Tail Boom

The tail boom was designed so that electrical components such as the Raspberry Pi imaging system or the Smart Citizen environmental measuring system could be housed in it.

The weight saving holes allow for the design to maintain structural rigidity while reducing the mass.

The connection with the tailplane is made up of three small supporting ribs along with two M3 bolts. The fuselage is connected via the two longeron slots in the large frame and the two slots located on the side of the forward most face.

In order to make sure the tail boom could withstand the loading that it will be put under in flight an analysis was carried out. The boom was simplified as a tapered cantilever beam with a point load on the end. The results of this analysis allowed the team to confirm that the structure was suitable.

Assembling the tail boom was a simple process due to the accurate comprehensive 3D CAD model. The sides and the bottom were fixed together followed by the internal frames and lastly the top panel. The brackets for the removable top panel were then added and the full structure was then covered in solar film.