Aircraft Hangar Research Articles

Review of Recent Trends in the Planning, Analysis, Design and Construction of Space Frame Roofs for Aircraft Hangars

Review of Recent Trends in the Planning, Analysis, Design and Construction of Space Frame Roofs for Aircraft Hangars

Formex Configuration Processing for a Multi-Layered Long Span Aircraft Hangar

With the availability of fast computers and powerful packages to match, stress analysis of complex structures, such as a Multi-Layered Long Span Aircraft Hangar described in this paper, for multiple loading conditions, is no longer a problem. But preprocessing of input data continues to be a tedious, time-consuming chore. It is here that formex algebra and its programming language Formian provided a breakthrough. The paper demonstrates the power of these tools in generating the topology of a triple layered space frame and its five-layered front girder in a few pages of text.

Structural Assessment and Quality Control Procedures for the Homa Aircraft Hangar No.3

Through the explanation of the methodology employed in the structural assessment and quality control of Homa aircraft hangar No. 3, some technical information has been presented which can be extended to a class of space structures: those with tubular members and socket type joints. An experimental programme of work has been conducted involving load tests on a number of tubular members with forged ends, double tubular sections and socket joints, designed and manufactured to be used as the structural components of the triple layer space grid system. The main potential deficiencies observed included: (i) local buckling, premature yielding and end straightening at the positions of the forged ends of tubular members, (ii) bolt stripping at the bolted connections of the end cones, and (iii) excessive deformation of socket joints. The manner in which such deficiencies were treated, has also been reported. A simple detail has been suggested which makes it possible to provide effective double tubular sections, using intermediate filler rings. Problems associated with the construction and erection of the roof system have been discussed. An automated reanalysis-redesign process has been adopted and a series of analyses have been carried out to investigate the possibility of progressive collapse. A nonlinear analysis approach for the consideration of joint flexibility has been introduced briefly.

Arch-Supported Membrane Shelters under Wind and Snow Loading

For many years, inflatable structures and membrane-enclosed structures have proved useful for a variety of purposes. Recently, structures that combine highly-pressurised inflatable arch members with light fabric membrane coverings have been developed for use as a variation of such structural systems. These structures could have large openings and be utilised as aircraft hangars, vehicle maintenance shelters, medical aid stations, and emergency shelters following disasters. Two physical models of such structures are tested in this study. First they are placed in wind tunnels at various orientations to the airflow, and their dynamic responses are observed. Then they are subjected to weights simulating snow loads, and the weights are increased until either the material fails or the structure collapses.

Space structures and configuration processing

AbstractMany thousands of impressive space structures have been built all over the world for covering sports stadiums, gymnasiums, leisure centres, aircraft hangars, railway stations and many other purposes. A number of these structures have spans of well over 200 m. The objective of this article is to present an overview of space structure forms with an emphasis on lattice grids, barrel vaults and domes. Also included is a brief discussion of the use of conceptual tools for computer‐aided processing of space structure configurations.

Three Dimensional Simulations Of Fire Plume Dynamics

The velocity and temperature fields of fire plumes are studied theoretically and computationally using the authors' large eddy simulation techniques. A version of the Navier-Stokes equations specialized to the study of fire dynamics is used as the basis for the analysis. No empirical turbulence modeling parameters are introduced into the computations. These simplifications permit high resolution solutions to the three dimensional time-dependent Navier-Stokes to be directly compared with experimental correlations of the time-averaged properties of an isolated vertical plume. Comparisons are made by averaging the time-dependent numerical results rather than the governing equations. Computed mean velocities and temperatures are shown to be in close agreement with McCaffrey's correlations. The methodology is then applied to the study of a large pool fire in an aircraft hangar with a complicated roof geometry. A simple cell masking scheme permits the inclusion of the building geometry into the calculation without sacrificing computational efficiency. The plume structure in the hangar is compared with the isolated plume properties.

Measurements of air change rates and air flow patterns in large single-cell buildings

This paper describes the measurements of the air change rates and air flow patterns in two large single-cell aircraft hangar buildings. The decay of the tracer gas sulfur hexafluoride was used to measure the air change rates. It was possible to achieve a uniform mixture of indoor air and the tracer gas in the hangars using the air circulation fans of the heating system. Stratified air layers characterized the air flow patterns within the hangars. For the test conditions, measured air change rates for the two hangars are in the range 0.32 to 0.47 air changes per hour. Results also suggest that five sampling locations at about 1.8 m (6 ft) height are sufficient to obtain a representative air change rate for large single-cell buildings.

Measurement of thermal stratification in large single-cell buildings

This paper describes measured temperature profiles and thermal stratification in eight aircraft hangar buildings during the heating season. Presented also is the predicted impact of thermal stratification on heating energy requirements. The hangar buildings included two main ceiling heights (9.35 and 17.1 m (31 and 56 ft)), two ceiling types (flat and Quonset), two types of heating systems (vertical discharge forced warm air and downdraft convective unit heaters), and various types of large external doors. Measured stratification, expressed by floor-to-ceiling temperature differential, is in the range 4–11 °C (7.2–20 °F). Two air layers existed in the hangar bay area, a warm upper air layer and a cooler lower air layer. The lower air layer (up to 2 m (7 ft) high from the floor) is characterised by a steep vertical temperature gradient in the range 0.8–2.6 °C/m (0.4–1.4 °F/ft). In the upper air layer, above 2 m, the vertical temperature gradient shallows considerably to 0.5 °C/m (0.3 °F/ft). Results indicate that thermal stratification can have a significant impact on the building's heating energy requirements. In the hangar buildings studied, predicted excess heating energy requirements due to 8 °C floor-to-ceiling temperature differential can be as much as 38% as compared to the case with no stratification.

The Science Museum’s Aeronautics Gallery Redisplayed

Getting There—Transportation Exhibit Reviews THE SCIENCE MUSEUM’S AERONAUTICS GALLERY REDISPLAYED HANS-JOACHIM BRAUN Which is more difficult, designing a museum gallery from scratch or revising an already existing gallery by bringing it into line with modern museology and recent research? Many museum designers and curators would probably prefer the first option, because there are many pitfalls in renovating. It is difficult to choose among artifacts collected to reflect the ideology of the original exhibition makers and to compensate for those artifacts that are not there but, from today’s point of view, should be. At the Science Museum, Senior Curator of the Air Transport Collection Andrew Nahum and the designers, the Robin Wade and Pat Read partnership, were confronted with the task of renovating the existing gallery. On the whole, they were highly successful. Aeronautics has always been one of the Science Museum’s strong collections, and the exhibit’s original purpose was mainly didactic. For this objective, full-size aircraft, being cumbersome and difficult to handle, hardly seemed necessary—models would do. In the mid1960s , the museum rehoused its aeronautics collection in a third-floor gallery architecturally reminiscent of an aircraft hangar and structur­ ally strong enough to support suspended aircraft. It is no surprise that this gallery was extremely popular with visitors, but its concept and layout seemed dated, and many ancillary artifacts obstructed the clear view of aircraft on display. In renovating the gallery a few basic choices had to be made: should Dr. Braun is professor of modern social, economic, and technological history at the Universitat der Bundeswehr Hamburg. He is the author of several books on the history of technology and articles on various aspects of aviation in Germany and Britain before 1945. He thanks Andrew Nahum, senior curator of the Science Museum’s flight gal­ lery, for his assistance.© 1995 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/95/3603-0007$01.00 625 626 Hans-Joachim Braun the new exhibit include more or less everything from the old gallery or, in view of space restrictions, should it be more selective? Also, should the exhibition be arranged in a linear way, where one event leads to another, or should the visitor have choices? As to the first issue, the museum decided to keep all the artifacts on show—and add even more. This meant that a new way of arranging the objects had to be found. Second, a linear arrangement was discarded in favor of multiple visitor routes. What is there to be seen? Outside the new gallery there is a flight laboratory, a small hands-on exhibition presenting hot-air balloons, wind tunnels, and computer simulations. The exhibit invites the visi­ tor to “discover the principles of flight” and tries to explain how an aircraft flies and is controlled. This is all very well done, and there is a lot of action. Children and adults both love it. From the flight lab the visitor enters the flight gallery proper by passing through a small exhibit called “Dreams of Flight” that serves as a kind of antechamber to the main gallery. After all the bustle in the flight lab, the visitor is invited to rest, to look at balloons and early flight attempts, and to reflect on the origins of the airplane. Whether the spectator really takes up this invitation depends very much on individual tempera­ ment: I saw many who could not wait to see the “real thing,” the original aircraft. But then, it is not necessary for everybody to accept an invitation. The main gallery is ingeniously designed and has an impressive layout. In spite of its considerable size, everything is well-ordered, allowing a clear view from everywhere in the gallery. The visitor can view aircraft hanging from the roof, from either floor levels or from walkways, and see the engine collection and the cased display models. Although there is no linear arrangement of artifacts, the gallery pre­ sents different themes within the framework of a general chronology: “Dreams of Flight” is followed by the pioneer age of aviation up to and through World War I. The “heroic age” of the interwar period is...

Jans Smuts experiment: Details of full-scale experiment

A full-scale experiment undertaken on a portion of a large aircraft hangar at Jan Smuts Airport from 1980 to 1988 is presented. The instrumentation for this experiment consisted of 50 differential pressures transducers located at one corner of the hangar (49 external and 1 internal), on both the wall and roof, and wind speed and direction measurements. The paper concentrates on the pressures obtained for the roof of the hangar. A companion paper presents a comparison between the full-scale and wind-tunnel tests undertaken at the Division of Building Technology, CSIR.

Jans Smuts experiment: Details of full-scale experiment

A full-scale experiment undertaken on a portion of a large aircraft hangar at Jan Smuts Airport from 1980 to 1988 is presented. The instrumentation for this experiment consisted of 50 differential pressures transducers located at one corner of the hangar (49 external and 1 internal), on both the wall and roof, and wind speed and direction measurements. The paper concentrates on the pressures obtained for the roof of the hangar. A companion paper presents a comparison between the full-scale and wind-tunnel tests undertaken at the Division of Building Technology, CSIR.

Cost Effective Dual Role for Aircraft Hangars

AUTOSTACK the revolutionary Flexible Moving Wall System from aircraft maintenance industrial specialists, Union Environmental, a division of Union Industries of Leeds, UK, is revitalising aircraft hangars worldwide, with the result that operators can now spray aircraft and simultaneously carry on with normal engineering maintenance work.

The National Museums of Scotland's 1990 discovery room: An evaluation

In the National Museums of Scotland there are hundreds of thousands of objects on display for the public to learn from, to learn about, to be responsive to and to enjoy. The collections cover geology, natural history, archaeology, ethnology, decorative arts, history, science and technology, Scottish and non-Scottish. The buildings range from a 19th-century gasworks to the Scottish United Services Museum on the most dramatic site in Edinburgh-the castle; from an aircraft hangar to an ‘elegant birdcage of glass and iron’, a recent description of Captain Francis Fowke’s mid-l%h-century Royal Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street, Edinburgh; from a purpose-built Agricultural Museum to the 1885 Queen Street building, a ‘Venetian Gothic Palace’. Founded in 1854 as the Industrial Museum of Scotland to expand education and to promote information about manufacturing processes, the museum in Chambers Street has done much to maintain the tradition of education. In the Education Department, we were very aware that education along with many areas of public life was undergoing major changes in the 1980s and 1990s. Pupils were increasingly encouraged to find things out for themselves, not just from books and audio-visual sources but also through their own investigations of the world around them, past and present. It was clear to us that museums and galleries had a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate their potential to be part of this development. We had objects that could be investigated. In our museum visitors of all ages could learn from the real thing. This was a challenge for us to meet if we were to continue to be seen as educational establishments. We were sure that in less than a generation’s time, we would be receiving adult visitors who would be unaccustomed to learning passively from labels and taped commentaries, who would expect to learn in a more active way. How could we respond? Thus was born the Discovery Room (on an experimental basis) in the summer of 1987.

Radiant Plaque Heating Ideal Choice for Dan Air Hangar

RECENT press comment to the effect that radiant plaque heating in aircraft hangars is “unsuitable since people working on top of the wings would bake, whereas those working underneath the wings would be cold” is not borne out at the new Dan Air main hangar at London Gatwick Airport. In what is thought to be the first radiant plaque heating installation in a U.K. aircraft hangar, a Schwank system has just completed its first full year in operation with flying colours.

Contracts

A tropical, salt‐laden atmosphere with all the resultant problems of sand, intense heat and plunging temperatures is certainly not an ideal environment for any aviation ground power system. These conditions do, however, represent just some of the problems that MPL Power Systems plc has had to overcome in order to win a major contract with Plessey Airports for Plaisance Airport on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The contract is for the supply of five ‘super‐silenced’ decentralised, weatherproof 400Hz fixed ground power units, complete with crocodile type cable storage devices. Four units are to be located on the aircraft apron with the remaining unit within the ATR42 aircraft hangar.

Contracts

McAlpine Aviation, who operate executive jets, have recently commissioned a new aircraft hangar at Luton Airport. For the approximately 600 sq. metre hangar floor they chose Sempol Surfaces F 100 epoxy resin based seamless surface flooring system.

An economic solution for stabilising a slender arch roof

A special study was made to evaluate the seismic response of the ribs of four reinforced concrete arch aircraft hangars and to assess methods of strengthening the ribs. The study was based on a series of non linear dynamic analyses of the arch ribs, with particular consideration being given to the choice of earthquake records, to the effect of P-delta actions on the arch responses and to the validity of the behaviour predicted by the computer program. The analyses indicated that the arch ribs could become unstable as a result of the P-delta effect acting in combination with reduction in the rib stiffness due to concrete cracking. However, the study also shows that the arches can be stablised very economically by using prestressing strand to provide cross bracing.

A digital system for the measurement of wind effects on large structures

This paper describes an instrumentation system developed specifically for the measurement of wind effects on large structures. The design of the system was based entirely on digital techniques to overcome some of the problems associated with full-scale measurements. An inductive phase difference technique was used to extend the digital concept to the pressure transducer level. Two of these systems are currently employed in measurements involving an aircraft hangar and a power station chimney. The advantages and also the disadvantages of the approach approach are discussed.

Mathematical model for analyzing the trade-offs in aircraft hangar deluge sprinkler systems design

The author explores the use of simple mathematical models in optimizing the design of fixed protection systems by testing the cost sensitivity of an aircraft hangar foam-water deluge system to variations in semi-arbitrarily fixed design parameters.

Note on the Bending of a Finite Rectangular Plate under Continuous Non-Normal Loading

The problems discussed here are those of a uniformly inclined and skew loadings on a finite rectangular plate such as would be obtained by the action of wind or rain on a large door of an aircraft hangar or other such building. Such a force may be considered constant in magnitude over the area of the plate but non-normal in its direction with the plate.