Loads Analysis

Preliminary Loads Analysis

Before any structure can be sized with confidence, it must be grounded in a realistic, comprehensive understanding of the loads it will experience. At Fabexco, we conduct detailed preliminary loads analysis using your mission objectives, early aerodynamic models, and mass properties to estimate the full range of forces acting on key structural elements.

Our goal is to provide accurate load envelopes – including shear, bending moments, and torsion – across the vehicle’s flight envelope, ensuring your structural design aligns with regulatory requirements and real-world performance demands.

Our analysis includes:

• Aerodynamic Loads: Derived from pressure distribution, lift gradients, or experimental data
• Inertial Loads: Generated from accelerations, angular rates, and mass distribution under maneuver and gust conditions
• Control Surface Actuation Loads: Including hinge moments, unbalanced deflections, and aero-servo interactions
• Propulsion and Thrust Loads: Capturing mounting forces, asymmetry, engine-out, and dynamic thrust vectoring (if present)
• Landing and Ground Loads: Hard landing impacts, taxi/bump loads, and gear-induced forces
• Gust and Turbulence Loads: Using discrete gust models and spectral turbulence assumptions, and global weather and wind models
• Emergency and Abnormal Cases: Including ditching, crashworthiness cases, and external stores jettison (where relevant)

All load cases are evaluated in accordance with applicable regulatory frameworks – including FAR Part 23, FAR Part 25, and MIL-STD-1797/516 – and can be extended to program-specific functional requirements.

Typical deliverables include:

• Envelope V-n diagrams for critical flight conditions
• A comprehensive external loads database, including shear, bending, and torsion distributions along wings, fuselage, and empennage
• Tabulated results for discrete load conditions (e.g., gust, pull-up, side-slip, engine-out)
• Documentation of methodology, load case definitions, assumptions, and safety factors
• Optional handoff-ready input files for structural FEM or sizing models

By anchoring your structural design in a robust loads environment early in development, we help ensure compliance, structural efficiency, and long-term integrity – while reducing costly redesigns in later phases.