Overview

To provide students with an introduction to the strength of materials and their behaviour as loaded members in aircraft structures. Corrosion and fatigue is also addressed in the context of managing an aging aircraft fleet

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
02-March-2026
31-May-2026
Last self-enrolment date
15-March-2026
Census date
31-March-2026
Last withdraw without fail date
21-April-2026
Results released date
07-July-2026

Unit learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  1. Explain how aircraft structural design influences aircraft performance and operational capability
  2. Identify and describe key aircraft structural members and common materials used in airframes
  3. Analyse corrosion and fatigue mechanisms and explain how they are managed in operational fleets
  4. Analyse and compare the properties, advantages, and limitations of different aircraft structural compositions
  5. Interpret aircraft structural certification and regulatory requirements relevant to aircraft classification

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Lecture		 2.00  12 weeks  24
On-campus
Class		 1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		 9.50  12 weeks  114
TOTAL     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Assignment 1 Individual  10 - 20%  1,2,3 
Assignment 2 Individual  10 - 20%  3,4,5
Examination Individual  30 - 40%  1,2,3,4,5 
Quizzes Individual  10 - 20%  1,2,3,4,5
Tutorial Exercises Group  10 - 20%  1,2,3,4,5 

Hurdle

As the minimum requirements of assessment to pass a unit and meet all ULOs to a minimum standard, an undergraduate student must have achieved:

(i) an aggregate mark of 50% or more, and
(ii) at least 40% in the final exam.

Students who do not successfully achieve hurdle requirement (ii) will receive a maximum of 45% as the total mark for the unit.

Content

Basic aircraft design

  • Aircraft structures and form
     

Basic aeronautical knowledge

  • Forces, effect of controls
     

Structural loading; aerodynamic and inertia

  • Load analysis
  • Structures, Struts, ties, beams, shafts and simple frames
  • Shear force, axial force, torque 
  • Stress and strain Normal stress, average shear stress
     

Regulatory requirements

  • Structural limits, performance categories, operational constraint
     

Safety factors

  • Limit and ultimate load
     

Introduction to aircraft materials

  • Aluminium alloys, steel alloys, advanced composites
     

Metal corrosion

  • Causes, time dependent, time related and time independent, common areas of corrosion in aircraft structures, methods of protection
     

Fatigue

  • The mechanism of fatigue, manoeuvre and gust load spectra, stress concentrations, crack propagation.
  • Fatigue life determination and fatigue test methods.
  • Safe Life and Fail safe philosophies

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.