21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-4.7.3

EVOLUTION OF TRANSPORT AIRPLANE STRUCTURAL DESIGN CRILERIA TO INCORPORATE ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY

Barnes T. J.
FAA, Renton, USA

Keywords: transport airplane, structural design

Structural design criteria are constantly being reevaluated in order to maintain the delicate balance between adequate strength and minimum weight, while maintaining the same or improved levels of safety. The need or opportunity to change structural design criteria may be recognized by the introduction of complex computer technology. However, it could also be due to a change in operational procedures. The intent of this paper is to discuss how these advances in technology and changes in operation are handled, without going into detail about the actual rule change procedure.

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