AircrAft StructurAl AnAlySiS

Prof. Ravi kumar

AM.Ae.SI, M.Tech(Aero)
SASTRA University, Thanjavur

Airframe

Function of Aircraft Structures

General
The structures of most flight vehicles are thin walled structures (shells)

Resists applied loads (Aerodynamic loads acting on the wing structure)

Provides the aerodynamic shape
Protects the contents from the environment

Definitions
Primary structure:
A critical load-bearing structure on an aircraft. If this structure is
severely damaged, the aircraft cannot fly.

Secondary structure:
Structural elements mainly to provide enhanced aerodynamics.
Fairings, for instance, are found where the wing meets the body or
at various locations on the leading or trailing edge of the wing.

Definitions
Monocoque structures:
Unstiffened shells. must be relatively
thick to resist bending, compressive, and
torsional loads.

Definitions

Semi-monocoque Structures:
Constructions with stiffening members that may also be required
to diffuse concentrated loads into the cover.
More efficient type of construction that permits much thinner
covering shell.

SPATER

WING LAYOUT

Function of Aircraft Structures:

Part specific

Skin
Reacts the applied torsion and shear forces .
Transmits aerodynamic forces to the longitudinal and transverse supporting
members .
Acts with the longitudinal members in resisting the applied bending and axial
loads .
Acts with the transverse members in reacting the hoop, or circumferential load
when the structure is pressurized.

Function of Aircraft Structures:

Part specific

Ribs and Frames

1.
2.

Structural integration of the wing and fuselage.

Keep the wing in its aerodynamic profile.

Function of Aircraft Structures:

Part specific

Spar
1. resist bending and axial loads.
2.

form the wing box for stable torsion resistance.

Function of Aircraft Structures:

Part specific

Stiffener or Stringers
1.
2.
3.

resist bending and axial loads along with the skin.

divide the skin into small panels and thereby increase its
buckling and failing stresses.
act with the skin in resisting axial loads caused by

pressurization

STRUCTURAL IDEALISATION

STRUCTURAL IDEALISATION
1) The longitudinal stiffeners and spar flanges carry only axial stresses.
2) The web, skin and spars webs carry only shear stresses.
3) The axial stress is constant over the cross section of each longitudinal
stiffener .
4) The shearing stress is uniform through the thickness of the webs .
5) Transverse frames and ribs are rigid within their own planes and
have no rigidity normal to their plane.

The stiffeners are represented by circles called booms, which have a

concentrated mass in the plane of the skin.
The direct stresses are calculated at the centroid of these booms and are
assumed to have constant stress through their cross-section.

Idealization Of a Panel

Suppose that we wish to idealize the panel as in Fig.a in to a combination of direct stress
carrying booms and shear stress only carrying skin as shown in Fig.b.
Suppose also that direct stress distribution in actual panel varies linearly from unknown
stress 1 to unknown stress 2.
The Boom area can be found as; - ( as loading produces same direct stress in both
panels), taking moments about the Right-hand edge of each panel.

or

; For axial load (1 / 2 ) = 1, and for pure bending

(1 / 2 ) = -1 .
Thus different idealizations of the same structure are required for different loading
conditions.
Similarly

Shear of open section beams

.

For skin,
If skin carries only shear stress thn tD =0 .
Now taking equilibrium of stresses at rth boom,

Or

.. ( A )

Shear of open section beams

So

Or,

This is the increment in shear flow in boom, which is already subjected to direct
stress. So for n Booms shear flow at any point is:

Shear loading of closed section beams

.

Solved examples :
Q.1: Part of the wing section is in the form of the two cell box as shown in Figure,
in which vertical spars are connected to the wing skin through angle sections
all having a cross sectional area 300 mm2. Idealize the section in to an
arrangement of direct stress carrying booms and shear stress only carrying
panels suitable for resisting bending moments in the vertical plane. Position the
Booms at the spar/ skin junctions only.

Solution

The idealized section as in Figure, by symmetry,

Since section is required to resist bending

in vertical plane. The direct stress at any
point in the section is directly proportional
to its distance from the horizontal axis of
symmetry.
Boom Areas are:

or

or

Solution
.

or

Ans.

Solved examples :
Q.2. The fuselage section as shown in figure is subjected to a bending moment
of 100 kN m applied in the vertical plane of symmetry. If the section has
been completely idealized in to a combination of direct stress carrying
booms and shear stress only carrying panels, determine direct stress in
each boom.

Solution
As section has symmetry about y axis and resisting B.M. Mx = 100 kN m.
therefore,

The origin of axes Cxy coincides with the position of the centroid of the direct
stress carrying area, i.e, the centroid of the boom areas. Thus taking moments
of the area about the boom 9.

Which gives,
and Moment of inertia of boom is
So results can be tabulated as :

Solution
.

Solved examples :
Q.3. Idealize the box section as shown in Figure in to an arrangement of direct
stress carrying booms positioned at the four corners and panels which are
assumed to carry only shear stresses. Hence determine the position of shear
centre from the left hand-Web.

Solution

Idealized section is :

So boom areas are:-

So,

Solution
Shear flow distribution is:

Here,

Cut the section in the wall 12, Then

Since shear load is applied through the shear centre , the rate of twist is zero.
And
is given as

Solution
Hence,

Which gives,
The complete shear flow distribution is then

Solution

Position of shear centre: taking moments about the intersection of the

horizontal axis of symmetry and the left hand web,

Which gives,

Ans.

Wing spar and Box beams

Wing spar and Box beams

Tapered wing spar :Consider a wing spar positioned
in YZ plane and comprises two
Flanges and one web. At the section
z the beam is subjected to a positive
Moment Mx and a positive shear
Force Sy.

In which, in the direction of taper shown,y2 is negative. So axial load in flange 1 is :

.. ( 1)
substituting Py,1 in equation (1), we have
, Similarly

Tapered wing spar :

Internal shear force Sy comprises the resultant Sy,w of the web shear flows together
with the vertical components of P1 and P2. thus

Or,

Or,

As y2 is negative, the above equation may be assumed to calculate the shear flow
distribution in the web. For a completely idealized beam the web shear flow is
constant through the depth and is Sy,w / h.
For a beam in which web is fully effective in resisting direct stresses, the web shear
flow is given by:

Solved Example:
Q1. Determine the shear flow distribution in the web of the tapered beam as
shown, at a section midway along the length. The web of the beam has a
thickness of 2 mm and is fully effective in resisting the direct stress. The beam
tapers symmetrically about its central axis and the cross- sectional area of
each flange is 400 mm2.

Solution

Internal bending moment and shear load at the section A-A are:

Direct stress parallel to z axis is:

and
Hence,
and axial loads:
Shear load resisted by web is;

So from Fig,

Hence

Solution

Shear flow in the web is:

i.e,
So shear flow distribution is parabolic.
Shear flow distribution: ( N / mm)

Open and closed section beams

,

.. (1)

Where,

Eqn (1) can be directly applied to a tapered beam subjected to to forces positioned
in relation to the moment centre.

Solved Example:
Q.2. The cantilever

wing as shown in Figure, is uniformly tapered along its

length in both x and y directions and carries a load of 100 kN at its free end.
Calculate the forces in the booms and the shear flow distribution in the walls
at a section 2 m from the built in end if the booms resist all the direct
stresses while the walls are effective only in shear. Each corner boom has a
cross sectional area of 900 mm2 while both central booms have cross
sectional areas of 1200 mm2.

Solution

The internal force system at a section 2 m from built in end is:

Beam is doubly symmetric so Ixy = 0. so

So direct stress at the rth boom is :

Or

&

Solution
From column (6)

From column (10)

From column (11)

So shear loads:
Hence
Shear flow distribution in the walls of the beam;

.. ( A )

Solution
We now cut one of the walls, say 16 . The resulting open section shear flow is
given as:

Thus

&

Taking moments about center of symmetry, we have

Which gives,
Complete shear flow distribution can be found by adding qs,0 to qb shear flow
distribution.

Solution
Shear flow distribution of open section in N /mm ;

Total shear flow distribution in N / mm :

Solved Example:
Q3. A wing spar has the dimensions as shown in Figure, and carries a uniformly
distributed load of 15 kN/m along its complete length. Each flange has the
crosssectional area 500 mm2 with top flange being horizontal. If the flanges
are assumed to resist all direct loads while the spar web is effective only in
shear, determine the flange loads and the shear flows in web at the sections 1
and 2 m from the free end.

Solution
Bending moment at section 1 :
Thus
Also
As
Then
And
Shear force at section 1 is 15 kN and this is resisted by the shear force in web (
Py,L).
Hence shear flow

Solution
At section 2 :
Hence
Also
Then
and
The Shear force at the section 2 is 15* 2 = 30 kN. Hence shear force in the web
is 30 7.5 = 22.5 kN, which gives shear flow as;

FUSELAGES

Fuselages
Aircraft fuselage consists of thin sheets of material stiffened by
large numbers of longitudinal stringers together with transverse
frames.
Generally they carry bending moments, shear forces and torsion
loads which induces axial stresses in the stringers and skin
together with shear stresses in the skin.
Shear flow is constant between adjacent stringers ( distance is
very small).
The analysis of the fuselages thus involves the calculation of the
direct stresses in the stringers and the shear stress distributions in
the skin.

Fuselage bending example:

Q.1. The fuselage of a light passenger aircraft has the circular cross-section
shown in Fig(a). The cross-sectional area of each stringer is 100 mm2 and
the vertical distances given in Fig (a) are to the mid-line of the section wall at
the corresponding stringer position. If the fuselage is subjected to a bending
moment of 200 kN m applied in the vertical plane of symmetry, at this section.
Calculate the direct stress distribution.

Solution

The section is first idealized, as an approximation we shall assume that the

skin between the adjacent stringers is flat.

From symmetry, Boom areas :

i.e,

Solution
Similarly
Stringers 5 and 13 lie on the neutral axis of the section and therefore are
unstressed. and the calculation of boom areas for 5 and 13th stringers are
not required. Since centroid is on an axis of symmetry. So Ixy = 0. My= 0.
So direct stress is
Here

So direct stresses for complete fuselage is tabulated as:

.. ( 1)

Solution
Results are :

Fuselage Shear flow example:

Q.2. the fuselage of Example 1 is subjected to a vertical shear load of 100 kN
applied at a distance of 150 mm from the vertical axis of symmetry as shown,
for the idealized section as shown in Figure. Calculate the shear flow
distribution in the section.

Solution
As fuselage is symmetric, so Ixy = 0, and Sx=0, hence

Or,
i.e,

The first term of above equation is the open section shear flow
therefore cut one of the skin panels, say 12, and calculate
Results are presented in the table ( in next slide);

. We
.

The shear flow

in the panel 12 is now found by taking moments about
a convenient moment centre, say C.

Solution
.

Solution

Taking moments about the point C,

Where,
, and since
shear flows
are constant between the booms, the above equation may be written as;

In which A12, A23,, A161 are the areas subtended by the skin panels 12, 23,, 161
at the centre C and anticlockwise moments are taken positive.

So,

Or

Solution
Complete shear flow distribution can be get by adding qb and qs,0, as shown in figure:

Fuselage Torsion example:

Q.3. The fuselage of example 1 is subjected to a pure torque of 15 MN mm and a
shear load of 100 kN applied through the shear centre as shown in figure. Find
the shear flow distribution.

Solution

As shear centre coincides with the centre of symmetry and a shear force of
100 kN is applied through it . which produces pure torque.
A fuselage is basically a single cell closed section beam and hence

Then from symmetry, and using the results of the table of example 2.

The resultant of these shear flows will be statically equal to applied shear load.so

Which gives,

Solution
So
Shear force due to applied torque:

Acting in the anticlockwise sense completely around the section. This

value of the shear flow is now superimposed on the shear flows produced
by the shear load.

Complete shear flow distribution is shown in Figure ( next slide)

Solution

Tension field beam

( Wagners Beam )

Tension field beams (Wagners beam)

The spars of aircraft wings usually comprise an upper and a lower flange
connected by thin stiffened webs. These webs are often of such a thickness
that they buckle under shear stresses at a fraction of their ultimate load.
The form of the buckle is shown in Fig. (a),
where the web of the beam buckles under the action of internal diagonal
compressive stresses produced by shear, leaving a wrinkled web capable of
supporting diagonal tension only in a direction perpendicular to that of the
buckle; the beam is then said to be a complete tension field beam.

Incomplete diagonal tension field beams

In modern aircraft structures, beams having extremely thin webs are
rare.
They retain, after buckling, some of their ability to support loads so
that even near failure they are in a state of stress somewhere between
that of pure diagonal tension and the pre-buckling stress.
Such a beam is know as an incomplete diagonal tension field beam.

Shear lag :
Shear lag is caused when a framing member is connected to another member
by only a portion of its cross-section.
An example would be connecting steel stringer beams to girders. The top and
bottom flanges of the stringer are not connected to the girder. Shear lag occurs
because the forces cannot be transmitted directly into the entire cross-section of
the stringer. This means that the area of the member that is effective in resisting
the force is something less than the total area.
Shear lag could occur within an aircraft structure in cases where only portions of
the cross-section of a framing member are used in a connection.
Example : in spars web, diagonal strut in wing etc.

ANY QUERY ??