A Study on Design of S-Duct Structures and Air Intake for Small Aircraft Applied to High Strength Carbon–Epoxy Composite Materials

Recently, many structural parts using composite materials are being applied to small aircraft and UAV in the world. The aim of this work is to design the engine intake structure of a small aircraft. For structural safety evaluation, a finite element analysis method was applied. In this work, structural design and numerical analysis of air intake and s-duct structures for small aircraft were performed. The target structure is composed of an s-duct and a cylindrical intake structure. Firstly, an investigation of the mechanical properties of carbon/epoxy material was conducted. The distributed pressure load and acceleration condition was applied to the structural design. The structural design load was investigated considering safety factors. The structural analysis was performed to analyze the validity of the design results. Through the structural analysis using the finite element analysis method, it was confirmed that the designed air intake structure is safe. The manufacturing of the prototype structure will be carried out based on the designed result.