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Aircraft Fuel Systems

AIAA Team 1 (Shelley Biagi & Curtis Black)


A/C Design Class
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
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?
id=news/fuel0606.xml
Fuel Types
 Civilian  Military
 Jet A  JP-4
 Jet A-1  JP-5
 Jet B  JP-8
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
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


Fuel distributed around center of
gravity
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.
777 Fuel Dumping http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0245b.shtml
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_of_Technology/refueling/Tech22G5.htm
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
References
 Ask A Scientist
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99417.htm
 Aerospaceweb.org
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0245b.shtml
 Refueling
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_of_Technology
/refueling/Tech22G5.htm
 PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/concorde/anat-nf.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/avnow/news/channel_bca_story.jsp?
id=news/fuel0606.xml
Any Questions?

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