Operational usage and flight loads study of global express XRS business jet

Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Aerospace EngineeringOperational usage analysis and flight loads analysis is performed on one Global Express XRS business jet. A total of 388 useful flights with 1053 hours and 454,254 nm are analyzed. Usage analysis performed during airborne is separated into seven flight phases with information presented for maximum altitude, flight duration, flight distance, indicated airspeed, pitch, bank, and rate of climb. For a majority of the time the XRS is flown within operational limits. The rare occurrence of exceeding operational limits is shown to occur during initial approach, one of the shortest flight segments. Loads analysis is performed for both ground and air operations. Ground operations are separated into five phases with longitudinal, lateral, and incremental vertical load analysis normalized per 1000 flights for these segments. Landing roll is shown to have the most frequent and severe loads for ground phases. Airborne operations are separated into seven flight phases and incremental vertical accelerations are separated into maneuver and gusts using the two second rule. Incremental vertical acceleration is further categorized into discrete and continuous gust velocities normalized per 1000 hours and per nautical mile. Gust velocities are altitude dependent and shown to be more severe and occur more frequently at low altitudes. Continuous turbulence field parameters are derived from continuous gust velocities from cruise and compared to FAR 25 results in the form of generalized exceedance plots. Most of the XRS exceedance curves are shown to lie significantly below those from FAR 25. Data collected from this study can help establish operational and design standards for larger business jets. The statistical data created will help enable the FAA, the manufacturer, and the operator to better understand those factors that influence the structural integrity of these aircraft