

Rise and fall at an angle to the horizon

Hang motionless in the air

Rotate around a vertical axis

This is achieved by tilting the rotor thrust towards the flight.

An important property of the propeller: in case of engine failure, the ability to rotate under the action of the incoming air flow, i.e. to carry out gliding or parachute descent and landing.

Constru Active elements of the helicopter:

1. Fuselage, landing gear, main rotor and controls

2. Instrumentation, radio and electrical equipment

3. Power plant with systems that ensure its operation

4. Transmission, which includes gearboxes, shafts, couplings, rotor brakes

Vertical take-off and landing devices are either a combination of the properties of airplanes and helicopters, or they are airplanes whose lift during takeoff and landing is created using special jet engines called lift. In horizontal flight, lift is created by the wing, and thrust is generated by conventional engines, which are called cruise engines. The prospect of using such devices is determined economic performance: a more complex and expensive design must have a high performance.

An autogyro is an aircraft heavier than air, in which the main bearing surface is the rotor, i.e. main rotor rotating under the action of the oncoming air flow. The translational motion of the gyroplane is carried out, in contrast to the helicopter, by a conventional propeller driven by an engine. Disadvantages of gyroplanes:

1. Significantly inferior to aircraft in flight speed.

2. Cannot take off and land vertically

Ornithopters are aircraft heavier than air, in which lift and thrust are created by wings that move like the wings of a bird. It is difficult to reproduce such a movement. Therefore, constructively, it is very difficult to create such devices, therefore, it is economically unprofitable.

Mikhail Vasilievich made the first practical attempt in history to use the Archimedes propeller for air navigation. We must not forget that the propeller at that time was not even known as a mover for sea ​​vessels... This discovery shows that Lomonosov correctly understood the laws of air resistance and found a force capable of supporting and propelling the apparatus in flight. It is especially interesting that Lomonosov, obviously striving to destroy the reactive moment, provided in his helicopter two propellers rotating in opposite directions.

Thus, our great compatriot, developing scientific meteorology, at the same time laid the foundations of aerodynamics, which arose as a science only at the end of the 19th century.

LECTURE No. 2

Topic: Aircraft are lighter than air. Uncontrollable balloons. Controlled balloons. Airships.

2.1. Aircraft are lighter than air

Many historians believe that the era of aeronautics began with the experimental flights of the Montgolfier brothers (late 1700s), but back in the 3rd century. BC e. The Greek mathematician Archimedes, who discovered the law that a body immersed in a liquid loses in weight exactly as much as the liquid displaced by it, realized that this principle applies to gases.

The first successful display of a hot air balloon was performed by a Jesuit priest, Bartolomeo Lorenzo de Guzmao. This significant event took place in 1709 in the presence of the royal family of King John V of Portugal. The apparatus was a small paper shell filled with heated air obtained from the combustion of combustible material contained in an earthen pot, which was located in a wooden tray suspended from below.

The discovery of the Englishman Henry Cavendish was of great importance for the development of the idea of ​​an aircraft lighter than air - in 1766 he managed to obtain "combustible air" ("phlogiston"), now known as hydrogen.

The names of Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier are known to almost all aeronautical lovers. In 1783, they managed to make a balloon capable of lifting an adult (Fig. 2.1.). Its carrying capacity was about 205 kg. Having risen to a height of 305 m, this aircraft flew 915 m and sank to the ground. The diameter of the sphere was 12 m. The fuel was gas obtained from burning pieces of paper, wood, straw under the neck of the shell, and the straw was wet. The brothers themselves could not explain why they burned exactly wet straw - they intuitively felt that it would be better this way. And an explanation for this phenomenon was found relatively recently. If the casing is filled not only with heated, but also humidified air, then at the same temperature and lift the volume of the balloon is significantly reduced. The first passengers were pets, a sheep, a duck and

rooster. This flight took place on September 19, 1783 in the presence of the royal couple, Louis XVI. The first hot air balloon flight with people named François Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arland had a very short duration - about 25 minutes. and took place on November 21, 1783, but it was they who became the first aeronauts in world history.

Rice. 2.1.- Balloon

V In the 19th century, ballooning took on an unprecedented scale. Those who could afford it flew for fun and thrill. Appeared the new kind sports - aeronautics, and records were set one after another. Finally, balloons have been used by scientists for a wide variety of observations and experiments.

Since 1860, the new type of transport was actively used by the military, which was associated with the outbreak of the American Civil War. By the way, this influenced the development of aeronautics, since three major discoveries were made based on the use of aeronautical technology - air mail, mobile installations for the production of hydrogen and "barges" for transporting balloons.

V 1861 the military for the first time transmitted a telegraph message from a balloon to the ground. This forced a rethinking of the traditional channels of transmission of mail messages.

Search results for more convenient ways refueling balloons was the invention of a mobile hydrogen production plant. The chemical generation of hydrogen was based on the principle of interaction between iron and dilute sulfuric acid. The installation made it possible to quickly refuel balloons, which increased the mobility of military operations, later these installations began to be used in civil aviation.

The third innovation is the use of a coal barge, which made it possible to transport and tow balloons, both finished and damaged. In other words, other vehicles came to the service of aviation, and the process of integration of vehicles began. Later, by the way, this innovation prompted the idea of ​​creating and using aircraft carriers.

2.2. Balloons

The balloon consists of a ball made of dense rubberized fabric. The balloon is filled with air or hydrogen (modern balloons also have helium), which is heated using an adjustable burner installed in the passenger basket (gondola). The basket is attached to the ball with cables (fig. 2.2.).

Rice. 2.2.- Balloon

Ballast dumping was often used to extend flight times. Sandbags, usually hanging over the side of the basket, were usually used in its capacity, although - in emergency situations- it could be the most unusual things, or rather, the first thing that comes to hand.

Balloons have helped the military more than once. So, in the period from 1870 to 1871, they did a good service to the Parisians who defended their city from the invasion of Prussian troops. The besieged hastily built aircraft, which turned out to be an unusually convenient means of transporting people, urgent messages, supplies, and weapons. But one thing gives rise to another. For its part, it was during this campaign that the Prussian military began to use anti-aircraft guns, which were specifically designed for such air targets.

They were carried out from balloons and bomb attacks. The first such attack was carried out in November 1944 by the Japanese attacking the United States. Ksati, at the same time they used an original device that allowed the balloon to fly

with a constant height of almost 10,000 km over the Pacific Ocean. Each balloon carried a 15-kilogram fragmentation bomb and two incendiary rounds. However, the "useful" effect of such weapons turned out to be extremely small: out of 9 thousand launched balloons, only one thousand reached the shores of America. There were 258 cases of bombing (that is, a quarter of this thousand and 1/36 of the number of launched vehicles). 6 people died.

In general, balloons were used in the most different purposes, including scientific ones. On July 11, 1897, three Swedish scientists led by Solomon August André undertook a research expedition to the Arctic on a 4531 m3 balloon equipped with sails. Unfortunately, the expedition ended tragically - scientists died on Franz Josef Land.

But time passed, the technique improved and the records continued. On June 30, 1901, Professors Berson and Suring took off in a balloon to an altitude of 10 800 m next year he climbed already 16 201 m. Three years later, the Americans Andersen and Stephenson reached a height of 22 066 m.

Domestic and foreign aeronautics enthusiasts did not lag behind. In 1935 Zykov and Tropin spent 91 hours 15 minutes in the sky in a balloon. This flight entered the list of world records. The simultaneous start of 25 balloons, which was carried out by domestic aeronautics three years later.

In terms of size, the largest and fastest hot air balloon in the world that has ever flown into the air is Tender & Colt's Virgin Otsuka Pacific Flyer, with a shell volume of 73,624 m3 and a height of 68 m (this is the height of a 25-storey building). During the Pacific flight in 1991, the maximum speed that the balloon reached was 385 km / h.

In a recent attempt travel around the world a modern balloon "Endeavor" of the English company "Cameron Balluns" was used in the hot air balloon. Unfortunately, due to the bad weather conditions this flight could not be completed in full.

And in October 1990, the head of the company, Donald Cameron, successfully flew with our compatriot Gennady Oparin from London to

THE USSR. The shell of the cylinder itself was made of modern materials - kevlar and carbon fiber. The preparation was thorough - parachutes, suits, walkie-talkies. At an altitude of 3 km, the travelers safely flew to Estonia, but then a wind of 14 m / s rose, visibility deteriorated sharply. I had to climb to a height of 5 km and descend in Latvia, where they landed on a potato field near Riga. And, if they managed to calm down the frightened local farmers quickly, then it took quite a long time to deal with the KGB officers who arrived at night.

Summing up, it should be noted that balloons have become not only vehicle, but also a kind of symbol of our time. These devices were the first to realize the eternal dream of man to rise into the air.