Research on method of analytical wing preliminary weight estimation for light weight UAV

Wing weight estimation is one of the most important functions of the aircraft design process. For optimization process, the weight of the wing may have to be calculated thousands of time specially if it is a part of multidisciplinary optimization. For light weight UAV, four different models are used to calculate the weight of ribs, skin, spar and carry through structure respectively. Ingenuity is captured in weight estimation of spar and an iterative method to calculate weight of spar is presented. The weight of each individual item is added to get the approximate total weight of the wing. High level computational structural analysis is not possible in optimization phase due to computational time cost. The current weight estimation method is a part of high level multidisciplinary optimization thus robust results are desired. The wing weight estimation code is verified against analytical results and total weight is compared with an available light weight UAV. The results of wing comparison show good approximation and validate the weight estimation code. Thus the method proposed for wing weight estimation for light weight UAV is validated and the desired output of a robust method to calculate weight of the wing is achieved.