2011

Aerospace Structures-
an Introduction to
Fundamental Problems
Purdue University
This is an introduction to aerospace structures. At the end of one semester, we
will understand what we mean by the “structures job” and know the basic
principles and technologies that are at the heart of aerospace structures design
and analysis. This knowledge includes basic structural theories, how to choose
materials and how to make fundamental design trades, make weight estimates
and provide information for decisions involved in successful aerospace structural
design and development.

Dr. Terry A. Weisshaar, Professor Emeritus

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Purdue University
7/28/2011
Preface leaves of absence at M.I.T., the Air Force
For all of my 40 year plus career in aerospace Research Laboratory and at the Defense
engineering I have been fascinated by design Advanced Research Agency (DARPA). I also
and development of aerospace products and served as an advisor to the Air Force as part of
fortunate to have participated in the the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board as well
development of several of them. Design efforts, as serving on national panels.
whether they are in the development of small
components or large systems are at the heart of When I entered the working world (only briefly)
the remarkable progress in aviation that has as a young engineer at Lockheed Missiles and
occurred over the past 100 years. Space Company, the standard texts found on
engineer‟s desk were the classic book by Bruhn
To be a participant in this effort requires that one and the textbook by David Peery. However, in
be literate in several different areas and a master the mid-1960‟s a new analytical method called
of at least one or more areas. This set of notes the finite element method was talked about and
was created for the class AAE 352, Aerospace even used by some of us who had been fortunate
Structures, taught at Purdue University. to take classes at the Master‟s degree level. A
Purdue‟s undergraduate aerospace curriculum is friend of mine from the University of California,
different than most university curricula in that Berkeley and I were paid $11 a week more
there is a great deal of freedom organizing an because we had taken such courses. In the late
undergraduate plan of study. For instance, most 1960‟s the finite element method took the
university undergraduate plans of study would industry by storm and, as they say, “the rest is
require two one-semester classes in structures. history.” As a result, Chapter 4 provides an
Purdue requires only one, leaving more introduction to this classic method and does just
discretion in building a plan that may emphasize enough to introduce students to terminology and
aerodynamics or control theory. above all, statically indeterminate structures.

While the wisdom of doing this has been hotly Similar experiences interacting with other
debated, I believe that it is a wise academic engineers, both in the working world and the
choice. On the other hand to provide knowledge research world has convinced me that there is no
about structures, over and above that found in a substitute for a blackboard/whiteboard, good
standard Strength of Materials course, with a sketches of configurations and Free Body
one-semester structures course is challenging. Diagrams. There is also no substitute for basic
Creating this course is a design problem; each mechanics; you will find a review of mechanics
instructor will have a different set of prioritized integrated into the truss analysis review in
requirements. The results will differ depending Chapter 2.
on the background of the instructor.
External and internal load computations are
The basic question that has to be answered in the extraordinarily important. “Loads” is a broad
beginning is this: ” if I want my students to have area that could easily occupy an entire semester
a skill set, a vocabulary and a level of literacy or two. One loads subject often overlooked in
that will enable them to be competitive, the educational system is inertia loading. Inertia
productive product team members for aerospace loads have destroyed more than one vehicle.
employers, what must I absolutely include in This subject is considered in Chapter 3.
this class?” My answers are contained in this set
of notes. Knowledge of the problems and issues related to
materials and material processing is important.
My experience during the past four decades has An aerospace engineer must have knowledge of
biased my vision. I have taught this course or materials, their properties, how they are used,
similar courses at The University of Maryland, and how they are manufactured. Few aerospace
Virginia Tech and at Purdue over a span of 38 curricula include such courses. Chapter 5 is a
years. During this time I also spent time on summary of considerations and choices that

i
must be made when selecting aerospace majoring in structures is free to take any or all of
materials. Chapter 5 draws very heavily on the these classes. But for the student who does not
educational approach used by Michael Ashby feel a calling to the structures and structural
and his colleagues in Great Britain. At Purdue mechanics world, this class will enable them to
we use his CES Edupack computer aided design be conversant and aware of the problems we
software. face in developing new structures and sustaining
old structures. If this goal is reached then all of
Stress analysis is important. The most important the work that it takes to write up this set of notes
part of stress analysis is the development of (and wrestle with Microsoft Word) is worth it.
simplified models that can be used independent
of elaborate computer models. Beam analysis is
briefly reviewed in Chapter 6. Thin-wall beam Terry A. Weisshaar
approximations are excellent ways to describe
these models and are included in Chapter 7. West Lafayette, Indiana

Each of these seven chapters could be expanded August 2009

into an entire course. At Purdue we have
semester long classes in matrix methods,
materials, fatigue and fracture, composite Copyright T. A. Weisshaar, all rights reserved
materials and structural vibration. A student

ii
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 – AN OVERVIEW WITH A PLAN ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................1
1.2 WHAT IS AN “AEROSPACE STRUCTURE?” SOME ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF AIRCRAFT AND SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS. ..........................2
1.2.1 Spacecraft structures ...................................................................................................................................3
Spacecraft structures summary ............................................................................................................................6
1.2.2 Aircraft structures - Background .................................................................................................................7
The legacy – the first two decades of flight ........................................................................................................13
A quick trip to the present day and a look to the future .....................................................................................15
The past is prologue – new materials for the future ...........................................................................................19
1.3 THE STRUCTURES GROUP – WHAT DO THEY DO AND HOW DO THEY DO IT?........................................................................21
1.4 SUMMARY AND COURSE GOALS ...............................................................................................................................24
1.5 BIBLIOGRAPHY – CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................................24
1.6 - PROBLEMS TO CONSIDER ........................................................................................................................................26
CHAPTER 2 – A REVIEW OF STATICS AND MECHANICS OF SIMPLE STRUCTURES .................................................. 27
2.1 INTRODUCTION – MECHANICS, EQUILIBRIUM AND FREE BODY DIAGRAMS ........................................................................27
2.2 APPLIED, INTERNAL AND REACTIVE FORCES .................................................................................................................29
2.3 EQUIVALENT FORCES AND MOMENTS .........................................................................................................................30
2.4 DRAWING FREE BODY DIAGRAMS .............................................................................................................................31
2.5 TRUSS ANALYSIS REVIEW - THE METHOD OF JOINTS.......................................................................................................32
2.6 STATICALLY DETERMINATE AND INDETERMINATE STRUCTURES..........................................................................................33
2.7 THE METHOD OF SECTIONS ......................................................................................................................................34
2.8 A WORKED TRUSS ANALYSIS EXAMPLE ........................................................................................................................35
2.9 A SECOND EXAMPLE-BAR ELEMENTS CONNECTED TO A BEAM...........................................................................................36
2.10 DESIGN TERMINOLOGY AND WEIGHT CALCULATION .....................................................................................................38
2.11 ESTIMATING STRUCTURAL WEIGHT ..........................................................................................................................40
2.12 ENERGY STORED IN THE TRUSS STRUCTURE – STRAIN ENERGY AND DEFLECTION .................................................................43
2.13 SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................................................................44
2.14 – HISTORICAL NOTES .............................................................................................................................................44
2.15 – REFERENCES .....................................................................................................................................................45
2.16 HOMEWORK PROBLEMS FOR CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................46
CHAPTER 3 – INERTIA LOADS ............................................................................................................................... 49
3.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................49
3.2 CRITICAL LOADS......................................................................................................................................................49
3.3 D’ALEMBERT’S PRINCIPLE – INERTIA LOADS INSIDE THE VEHICLE ......................................................................................50
3.4 AN EXAMPLE – CARRIER LAUNCH ...............................................................................................................................51
3.5 LOAD FACTORS AND “G-LOADING” .............................................................................................................................52
3.6 SUMMARY – THE PROCEDURE FOR COMPUTING APPARENT WEIGHTS USING LOAD FACTORS ..................................................53
3.7 EXAMPLE – AIRCRAFT TOUCHDOWN ..........................................................................................................................54
3.8 CALCULATING INTERNAL REACTION FORCES AND MOMENTS ............................................................................................55
3.9 ADDING IN THE ANGULAR ACCELERATION “FORCES” ......................................................................................................56
3.10 A SECOND EXAMPLE - MISSILE JOINT BENDING MOMENTS IN A MISSILE WITH ROTATIONAL ACCELERATION ..............................59
3.11 EXAMPLE – ANOTHER IDEALIZED MISSILE IN FLIGHT .....................................................................................................60
3.12 DISTRIBUTED INERTIA FORCES–A TOPPLING SMOKESTACK .............................................................................................62
3.13 SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................................................................65
3.14 CHAPTER 3 - HOMEWORK PROBLEMS ......................................................................................................................66
CHAPTER 4 - MATRIX METHODS .......................................................................................................................... 70
4.1 REVIEW - STATICALLY INDETERMINATE STRUCTURES ......................................................................................................70

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 4.2 THERMAL LOADS....................................................................................................................................................71
4.3 INDETERMINATE STRUCTURES-A SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................72
4.4 FINITE ELEMENT METHODS.......................................................................................................................................73
4.5 MATRIX METHODS AND THE FINITE ELEMENT MODEL METHOD ........................................................................................73
Deriving the element stiffness matrix .................................................................................................................74
4.6 ASSEMBLY OF MATRIX EQUATIONS.............................................................................................................................77
4.7 BOUNDARY AND SUPPORT CONDITIONS ......................................................................................................................78
4.8 ASSEMBLING TRUSSES .............................................................................................................................................79
4.9 MATRIX OPERATIONS AND MAGIC TRICKS ....................................................................................................................82
4.10 THERMAL LOADS RE-VISITED ...................................................................................................................................83
4.11 TRICKS OF THE TRADE-MATRIX PARTITIONING ............................................................................................................89
4.12 MATRIX METHODS IN GENERAL ...............................................................................................................................92
4.13 CHAPTER 4 - HOMEWORK PROBLEMS .....................................................................................................................94
CHAPTER 5 -–MATERIALS AND PROCESSES .......................................................................................................... 98
5.1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................................98
5.2 MATERIALS FAMILIES AND CLASSIFICATION ................................................................................................................102
5.3 MATERIAL PROPERTIES..........................................................................................................................................104
5.4 MATERIALS METRICS AND BUBBLE CHARTS ...............................................................................................................105
5.5 MATERIALS INDICES FOR STIFFNESS DESIGN ...............................................................................................................106
5.6 SHAPE SELECTION AND OPTIMIZATION ......................................................................................................................107
5.7 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS AND STRAIN .......................................................................................................109
5.8 FATIGUE.............................................................................................................................................................113
5.9 SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN AEROSPACE STRUCTURES ..........................................................................................................116
5.10 HOMEWORK – CHAPTER 5 ..................................................................................................................................116
CHAPTER 6 - A REVIEW OF BEAMOLOGY-BENDING AND SHEAR STRESSES IN CLASSICAL BEAMS ....................... 120
6.1 INTRODUCTION – THE FLEXURE FORMULA ..........................................................................................................120
6.6.1 – Moment of inertia example...................................................................................................................122
6.1.2 – Moment of inertia computation – Example 2 .......................................................................................123
6.2 BEAM SHEAR STRESS ............................................................................................................................................126
6.3 – SUMMARY - A FORMULA FOR SIMPLE SECTIONS ........................................................................................................130
6.3 PROBLEMS .........................................................................................................................................................132
6.4 REVIEW: AREA MOMENTS OF INERTIA AND THE PARALLEL AXIS THEOREM.........................................................................134
6.4.1 Example 6-1-moments of inertia .............................................................................................................135
6.4.2 Example 6-2, calculation of 2nd area moments by subsection analysis .................................................137
6.4.3 Example 6-3 ...........................................................................................................................................138
6.4.4 PROBLEMS ..............................................................................................................................................139
CHAPTER 7 REINFORCED, THIN-WALLED WING & FUSELAGE STRUCTURE IDEALIZATIONS ................................. 140
7.1 - INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................140
7.1.1 Semi-monocoque aircraft structural design ............................................................................................140
7.1.2 Wings, tails and other aerodynamic surfaces: .....................................................................................142
7.1.3 Fuselage ...............................................................................................................................................142
7.1.4 Skins .....................................................................................................................................................143
7.1.5 Spar webs .............................................................................................................................................143
7.1.6 Longitudinal elements-stringers/stiffeners/longerons ........................................................................143
7.1.7 Spar caps ..............................................................................................................................................143
7.1.8 Transverse members (ribs, frames, bulkheads) ...................................................................................143
7.2 THE SKIN-STRINGER IDEALIZATION - FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS ................................................................................144
7.3 THE ONE-HALF AND ONE-SIXTH RULES FOR SKIN-STRINGER IDEALIZATION ........................................................................145
7.4 EXAMPLE 7-1 .....................................................................................................................................................147
7.5 EXAMPLE 7-2 .....................................................................................................................................................148

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 7.6 HOMEWORK PROBLEMS .......................................................................................................................................151
7.7 SHEAR FLOWS IN THIN WEBS ................................................................................................................................152
7.7.1 –Homework problems ..............................................................................................................................158
7.8 COMPUTATION OF THE SHEAR CENTER FOR THIN-WALL OPEN SECTION BEAMS...............................................................159
7.9 THIN-WALL CLOSED BOX BEAM ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................161
7.10 THIN-WALL BEAM DEFLECTION AND TWIST ...............................................................................................................163
7.11 – THE SHEAR CENTER...........................................................................................................................................166
7.12 ESTIMATING THE EI AND GJ FOR A WING .................................................................................................................168
7.13 HOMEWORK PROBLEMS .......................................................................................................................................168
CHAPTER 8 – STABILITY – UNDER CONSTRUCTION ............................................................................................. 172
APPENDIX – WORKED HOMEWORK PROBLEMS ................................................................................................. 180
Chapter 2 - Trusses ............................................................................................................................................180
Chapter 3 – Inertia forces and load factors .......................................................................................................181
Chapter 4 – Matrix methods .............................................................................................................................186
Chapter 5 -Materials .........................................................................................................................................210
Chapter 6 –Beam Bending Review ....................................................................................................................220
Chapter 7 – Thin-wall shear flow ......................................................................................................................223
More Chapter 2 solutions ..................................................................................................................................244

v
 Introduction

Chapter 1 – An overview with a plan

1.1 Introduction are while the second is focused more closely on
This is an introduction to aerospace structures. what they do. Structural engineers are the part
Where do we begin and where do we end? First of the aerospace engineering design team who
of all, you and I will agree that we can‟t learn provide the enclosure, the framework and other
everything in only one semester. But, at the means of supporting and transporting cargo,
very least, after one semester, we should passengers and other payloads.
understand what we mean by the “structures
job” and know something of the basic principles To understand the “structures job” within a
and technologies that are at the heart of design team and to describe the topics for this
aerospace structures. This knowledge includes course we first need to describe the “end
basic structural theory, knowledge of materials products” and to identify the tasks required to
and how to apply this information to make produce aerospace structures. The primary end
fundamental design trades, provide weight product is a collection of assembled
estimates and other information required for components, large and small, such as the aircraft
shown in Figure 1-1. These
components are constructed using a
wide variety of materials, created
using a wide variety of manufacturing
processes and assembled or joined
with fasteners, adhesives welding or
other forms of attachment. Enclosed
within and attached to the structure
are power and control sub-systems.

The structural design and

development process begins with a
simple question: “what must the
structure do?” This question leads to
Figure 1-1 – The F-14A structural arrangement with embedded the development of design
systems - the end product of structural design activities requirements that include loads
definition, how the structure will be
shaped, a description of the
fundamental engineering decisions involved in environment in which the structure will operate,
structural design. descriptions of the interfaces between equipment
and the structure and details such as placement
Engineering has been defined by many different of access doors for maintenance and repair.
people and organizations. The 1828 Charter for
the British Institution of Civil Engineers Aerospace vehicles are complicated systems.
contains the phrase “the art of directing the The Boeing 767 has 3.1 million interconnected
great sources of power in nature for the use and parts with 85 miles of wiring; these parts are
convenience of man, as the means of production supplied to Boeing by 1300 vendors.1 Structural
and of traffic in states.” components: 1) resist the mechanical and

The U.S. Department of Labor defines 1

J. Simpson, L. Field, D.A. Garvin, “The Boeing
Aerospace Engineers as those who “design, 767: From Concept to Production,” Harvard Business
develop, and test aircraft, spacecraft, and School Case Studies, Harvard Business School
missiles and supervise the manufacture of these Publishing, 1988.
products.” The first definition is what engineers

Chapter 1 Page 1
environmental loads to support the performance surfaces that may be difficult to design if the
and mission of the aerospace vehicle of which travel is extreme.
they are part; 2) are reliable during all mission
phases; and, 3) can be maintained and repaired. In addition, since aircraft cost is a function of
We also add that aerospace structural weight and complexity, airplane cost almost
components should be as light-weight as always goes up when weight increases. Not
possible and cost effective to construct, only is the total weight important, but the weight
assemble and maintain. Aerospace structural distribution is important since it controls sizing
product development requires analysis and test, for control surfaces as the result of its effects on
together with in-service monitoring. c.g. positions and range.

Let‟s consider what aerospace structures do and All structures, from bicycles to buildings, are in
how they perform their missions. some way cost effective, but nowhere else is
such a premium placed upon weight as it is in
1.2 What is an “aerospace structure?” Some aerospace design. Aerospace structures
essential features of aircraft and spacecraft development not only emphasizes design of light
systems. weight components, but it has to consider a wide
If someone were to ask you “what makes variety of special loads, such as inertia and
aerospace structures different from other vibratory loading during launch, take-off or in-
structures?” or “what is unique about an flight maneuvering. If you drop your computer
aerospace structure?” what would your answers it is ruined. If you drop an airplane on to the
be? runway it taxis to the terminal.

Aerospace structural design must produce a Aerospace structures operate in extreme

minimal (but not necessarily minimum) weight, environments including a wide range of
airworthy (or “space-worthy”) structure that is temperatures encountered during flight
part of a reliable, cost-effective and, above all, operation. We are challenged to identify
safe system under a variety of operating suitable construction materials, far different than
conditions. Many of these operational those used for bridges or commercial habitats.
conditions are harsh.
Aircraft and spacecraft structures require
The airplane was the first major technology with structural elements such as pressure vessels,
weight as an overriding concern. At every stage struts, special fittings and mechanisms such as
of aerospace design, someone has to assume the landing gear and deployable panels. Joining and
responsibility for predicting accurately what the fastening these elements represents another
airplane will weigh if it became real hardware challenge.
and were placed on the scales. The key word
here is “accurately” and that is a difficulty since The fundamental aeronautical structural design
accuracy requires extensive data that simply optimization problem is to identify materials,
does not exist at the beginning of the design shapes and dimensions to construct a structure
process when the airplane configuration is just a with reduced weight, not to increase strength.
sketch on a piece of paper and the mission Strength is determined by identifying the most
details are sparse. critical loads the vehicle is likely to experience.
Once fixed, the value of strength must be
There is no performance index for an airplane maintained if a safe structure is to result.
that is not degraded by increased weight or Structural weight depends on only two factors:
improved by decreased weight. Weight the material of construction and the way in
variations can be extreme on long-range aircraft which the material is disposed to achieve
because of fuel use. Military airplanes drop strength. Consequently, airframe design entails
bombs and shoot rockets during their mission. material selection and the disposition of material
Center of gravity travel creates needs for control that results in the structure of least weight.

Chapter 1 Page 2
 Introduction

Our most common aircraft construction material Each of these component elements are building
is aluminum. This is hardly an exotic material blocks that have evolved over time to create the
since we use far more aluminum in soft-drink wonderful lightweight efficient structures we
cans each year that we do in airplanes. have today. Some of these elements trace their
However, I have never seen titanium, beryllium origin to antiquity, others have been used by
or magnesium in a beer can, but they are there in nature for millions of years. Still others are of
aircraft and spacecraft. recent origin, a response by innovative designers
to the demands of flight in the atmosphere and
We also see more “multi-functional” structures Space.
in aerospace design. The skin that covers
airplane wings furnishes wing strength and 1.2.1 Spacecraft structures
stiffness but also forms the aerodynamic shape The Space Age began October 4, 1957 with the
required to generate lift forces. This dual launch of Sputnik I. This satellite operated until
functionality is not seen in brick buildings, but it January 3, 1958. It consisted of an aluminum
is present in automobile construction which uses sphere with a 58 centimeter diameter, two radio
unitized body construction to shape low drag transmitters, four antenna and total weight of
cars. Combining structural design with shaped 83.6 kg. Contrast this with the Chandra system,
components is an essential task for an aerospace launched in 1999.
structural sub-system designer.
Today, space systems come in all sizes and
Structural failure can be catastrophic, shapes; they operate in orbits near the Earth, in
spectacular and costly, whether it is a building geosynchronous orbit and around other planets
collapse or an airplane crash. What makes the in our solar system. Some systems probe the
reliability and safety of aerospace products more outer reaches of the solar system itself. Some
challenging is the variety of operational loading large systems, like the International Space
conditions. The loads on a skyscraper, even if Station, are products of multiple launches.
we throw in resisting loads from high winds and
earthquakes, are nowhere near those experienced
by a spacecraft whose journey to space is
marked by extreme vibrational and acoustic
loading and then followed by environmental
conditions due to radiation and extreme cold.

We are willing to pay more for aerospace

structures because, although the structure may
cost more, it is merely a component of a larger
system. It is the system cost that we are most
concerned with and we will pay more in one
area, like structures, to save in another, like
propulsion and fuel.

This section reviews some of the special features

of aerospace structures and discusses some of The Space Age begins - Sputnik I, October 1957.
the rich history of structural development. The
discussion points out some features of the Spacecraft have demanding operational
operational environments for these systems that characteristics. These include: long autonomous
challenge the structural designer. In this review life; design life approaching 15 years or better;
you will also see the different types of structural minimal repair/maintenance opportunities; and,
elements that a designer routinely uses to create the requirement for graceful degradation. The
aerospace structures. harsh space environment includes: operation in a

Chapter 1 Page 3
vacuum; radiation, solar UV, and atomic used to impart energy to cause movement of a
oxygen; temperature extremes and thermal device or subsystem for deployment as well as
cycles. It also includes unique and diverse providing continuous motion and positioning.
loading such as: pre-launch handling, Mechanisms also provide means to lock a device
transportation, test, and deployment; launch with or subsystem.
axial and lateral accelerations, acoustic, staging
separation, shock, and vibration; and, on-orbit The main or “primary” bus structure transmits
vibration, thermal management and loads to and from the base of the satellite during
maneuvering. launch through structural attachments and
components such as tubes, honeycomb plates
and panels and trusses.

The satellite structure is the skeleton that

provides support and alignment for other sub-
systems. The structure forms the majority of the
component commonly referred to as the “bus.”
The bus structure defines and maintains vehicle
shape and the position of subsystems. It covers
and protects sensitive components. It transfers
loads.

A modern satellite - Chandra X-Ray Observatory

launched in July 1999

Spacecraft design, now half a century old, has

evolved so that basic light-weight, functional
structural elements are parts of systems that are
packaged for delivery to Space on expensive
launch systems and are often required to unfold
or expand to an operational configuration.

Fairing volumes-satellites face severe packaging

restrictions on their way to orbit

The satellite bus provides the interface with

some subsystems such as thermal control
subsystems, optical components, electronic
equipments including batteries and power
systems and must provide attachment points for
these subsystems. Loads must be passed through
these attachment points during the mission.
Failure of the primary structure during the
International Space Station – 2007 mission will lead to mission failure.
Stringent packaging requirements during launch Both spacecraft and airplanes are subjected to
to orbit may result in hinged or folded structural acceleration that creates large stresses. These
arrangements for solar cells or communication loads are commonly called “inertia loads” or “g-
arrays that deploy on station. Mechanisms are forces.” The spacecraft bus structure encounters

Chapter 1 Page 4
 Introduction

inertia loads during environmental testing,

launch, perigee and apogee firings, and
deployment of booms, solar arrays, and
antennas. Inertia loads and the concept of load
factors are considered in Chapter 3.

Among the important loads for the launch

vehicle and the satellite payload are the fore-
and-aft longitudinal accelerations during launch.
The Ariane 5 accelerations are typical of these
so-called inertia loads. These accelerations must
be converted into structural loads to ensure that
the structural stresses are not excessive. Mariner 6 - The Mariner Spacecraft series of
planetary probes incorporated a hexagonal or
Tests must be planned and conducted to qualify octagonal aluminum or magnesium bus with bays
the design of the spacecraft structure and to and attachments for electronics. Lightweight
accept the flight hardware. The qualification aluminum is used because it is easy to machine and
tests are used to prove that the structure can to fasten. Magnesium is lightweight but susceptible
withstand the qualification or design limit loads. to corrosion. Mariner 6 used an octagonal
The applied loads are often a factor greater than magnesium frame structure. Mariner 6 was
the expected flight limit loads. The acceptance launched in 1969 and flew by Mars to study the
tests are carried out to discover production surface and atmosphere.
defects due to workmanship that were not
discovered during the inspections. Once in space a satellite must have what is
called “dimensional stability.” This means that
expansion and contraction due to temperature
extremes in orbit or the vibration from onboard
equipment must not distort or disturb the
structure so that instrument operation, optical
sensing for example, is affected.

Materials selection is a crucial step in the

spacecraft or satellite design process. In Chapter
5 we will discuss this process in more detail and
introduce the concept of a materials index.
Materials indices can be something simple as
material strength-to-weight expressed as yield
stress divided by weight density. In addition,
other properties must be considered; these
Ariane 5 launch vehicle longitudinal accelerations include material stiffness (Young‟s modulus),
during launch can be as much as 4g’s corrosion, fracture toughness, fatigue, thermal
expansion characteristics, electrical and
Space systems take-off but seldom land (the magnetic properties, ease of manufacture,
Space Shuttle is an exception). The launch availability and cost.
environment, with its high levels of vibration,
noise and acceleration for the first few seconds Spacecraft operational conditions may exclude
or minutes during launch tends to drive the some materials. For instance, the presence of
spacecraft structural system design, its Earth‟s magnetic field requires Earth orbiting
component materials and its shape topology. spacecraft to use a non-magnetic material for
The structural loads during its long life cruising most of its structure. Chapter 5 introduces the
through Space are less consequential.

Chapter 1 Page 5
“bubble chart” to help the material selection Titanium replaces aluminum in higher-
process. temperature environments; it has the ability to
remain strong and stiff at temperatures up to
1,200º F. Unfortunately, titanium becomes
brittle at low temperatures and does not have
good fatigue properties. It is also more difficult
to weld.

The Voyager Spacecraft are Mariner class designs

launched to Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn
in 1977. In those days the United States had
leadership with a combination of vision and will
seldom seen today.

Aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and beryllium Galileo Spacecraft, launched to Jupiter from a
are the elements that make up the major Space Shuttle in October 1989. This spacecraft had
lightweight alloys used in space vehicles. They a probe that separated from the main craft and
are all much lighter than steel and are penetrated the Jovian atmosphere.
nonmagnetic. Aluminum alloys are the most
widely used structural materials. Spacecraft structures summary
From this brief introduction we can conclude
that there are several special features of
spacecraft structures. First of all, there are few
requirements for the structural form of the
spacecraft structure. Its efficiency is determined
by the ease of attaching other elements of the
bus to it. On the other hand, there is a need to
design folding or latched structures that deploy
on station. This structure/mechanism design can
be challenging.

From the designs illustrated we see that satellites

Truss structure for attaching a rocket engine to and launch vehicles have a variety of structural
the launch vehicle. elements. These include tension and
compression members (trusses); ring frames;
Magnesium is lighter than aluminum, but not as rectangular and circular plates and panels;
strong. It is useful for lower-strength, cylindrical and conical thin-walled shells with
lightweight applications at temperatures up to rings and stiffeners; sandwich and composite
400º Fahrenheit (F). Corrosion in the presence structures; pressure vessels and fuel tanks. All
of moisture is a problem with magnesium and its of these elements require analysis to ensure that
alloys; coatings and finishes are required for they are lightweight and flight worthy.
protection.
Spacecraft structures feature large numbers of
appendages such as antennas and other booms

Chapter 1 Page 6
 Introduction

required by the payload and by the Early airplane builders saw structural design and
communication systems. This leads to a large construction as a minor problem, easily solved
number of beam-like or shell-like deployable using commonly available materials and trial-
structures. Deployable structures experience and-error procedures. Of the conventional
high shock loads; for example during latch-up of materials available for construction of bridges
hinges in their final positions. In addition, and other stationary structures, only steel and a
lightweight structures with relatively large few varieties of wood were considered suitable
surface areas (such as solar panels and for flight structures. Familiarity with
spacecraft antennas) are sensitive to acoustic woodworking and wood construction made
loads at launch. Thermal deformation and wood the natural choice of aviation pioneers.
stresses due to temperature gradients in the Wood was readily available, inexpensive,
structure must be calculated to check alignment required few specialized tools and could be
requirements. easily worked by those with limited construction
skills.
An important output of the structural design and
bus integration is sub-system mass. The bus or Early aviation construction could be called the
“platform” mass is the total, on-orbit dry mass era of wood and piano wire since joining
(mass without propellant) of the spacecraft sub- wooden trusses and other components together
systems, structure, thermal control, power, to form a truss-like structural framework was the
attitude control, telecommunications and data easiest solution to early aircraft structural
sub-systems. problems. After all, if this type of construction
worked for bridges, why not airplanes?
1.2.2 Aircraft structures - Background
Aircraft design is driven by the goal to transport Octave Chanute (1832-1910) is the father of
cargo and passengers quickly from point to airplane structures. Chanute was a successful
point. Since aircraft are highly integrated civil engineer who, after his retirement from a
systems, developments in propulsion, successful career as a railway engineer, became
aerodynamics and structures feed on each other interested in flight. An additional item of
to produce aircraft that operate from relatively interest for Indiana residents is the fact that his
low speeds to hypersonic speeds. glider experiments were conducted at the
Indiana Dunes in Gary, Indiana.
This section reviews some of the historical
developments in aircraft structural design. Its
purpose is to acquaint you with the rich history
of aeronautical vehicles. This section will set
the stage for the material in the chapters to
follow.

During the early years, aircraft structural design

relied more on intuition and empirical rules than
theoretical principles or analysis. As time
passed, aviation moved beyond the isolated,
individual inventor and attracted the attention of Flown at the Indiana Dunes in 1896, the Chanute-
engineers. The fields of elasticity, strength of Herring biplane glider with Pratt truss construction
materials, and structural mechanics were set the stage for the Wright Brothers. The strut-
harnessed to tackle flight structures problems. wire-braced wing structure was the concept used by
The information and knowledge derived from the Wright brothers to construct their gliders and
structural theory enabled impressive their first airplane.
improvements in airplane performance and
eventually established the subject of airframe Chanute used his knowledge of structural
structures as an engineering specialty. engineering – he had designed and built award

Chapter 1 Page 7
winning truss railway bridges – to create the first the Wrights built a wind tunnel to create their
biplane surfaces. This type of aerodynamic and own data set.
structural design was adopted quickly by the
Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers were relatively secretive
about their efforts because they feared ridicule.
Chanute‟s glider experiments were not without Typical of this ridicule was a comment on an
controversy. On September 11, 1896, an unsuccessful Langley effort, published in a New
unnamed Chicago newspaper wrote: “Flying- York Times editorial published on October 9,
machines are being tested in Indiana, it being an 1903, only a few months before the Wright‟s
axiom among confidence men that a scheme that first flight.
will go anywhere will go in Indiana.” On the
other hand, the Chicago Times Herald wrote on The source of the Times‟ wrath was the
September 12, 1897: “Those who have by unsuccessful flight of Langley‟s airplane, an
casual reading formed the opinion that a few airplane project with substantial U.S.
cranks had hidden themselves among the sand Government backing. When Langley‟s airplane
hills at the foot of Lake Michigan for fear failed at take-off from a houseboat on the
somebody might steal the pattern of their airship Potomac River near Washington, the
have made a wide mistake...” condemnation from members of Congress and
the New York Times was loud and furious.
Truss construction, fabricated from simple “two-
force” members that could be easily replaced
when damaged, creates a stiff, lightweight
structure. Reliable methods for analysis and
design of beams and trusses had been available
for decades.2 Truss structures were ideal for bi-
plane and tri-plane aerodynamic designs.

Covering the truss-work with canvas or linen

created an aerodynamic surface that flew
relatively well, given the low speeds possible
with low power engines. Bi-plane design
created high drag, but at low speeds, no one
cared.

The Wright Brothers were the first true Don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers
aeronautical engineers. They began their quest or see on the Internet. There is a big difference
for flight by mailing a letter to another aviation between people who know how to do things and
pioneer, Dr. Samuel Langley, on Memorial Day, people who don’t.
1899. Their first flight, only a little over three
and one-half years later in 1903, launched the Congressman James Robinson (from Indiana) is
age of aviation. quoted on January 24, 1904 (a month after the
first flight) “Here is $100,000 of the people’s
The Wright Brothers built on the success of money wasted on this scientific aerial navigation
others such as Chanute. Using other people‟s experiment because some man, perchance a
data was not without its own difficulties. Some professor wandering in his dreams was able to
of Chanute‟s aerodynamic data was incorrect so impress the [military] officers that his aerial
scheme had some utility.”3 (Robinson (1861-

2 3
S.P. Timoshenko, History of Strength of Materials, Roger D. Launius, “Innovation and the
McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1953. Development of Flight,” 1999.

Chapter 1 Page 8
 Introduction

1942) was from Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He was an The Wright‟s structural engineering tasks
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1904, included flight safety. Two entries in Wilbur
but probably not because of his failure to Wright‟s diary are typical: "I am constructing
embrace aeronautics.) my machine to sustain about five times my
weight and am testing every piece." (1900) and
“We also hung it by the tips and ran the engine
screws with the man also on board. The strength
of the machine seems 'OK'." (December 2,
1903)

The Wright Brothers understood structures so

well that they arranged the fabric cover for their
wings so that the weave was oriented plus or
“Our invention relates to that class of flying-
machines in which the weight is sustained by the minus 45 degrees with respect to the spars. This
reactions resulting when one or more aeroplanes had the effect of resisting in-plane shear forces.
are moved through the air edgewise at a small angle Their patent stated “These spars, bows, and ribs
of incidence, either by the application of are preferably constructed of wood having the
mechanical power or by the utilization of the force necessary strength, combined with lightness and
of gravity.” Wright Brothers Patent Application, flexibility. Upon this framework the cloth which
March 1903. forms the supporting surface of the aeroplane is
secured, the frame being enclosed in the cloth.
The Wright Brothers were more appreciative of The cloth for each aeroplane previous to its
Langley‟s efforts. In November 1906, Wilbur attachment to its frame is cut on the bias and
Wright wrote to Octave Chanute: “The made up into a single piece approximately the
knowledge that the head of the most prestigious size and shape of the aeroplane, having the
scientific institution (The Smithsonian threads of the fabric arranged diagonally to the
Institution) of America believed in the possibility transverse spars and longitudinal ribs .... Thus
of human flight was one of the influences that the diagonal threads of the cloth form truss
led us to undertake the preliminary investigation systems with the spars and ribs, the threads
that preceded our active work.”4 constituting the diagonal members.”

While Chanute and the Wright Brothers had

solid scientific reasons for their biplane
aerodynamic and structural designs, most
aviation experimenters neglected theory in favor
of intuition. In a brief description of early
design procedures in 1916, Arthur W. Judge
wrote: "In the earlier type of aeroplane body it
was the usual practice to obtain the sizes of the
1903 Flyer airframe weighed 405 lb. – the engine different members by trial and error methods, or
weighed about 200 lb. complete with radiator, water, to make chance shots at the dimensions, and to
fuel and accessories. Take-off weight was about 745 trust to luck whether the resulting body has any
lb. margin of safety or not."5

5
A. W. Judge, The Design of Aeroplanes, Isaac
4
Richard Hallion, Taking Flight: inventing the Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1917, p. 156. This 242
aerial age from antiquity through the First World page textbook by Judge is one of the early
War, Oxford University Press, 2003, page 156. textbooks on airplane design.

Chapter 1 Page 9
Because of this haphazard approach to design, and the landing gear below. Bleriot‟s designs
early aircraft had a high incidence of accidents added an additional post, half-way along the
caused by structural failures. As early as 1911 wing span. This gave his designs increased
structural failure was identified as the principal strength and permitted of a greater wing span
cause of flight accidents. and thus reduced drag.

A note on aircraft fatalities and their causes

appeared in the July 1911 issue of The
Aeronautical Journal; it listed fatalities for the
first six months of 1911. The preface to this note
begins: "At the moment of writing thirty fatal
accidents have occurred this year, causing death
to thirty pilots and four passengers. In every
case, except one where reliable news is
available, the accident has been due to one of
three causes, inexperience, recklessness or
faulty construction of the machine." Louis Bleriot’s crossing the English Channel from
France in 1909 forced the British establishment to
consider their vulnerability to attack.
The note continued: "Faulty construction is the
most fertile source of accidents, and always will
On July 25, 1909 Bleriot flew his Bleriot XI
be until constructors put first-class engineering
across the English Channel from France at a
knowledge into their work. An airplane… must
speed of about 60 mph. After the 35 minute
be the best work designed by competent
flight it was apparent that the British Navy no
engineers to ample factors of safety."6
longer provided the military security it had for
hundreds of years.
Another early aircraft structural designer
commented: “The question of loading
Other inventions followed. In 1908, Henri
conditions for airplanes always has been a very
Farman used small devices he called ailerons
contentious subject. For, aside from the
(little wings) to provide lateral control. Ailerons
airplane, there is no other vehicle of
replaced a type of control called wing warping
transportation in which the net weight is so
in which the pilot could deform the wings
decisive for its economy, in which it is so
asymmetrically to provide roll control.
absolutely essential that the weight of its
structural components be reduced to the lowest
permissible minimum, and there also is no other
mode of transport in insufficient strength has
such disastrous consequences.”7

About 1907 monoplane designs began to appear.

The prime advocate for this type of design was
Farman III showing ailerons
Louis Bleriot. These new monoplane designs Henri Farman equipped his airplane, the Farman
had external wire supports attached to the wing III (shown in 1.11), with four flap-like ailerons
and ending in a central post above the fuselage fitted at the outboard trailing edges of both the
upper and lower wings. Farman was the first to
6
make ailerons an integral part of the wing.
Anonymous, “On Aircraft Fatalities and Their
Causes,” The Aeronautical Journal, 1911, p. 125
7 Wing warping had been invented by the Wright
H.G. Kussner and K. Thalau, “Development of
Rules Governing the Strength of Airplanes-Part I-
Brothers, but higher speeds created problems for
German Loading Conditions up to 1926,” NACA TM torsionally flexible airplanes so ailerons allowed
716, July 1933. airplanes to go even faster. This provided a
continuing challenge for structural engineers.

Chapter 1 Page 10
 Introduction

Loftin8 notes “Aircraft design during World The wood layers were glued together with their
War I was more inventive, intuitive and daring grains running in different directions to
than anything else… The principles of strengthen the skin. Ruchonnet called the new
aerodynamics that form so important a part of technique monocoque construction, or single-
aircraft design today were relatively little shell construction.
understood by aircraft designers during the
War… In the area of engineering in which
structural strength, lightweight and
aerodynamic efficiency are so important, it is
indeed surprising that a number of relatively
good aircraft were produced.”

Anderson9 notes that “…research in aeronautics

could no longer be left to misguided dreamers
and madmen; once aeronautical work became
respectable , that opened the floodgates to a
whole new world of research problems, to which
twentieth century academicians flocked.”

Ruchonnet’s monocoque and semi-monocoque

shell structures introduced yet another
structural element into structural analysis and
design.

Early airplane structures used trusses and frames Bechereau used the monocoque fuselage,
to resist bending and shear forces. This was together with a monoplane design the
particularly effective in creating lightweight Deperdussin streamlined, externally braced,
fuselage structures. mid-wing monoplane. This airplane won the
Gordon Bennett Cup in 1913 with a speed of
In the beginning aircraft structures were little 125 mile per hour – only a decade after the
more than cloth covered trusses and frames. Wright‟s first flight!
However, in 1911, Louis Bechereau built on an
idea from Eugene Ruchonnet, a Swiss enginner
who had worked at as a shop foreman for the
Antoinette Airplane Company in France. Rather
than simply mounting fabric on to a truss,
Ruchonnet‟s idea was to use the airplane‟s skin
carry the structural load and eliminate the heavy
truss. He formed the fuselage out of multiple
layers of wood to create a streamlined shape.
Deperdussin Racer design with monocoque shell
structure fuselage, 1912. Compare this design to
8
L.K. Loftin, Quest for Performance: The the Wright Brothers airplane only nine years
Evolution of Modern Aircraft, NASA SP-468, earlier.
Washington, D.C., 1985, pp. 8-9. Later, when airplane size grew the monocoque
9
J. D. Anderson, A History of Aerodynamics, design was not suitable because it buckled under
Cambridge University Press, 1997. high loading. A variation of the concept, a

Chapter 1 Page 11
reinforced or semi-monocoque structure was streamlined flying wing, and then developed an
created to create a light-weight durable structure. internally braced cantilever monoplane design.
This type structure is still used today, both for Junkers‟ monoplane used combinations of steel
fuselage design and wing design. beams interconnected by load-bearing skin to
create a semi-monocoque wing structure.
A box spar was created by constructing the main
supporting member of the wing as a long,
narrow box beam that provided the strength and
also torsional stiffness. While cantilevered
wings first covered with fabric in the same way
as biplane wing structures, they began to use
skins made of thin wooden veneers. These
wooden-skinned wings became known as
stressed-skin wings because the veneers added
strength while they shaped the wing surface Interior of the Zeppelin Rigid Airship, the
itself. Bodensee, showing how ring frames and
longitudinal girders form hull framework
Three men contributed to the development of
revolutionary aircraft structures and airplanes Junkers primary interest was in using metal
with these structures before and after World War rather than wood for construction of low-drag
I. All three were German. monoplanes with high durability. Steel
structures were too heavy so he used aluminum
The first two pioneers, Claude Dornier and alloys developed for Zeppelin airships. His first
Adolf Rohrbach, began their careers as structural all-metal, aluminum, cantilever wing airplane
engineers for the Graf Zeppelin Company. Both was the Junkers J.1.
had extensive experience designing the internal
metal framework for the large airships
developed before World War I. Rohrbach‟s
academic training was in shipbuilding. Both
eventually went on to found their own aircraft
companies.

German Junkers J.1 'Blechesel' (Tin Donkey) metal

wing monoplane-cantilevered low wing with
corrugated duralumin skin.

Cantilever wings with no external supports such

as drag creating struts or wires were a large leap
Graf Zeppelin-these rigid airships were the first air forward.
transport vehicles. Operations with passengers were
surprisingly safe, but not very profitable. The first all-metal airliner, the German Junkers
F-13, first flew June 25, 1919. Over three
The third aircraft structures pioneer, Hugo hundred F-13 airplanes were produced between
Junkers, began his career as Professor of 1919 and 1929. The F-13 used a corrugated
Mechanics at Aachen Technische Hochschule. aluminum skin to create a semi-monocoque
He recognized that streamlining airplane shapes structure. F-13s were in service with more than
was the key to increasing speeds with limited 60 airlines between 1919 and 1935.
engine power. Junkers first patented a

Chapter 1 Page 12
 Introduction

Rohrbach Factory – 1933- with employees standing

on the wing of a large flying boat to demonstrate
A 3-View of the Junkers F-13 showing advanced strength of the semi-monocoque wing. (Deutsches
aerodynamic and construction features. Bundesarchiv -German Federal Archive)

Dornier achieved early fame by designing The legacy – the first two decades of
seaplanes. His early efforts were done outside flight
of Germany because the Versailles Treaty The past few pages have discussed aircraft and
ending World War I prohibited production of aircraft structures from the beginning with the
aircraft within Germany. Dornier‟s Wal Wright Brothers to after World War I. We have
(Whale) aircraft was used by Norwegian polar seen that the first airplane builders used tried
explorer Roald Amundsen in his unsuccessful and true methods and materials for aircraft
attempt to reach the North Pole in 1925. structures. The most common structural form
was a truss composed of wooden members and
wires. Very little analysis was used, but
structural testing was the rule of the day. From
the beginning, emphasis was placed on light
weight construction.

Dornier Wal seaplane with stressed-skin

construction – 2 crew members and 8-10 passengers

Rohrbach formed his own company in Denmark

after World War I. He significantly influenced
other country‟s aircraft design efforts.
Mitsubishi sent Japanese engineers to Germany
in December 1921. Mitsubishi-Rohrbach GmbH, German Fokker D-VII is the only airplane
was formed in Berlin in June 1925. Aircraft mentioned specifically in the Versailles Treaty
were assembled in Copenhagen in a new factory ending World War I. No wire bracing was required
for the fully cantilevered wings. The struts were
built with the assistance of the Imperial Japanese
added primarily to make traditionalists happy.
Navy.
Three World War I fighter aircraft are typical of
the skill of designers and how far aviation had

Chapter 1 Page 13
come in the first 15 years of flight. Of the three, In England, government sponsorship led to the
the German Fokker D VII is most interesting founding of the Royal Aeronautical
from a structures standpoint. This aircraft used Establishment at Farnborough, formerly the
fully cantilevered wings, but disguised their Royal Balloon Factory. This effort produced
structure, not to fool the enemy, but to appease superior British fighter airplanes for World War
the German Army buyers. All of these aircraft I, but also produced technical data that replaced
were biplanes and all were wood and wire intuition with scientific fact.
construction.
In Germany, academic leadership was furnished
by Ludwig Prantdl, who built large laboratories
in Göttingen. This not only allowed
development of new theories but also served as a
clearinghouse for information exchange.

French SPAD XIII aircraft – the type flown by

Eddie Rickenbacker

Science entered the process as speeds increased

and airplane designs improved. German British Sopwith Camel – the type flown by the
squadron that downed the Red Baron.
designers in particular profited from the close
relationship between technical university faculty
members and the fledgling aircraft industry. The United States was slower to recognize the
The German rigid, lighter-than-air airship needs for aeronautical research and information
industry allowed structural designers to learn transfer. With few exceptions, aeronautical
valuable lessons, particularly in metal development was a European game. Jerome
construction, that were applied to airplane Hunsaker is credited with developing the first
design. aeronautical engineering curriculum in the
United States. He visited England, France and
In Europe the interest and commitment to Germany before World War I and, together with
aviation by European governments, particularly Alfred Zahm (later to teach at the University of
in France, England and Germany, gave rise to Notre Dame) he took note of what Europeans
new laboratories and private companies. This were doing and how they were doing it.
development would eventually produce Hunsaker founded the Aeronautical Engineering
airplanes for the First World War. It also Department at M.I.T. This department was the
produced new knowledge that was applied to first of its kind in the United States.
airplane development.
Aviation enthusiasts in the United States were
In France, Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, successful in launching the National Advisory
led French efforts to build laboratories dedicated Committee on Aeronautics, the NACA, in 1915.
to aeronautical research. Universities developed The NACA did not come fully into operations
until around 1920, but was one of the prime
special courses to train students for entry into
the aircraft industry. movers and links for aviation progress in the
United States. They were also strong advocates
for metal aircraft construction.

Chapter 1 Page 14
 Introduction

In 1916 the first textbook dedicated to aircraft A list of useful historical references is provided
structural design appeared (see footnote 6). This in Section 1.5. These articles and books will
text focused on beam and truss analysis as well give an interested reader an historical
as engineering mechanics. perspective to the social and technical events
that influenced aircraft design in general and
Today, texts still stress beam and truss analysis - structural design in particular from 1920 to the
the size and speed of the airplane has changed present day.
but the fundamental construction layout has not.
On the other hand, aircraft today make use of On the other hand, a few points need to be made
reinforced shell, semi-monocoque construction to understand how we got to this point in the
so the so-called skin-stringer analysis (Chapter structural design and development business.
7) has been emphasized during the past 70 years. The 1920‟s were tumultuous in that biplanes and
In addition, the use of matrix methods (Chapter monoplanes continued to be developed. Both
4) for solution of stresses and deflections has wood and metal competed equally as the
largely displaced classical methods used 60 material of choice. The recognition of the
years ago. importance of streamlining began to take hold,
as did the development of new, more powerful
During the first twenty years of aviation aircraft piston engines.
engines improved and became more powerful,
enabling higher speeds. Monoplane design, In America, the belated interest by the U.S.
aided by the semi-monocoque structural government led to subsidies for airlines. The
concept, contributed to the success of low drag greater travel distances and the promise of
monoplane. The concepts largely replaced shorter travel times led to a birth of passenger
biplanes so that by 1935 new designs were aircraft constructed by American designers such
solely monoplane designs. In addition, metallic as Glenn Curtiss, Donald Douglas and Jack
construction replaced wood and cloth. Northrop.
However, beams and trusses remained the basic
internal structural components, augmented by The tension between biplanes and monoplanes is
semi-monocoque structures. exemplified by the Curtiss Condor, first flown in
1933.
These components required analysis. Some of
the analysis was already well-known and present
in civil engineering texts and papers. As
configurations became more complex analysis
had to respond to new structural forms and new
regulations mandated by government agencies.
In general these new requirements were in
response to increased airspeed and airplane
accidents.

A quick trip to the present day and a look Curtiss AT-32 Condor – 1933 -this airplane had
modern features such as a streamlined, semi-
to the future
monocoque fuselage and a retractable landing gear,
By 1920 all of the essential structural concepts but only held about 12 passengers. It was the last
were in place so that structural design could biplane passenger airplane produced in the U.S.
enable better, faster aircraft. In particular, semi-
monocoque structural design had enabled The Condor‟s streamlined fuselage looks out of
streamlined fuselages and low-drag cantilever place with the strut-braced biplane wings. Only
wings. Metallic designs created strong, robust, about 40 were built but they were in service with
durable structures. Eastern Airlines and American Airlines.

Chapter 1 Page 15
The commercial transport biplane‟s demise was was banning wooden aircraft from U.S.
hastened by two factors. The first was passenger service.
innovative monoplane designs such as the
Boeing 247 which also appeared in 1933. This
airplane used semi-monocoque metal
construction, together with features such as
retractable landing gear.

Douglas DC-3: the airplane that changed the world.

Boeing 247 airliner – 1933 – Called the first modern

airliner; on October 10, 1933, a Boeing 247 was the
victim of the first confirmed case of sabotage of a
commercial airliner. A United Airlines aircraft
flying from Cleveland to Chicago was destroyed by
a nitroglycerin-based explosive device over
Chesterton, Indiana, the first recorded case of
sabotage in the U.S. The 247 seated only ten
passengers and the wing spar protruded across the
cabin aisle.
Newspapers carried summaries such as this graphic
The DC-3, “the airplane that changed the description of the Rockne crash in Kansas. Cause
world,” appeared in 1934 and improved upon of the crash was disputed for several weeks, but was
the Boeing 247. Boeing made a fundamental finally attributed to moisture in adhesives.
marketing mistake that led to the DC-3. Boeing
had partnered with United Airlines and refused
to supply other airlines with the Boeing 247.
The solution to this problem was for the other
airlines to find an alternative. That alternative
was the Douglas DC-3.

The second factor in the demise of older designs

was the demise of wooden construction, whether
in biplanes or monoplanes. This demise was
hastened by the crash of a Fokker F-10 in
Kansas in 1931. One of the passengers was
Knute Rockne, legendary football coach of the Fokker F-10 aircraft accident with its wooden wing,
University of Notre Dame. blamed for the fatal crash in which Knute Rockne
died, hastened the rise of metal monoplane
The cause of the F-10 crash was controversial, structures
but opinion settled on water damage to
adhesives in the F-10 wooden wing. The result

Chapter 1 Page 16
 Introduction

The advent of the economical airliner in the engine with swept wings to produce lethal
United States, led by the DC-3, transformed fighter/interceptors, fortunately too late to be a
aviation and made the United States a leader. factor in the European air war.
This could not have happened without enablers
like metallic semi-monocoque structural After the war, a team of American engineers was
concepts. As we have seen these concepts were sent to Germany to collect aeronautical data.
not invented in the United States but were Some of this data related to German swept wing
substantially advanced by American designers. research and development. This data was
instrumental in creating the Boeing B-47 jet
The NACA played a significant role in airplane bomber.
structures development in the 1920‟s and
1930‟s. They developed new structural analysis
methods and provided valuable test results to
American industry. As a result, American
propeller driven commercial transports were the
best in the world.

The period before World War II saw the

development of fighters and bombers later used
with success in that conflict. After the war, this
technology was applied to advanced propeller
driven airliners. One significant development,
the jet airplane, was totally missed by American
aircraft developers.
The B-47 jet bomber provided the first of many
structural analysis challenges after World War II.

Another airplane that changed the world – the

Boeing Model 367-80, the prototype for both the
Me-262 German jet fighter/interceptor – first flight Boeing 707 and the Air force KC-135 tanker.
March 25, 1942. Wing sweep was primarily to
position the aerodynamic center closer to the center After the unfortunate Boeing marketing decision
of gravity. Some aerodynamic efficiency was with the Boeing 247, Boeing‟s position as a
probably present with the 18.5 degree leading edge commercial transport company declined, but it
sweep. First use was July 25, 1944. became the premier bomber company. The
development of the B-47 and its successor, the
Jet propulsion was developed by British and B-52, Boeing took a tremendous financial risk
German engineers in the decade before World and developed the Boeing 707, the airplane that
War II. German developers combined this

Chapter 1 Page 17
revolutionized air travel for the last half of the
20th century. Boeing again became the premier
air transport company.

The thin wings on supersonic aircraft create a

structures challenge – The Lockheed F-104
Starfighter was one of the first to successfully
address this problem.
The Bell X-1 was the first aircraft to fly faster than
the speed of sound. In 1952 the NACA announced its goal of
operating research aircraft capable of flying at
Another major development after World War II hypersonic speeds between Mach 5 and Mach 10
was the development of supersonic vehicles. and at altitudes between 12 and 50 miles. On
For this development the NACA was again a September 30, 1955, North American Aviation
major participant. On October 14, 1947 Captain was awarded a contract to develop a hypersonic
Charles Yeager broke the sound barrier in the test aircraft, designated the X-15.
rocket propelled Bell X-1. Within ten years the
United States had fielded at least ten supersonic
fighter aircraft.

The primary structural challenge for supersonic

aircraft and those operating in the high subsonic,
so-called transonic flight regime, was the need
to use wings with smaller thickness to chord
ratios. This meant that the load bearing
elements were closer to each other and did not
resemble deep beams. Rather they were more
like thick plate structures. Multiple spars with The North American X-15 first flew at hypersonic
thicker skins were used. Sometimes a full depth speeds in 1958. Its skin surfaces were fabricated
honeycomb structure was employed. from chrome-nickel alloy, Inconel X, to enable it to
withstand the 1200-degree Fahrenheit temperatures
in the hypersonic flight environment.
Jet aircraft also had another effect on structures.
The increasingly complex system took more
The X-15 designers found that, due to the skin
people to develop. An Aviation Week article (27
friction, the upper fuselage reached temperatures
August 1951, p. 23) comparing the development
over 460o F. while other parts reached 1230o F.
of the P-51 fighter to the F-86 jet airplane
Inconel X was used for wing skins because it
estimated that while the P-51stress analysis to
retained strength at these high temperatures even
about 3000 hours, the F-86 stress analysis took
though it was a difficult material to work with.
116,000 hours.
These skins were attached to titanium frames.

Another challenge for aircraft structural

designers was the construction of variable
geometry or “polymorph” aircraft. Beginning

Chapter 1 Page 18
 Introduction

with the variable sweep Bell X-5, the variable consisted of six electric actuators on each wing
sweep aircraft enjoyed a two decades long portion and weighed several tons.
popularity run as a strike fighter that
incorporated the best features of a low speed The past is prologue – new materials for
unswept wing with a high speed sweptback the future
wing. Aircraft such as the Navy‟s F-14 Tomcat, In Chapter 5 we consider materials and design
featured in the movie “Top Gun,” enjoyed a long choices. However, we should mention in this
service life. introduction how new materials are literally
shaping the future of aviation. These new
These aircraft were mechanized structures that materials are the so-called advanced composites.
included heavy wing pivots and motors or The picture below, taken from a website shows
hydraulics to move the wing in flight. The the essentials of composite construction
systems payoff for this weight addition was the
ability to operate efficiently over a wide speed When the Wright Brothers built their airplane
range. and for 20 years afterward, wood was the choice
of airplane builders for a number of reasons
In 1958 the U.S. Air Force began design studies previously cited. Wood is a blend of cellulose
for a supersonic bomber. The result was North fibers embedded in a matrix binder. As such it
American Aviation XB-70 supersonic bomber. is very strong for its weight. Plywood, an
artificial wood is composed of many different
layers glued together and was used for the first
monocoque fuselages and as wing covers in
stressed skin construction.

The XB-70; the first supersonic morphing aircraft

used a variable incidence drooping nose and folding
wingtips controlled in-flight by a total of twelve
actuators.

The XB-70 was a large delta-wing aircraft with

a taxi weight of 542,000 pounds and a top speed
exceeding Mach 3 above 70,000 feet. It was 189
Composite material construction
feet long. The XB-70 used a movable canard
surface, a variable incidence nose for visibility
In the early 1960‟s manmade fibrous materials
during landing and take-off to reduce drag at
such as fiber glass, boron and carbon/graphite
high speed.
began to appear as part of a material referred to
as “advanced composites” to differentiate them
The wing tips folded downward at transonic and
from wood. One of the first uses was fiberglass
supersonic speeds to increase the lift-to-drag
filament wound solid rocket casings for missiles
ratio and improve lateral control. The maximum
such as the Navy Posideon Fleet Ballistic
fold angle was 62.5 degrees; the fold mechanism
Missile. These materials were used as woven
cloth, tape or wound fibers embedded in a

Chapter 1 Page 19
matrix that held them together as a unit. These this difference is the advanced composite
matrices were polymers, metals or resins. . fuselage of the Beech Premier Business Jet.
This fuselage is a three piece, filament wound
The individual fibers are very strong due to the component. An outer and inner layer of
fact that there are few imperfections in their composite material forms a sandwich structure
structure. They are also made of materials such that resists internal pressure and other fuselage
as carbon that has a very low molecular weight loads. The wing and tail use multi-spar metallic
compared to aluminum. structures.

A second feature of these manufactured

materials is that they can be tailored to
efficiently resist high loads in one or more
directions. This tailoring feature was central to
the proposal to use laminated composite wing
covers for a swept forward research aircraft, the
X-29. The composites were constructed so that
when the wing bent upward it also twisted nose
down to reduce the airloads and avoid an
aeroelastic instability called wing divergence.
The X-29 was a remarkable aircraft whose
existence depended upon the ability to tailor the
wing stiffness with advanced composites. Beech Premier Business Jet with efficient easily
manufactured advanced composite fuselage.

The manufacturers of large commercial

transports have generally lagged their
counterparts in the military and business
aviation areas. For instance, the Boeing 767, a
dominant part of the civil transport industry has
advanced composites, but only for items that are
not subject to high loading, such as ailerons,
elevators and landing gear doors.

The DARPA X-29 research aircraft promoted

aeroelastically tailored advanced composite
materials to control undesirable static aeroelastic
effects.

In the 1970‟s it became standard practice to use

advanced composites, particularly graphite fiber
composites, in military aircraft structures. The
reason most often given was not tailoring, but
Boeing 767 structure resembles a standard semi-
weight savings. This weight savings often came
monocoque, metallic structural design reminiscent
with a large price tag. of the 1930’s.

Not only are composites strong and stiff That reticence on the part of commercial
compared to metals, but the manufacturing transport manufacturers is changing rapidly and
processes are different. An excellent example of

Chapter 1 Page 20
 Introduction

th leadership is due to Boeing. The newest

transport, the Boeing 787, will make use of The traditional airframe design and development
substantial advanced composite materials in the process can be viewed as six interconnected
fuselage and wings, areas that are highly loaded blocks, shown in Figure 1-2. During Block 1 the
and flight critical. external shape is chosen with system
performance objectives in mind (e.g. range, lift
and drag). Initial estimates of aircraft
component weights use empirical data gathered
from past experience. On the other hand, if the
designs considered at this early stage have
radical new forms, these estimates may be in
error; but these errors will only be discovered
later.
Time is extremely important; the analysis scope
and complexity during Block 1 is limited to very
simple models despite the strong correlation
between internal structural arrangement,
materials selection, weight, manufacturability
Boeing 787 advanced composite material usage is and cost. The ultimate success of the design
extensive and a bold attempt to change the future of effort depends heavily upon the training and
aircraft manufacturing real-world experience of the structural design
team assigned to the Block 1 effort. Details that
1.3 The Structures Group – What do they do might escape the eye of a novice will be readily
and how do they do it? apparent to an experienced person.
The structures group has primary responsibility
for loads prediction, component strength During Block 1, errors in judgment, caused
analysis and structural component stability primarily by lack of information, not lack of
prediction. There is strong representation within skill, are introduced, discovered in ensuing
this group of people with expertise in structural Blocks, and finally repaired.
mechanics, metallurgy, aerodynamics and
academic disciplines such as civil engineering, Block 2 is concerned with selecting the internal
mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, structural layout. This delay in working out the
and engineering mechanics, as well as the details of the structure may seem strange since a
essential aeronautical engineering great deal of effort is expended during Block 1
representation. getting the external geometry (called the “outer

Figure 1-2 – The structural design and development process

Chapter 1 Page 21
mold lines”) right. For a wing, the structural There are thousands of such “load sets.”
effort includes the choice of the number of spars Understanding the origins of these loads, the
and ribs and the location of critical components. vocabulary associated with these loads - terms
The activities in Block 2 are characterized by such as “ultimate load,” “limit load” and “load
low level structural analysis using simple beam factor” - and how they are computed is one
models or other simple idealizations for element purpose of AAE352.
sizing and response estimation. Seldom will the
efforts in Block 2 revisit decisions made in
Block 1, particularly those involving planform Design loads
Environment and
shapes. discrete events Static strength

Block 3 includes activities involving detailed Maintainability

• Repairability Stiffness and flutter
Structures
drawings of frames, ribs, spars and attachments, • Inspectability
Design
as well as documentation. Here, extensive Criteria
Durability
Producibility • Fatigue
details emerge and if the manpower is available, • Corrosion
• Impact
higher fidelity models of critical components are Crashworthiness
created. Fail safety

Damage tolerance
and safe life
Block 4, the certification activity, requires
extensive stress analysis. Stress analysis is labor Figure 1-3 - Structural design requirements
intensive and involves large, analytical models
developed from the drawings generated in Block To illustrate the diverse sources of these loads,
3. Next, Block 5 includes full scale and consider just a few from this list:10
component tests including fatigue and static
loads tests. Block 6 is the beginning of  Air loads: lift, drag, gusts
production and delivery to the customer.
 Acoustic loads
 Thermal loads
Note that Blocks 2 through 6 involve the
opportunity and need to re-visit decisions made  Landing loads: touchdown, arresting
in earlier Blocks. Analytical modeling furnishes  Take-off loads: runway taxi, catapult,
additional information that allows discovery and assisted (e.g. jet or rocket) take-off
knowledge generation as the effort progresses.  Power plant loads: thrust, engine torque,
On the other hand, you cannot analyze what you gyroscopic effects
have not defined, so surprises may visit the  Special loads: towing, refueling,
development team often. pressurization, cargo, weapons recoil.

There is another way of looking at the structural Continuing clockwise to the right on the wheel
design activity. The structural design process in Figure 1-3, we have the requirement for static
begins with very general customer requirements strength. Static strength or “Not breaking” is a
that lead to clearly stated engineering design fundamental requirement. Static strength
criteria, complete with numbers or “metrics” that includes the requirement that the structure must
must be satisfied. These metrics include failure support: 1) structural limit loads, the largest
stresses and maximum allowable deflections. A loads likely to be encountered in practice during
summary of these general design criteria is the lifetime of the structure, without permanent,
shown in Figure 1-3. detrimental deformation; and, 2) the ultimate

Beginning at the top of the “wheel” we have 10

The Federal Airworthiness Regulations (FAR)
design loads. These loads include loads prescribe the types of loads that must be
airframe loads encountered during landing and considered before a commercial aircraft can be
take-off, launch and deployment as well as in- certified.
flight loads and other operational loadings.

Chapter 1 Page 22
 Introduction

loads, defined as the limit loads times a factor of airplane flies, the more significant are
safety, for at least three seconds without aeroelastic interactions.
catastrophic failure or instability.

To do this job we must be able to calculate

stresses in a wide variety of components and
correlate these stresses to failure theories. This
also means that we must understand what modes
of failure can occur and analyze or test for these
failures to ensure safety.

Stiffness and flutter requirements refer to the

fact that an aircraft must be free of excessive
vibration and buffet during normal operations.
Aerodynamic loads are strongly influenced by
wing twisting and bending deflections. The
computation and measurement of wing and tail Figure 1-5: Boeing 767 wing ultimate strength test
torsional stiffness is an important part of a – structural flexibility is an important part of design
discipline called aeroelasticity.
Figure 1-5 shows a wing “proof” test in which a
wing is loaded to its ultimate load. In this figure
you can see that the wing deformation creates
nose-down twist at the wing tip. This extreme
deformation would never be seen in flight but it
illustrates that deformation of this type will
change the wing aerodynamic loads.

The next item on the wheel in Figure 1-3,

durability, includes resistance to fatigue, cracks,
corrosion and foreign object impact. Fatigue is a
failure mode for a structure. Fatigue is related to
repeated, cyclic loading that causes structural
cracks to grow to a “critical” size at which point
Figure 1-4 – Aeroelasticity-Swept wing
aerodynamic loading changes because the structure
they propagate quickly to break the structure.
is flexible. This figure shows the differences Fatigue, corrosion and impact resistance are all
between the aerodynamic forces calculated on a related strongly to the loads, the environment
rigid swept wing compared to the forces on the same and the materials selected.
wing when it is flexible. The difference is due to the
wing deformation that changes the local angle of Next on the wheel are safety items. Despite our
attack. best efforts, structural components can still fail
unexpectedly in flight. Damage tolerance is the
Figure 1-4 shows the effects of deformation on ability to resist catastrophic failure (as opposed
external aerodynamic load distribution. to a local component failure) due to cracking or
Aerodynamic pressure distributions depend on other damage. Fail safety is related to damage
local angle of attack or incidence; when this tolerance; it is a design requirement that ensures
incidence is changed significantly on the that he structure is resistant to failure. This is
aerodynamic loads, the loads then change too. also called “damage tolerance.” This just means
This interaction can be minor or major that it takes more than the failure of a single part
depending upon the lifting surface bending or to bring the airplane out of the sky.
torsional stiffness. In general, the faster the

Chapter 1 Page 23
Crashworthiness is next on the wheel. Crash review statics, basic beam theory and truss
worthy designs protect occupants by absorbing analysis, as well as review structural failure
large amounts of energy to cushion passengers. criteria like buckling. To these topics we will
Protecting fuel tanks from rupture is also add a study of loads and how to calculate them,
important and can be done by using breakaway knowledge of materials sufficient to make
nacelle or flap attachments or by designing the choices, and new information about advanced
keel structure to absorb vertical impact and analysis, such as finite element methods.
scraping action from a wheels-up emergency
landing. Our primary goal is to develop a perspective of
what is required for creative structural design
Next on the structures wheel are the “abilities.” and reinforce your ability to function as a
Producibility is defined as the “ease of productive aerospace product team member.
manufacturing an item (or a group of items) in You should also be able to make or support
large enough quantities.” Producibility depends decisions in which structural weight, materials
strongly on design features that enable selection, component selection, structural form
economical fabrication, assembly, and and manufacturing processes are traded against
inspection or testing. each other.

Maintainability and inspectability are These goals require knowledge of structural

constraints that affect the layout or topology of integrity requirements, how we measure
the structure. For instance, the requirements for structural performance, developing analytical
access for inspection may place a removable models, and computing component stresses and
cover in a location that the designer would rather deflections.. Finally, your effectiveness as a
not have, all other things being equal. Similarly, future practicing engineer also requires an
repairability requires that the materials chosen awareness of the rich history of aerospace
are easily repaired if damaged. If a component structures and the value of team communication,
is to be replaced, it must be easy to access and ethics and individual inquisitiveness.
easy to remove and replace.
Topics to be covered are:
Environmental effects are particularly important  Chapter 2 - Review – Statics, Free Body
when choosing materials. For instance, Navy diagrams, truss load calculation
aircraft operate in a salt water environment and
 Chapter 3 – Inertia loads and load factors
all aircraft operate with moisture present and
 Chapter 4 - Introduction to matrix methods
under a wide variety of temperature conditions
on the ground, ranging from North Africa to  Chapter 5 - Material requirements and
Alaska. Add in the possibility of bird strikes or selection, including structural failure modes
ingestion during take-off and landing, hail, such as fatigue
lightning and other possible potentially  Chapter 6 – Beam theory review
damaging events and the designer has a wide  Chapter 7 - Thin-wall, skin stringer
range of constraints placed on the design. structural element analysis

1.4 Summary and Course Goals 1.5 Bibliography – Chapter 1

This chapter has introduced some aspects of Over the past century there have been numerous
aerospace history that have been enabled by textbooks written to cover all aspects of
structural designers. This history is just a structural engineering. A list of books on
snapshot of the many events and people who structures, aerospace and otherwise, is provided
have shaped this history, in this Bibliography. Some are better than
others and a few, like the text by David Peery
With this short introduction, let‟s see what we and the text by Elmer Bruhn, are recognized as
will need to do for this course. Certainly classics by practitioners. The listing is
analysis will play a prominent role. We need to alphabetical, by author.

Chapter 1 Page 24
 Introduction

Aerospace Vehicle Structures, Lake City

1. Abraham, L.H., Structural Design of Pub Co., 1997.
Missiles and Spacecraft, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 10. Gerard, G., Minimum Weight Analysis of
1962. Compression Structures, New York
2. Williams, D., An Introduction to the Theory University Press, 1956.
of Aircraft Structures, Edward Arnold 11. Kuhn, P., Stresses in Aircraft and Shell
(Publishers) LTD., London, England, 1960. Structures, McGraw-Hill Book Company,
3. Allen, H.A. and Haisler, W.E., Introduction Inc., 1956.
to Aerospace Structural Analysis, John 12. Lomax, T.L., Structural Loads Analysis for
Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1985 Commercial Transport Aircraft: Theory and
4. Barton, M.V., Fundamentals of Aircraft Practice, AIAA Education Series, AIAA,
Structures, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1948. Inc., Reston, VA 22091, 1996
5. Bruhn, E.F., Analysis and Design of Flight 13. Mangurian, G.N. and Johnston, N.M.,
Vehicle Structures, S.R. Jacobs & Aircraft Structural Analysis, Prentice-Hall,
Associates, Inc., 1973. (This book is the Inc., 1947.
book most likely to be found on a stress 14. Megson, T.H.G., Aircraft Structures for
analyst‟s desk at major aircraft companies Engineering Students, Third Edition, Arnold
and it is the reason that Purdue is known as a (also John Wiley & Sons), 1999. (This book
“Structures Department.” Earl Thornton of has been through several editions and is an
The University of Virginia writes “First interesting, well-written book)
published in 1943 during World War II, the 15. Niles, A.S. and Newell, J.S., Airplane
structures book Analysis and Design of Structures, Volume II, Third Edition, John
Aircraft Structures by Elmer E. Bruhn Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1947. This book sold
gained widespread acceptance in both nearly 50,000 copies in several editions. It
engineering schools and industry. By 1965 was one of the standard textbooks for
the book had gone through several editions several decades.
and had been retitled Analysis and Design of 16. Niu, M.C.Y., Airframe Structural Design,
Flight Vehicle Structures in recognition of Comilit Press LTD., Hong Kong: Technical
the emerging importance of spacecraft. Book Company, Los Angeles, CA 90025,
Bruhn‟s popular large books were not 1988. (This is another “must-have” for a
typical of texts written by engineering serious aerospace structural designer).
professors, although he was a professor at 17. Osgood, C.C., Spacecraft Structures,
Purdue University. His books emphasized Prentice-Hall, 1966.
practical stress analysis; derivations and 18. Peery, D.J., Aircraft Structures, McGraw-
theoretical developments were minimized. Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950. (This is
Their large page size accommodated concise another well-regarded text and very likely to
explanations and a large number of be found in stress groups at aircraft
numerical examples in a double-column companies. It is a “must-have” book if you
format. There were also numerous design intend to go into the aerospace structures
charts and data tables.”) business.)
6. Bruhn, E.F., Orlando, J.I., Meyers, J.F., 19. Peery, D.J. and Azar, J.J., Aircraft
Analysis and Design of Missile Structures, Structures, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1982. (Don‟t
1967 confuse this text with the earlier version.
7. Curtis, H.T., Fundamentals of Aircraft This is not a “must-have.”
Structural Analysis, Irwin, 1997 20. Rivello, R.M., Theory and Analysis of
8. Donaldson, B.K., Analysis of Aircraft Flight Structures, 1969.
Structures - An Introduction, McGraw-Hill, 21. Sarafin, T.P. (Editor), Spacecraft Structures
1993 and Mechanisms-from Concept to Launch,
9. Flabel, J-C., Practical Stress Analysis for 1997 (This book consists of 21 chapters
Design Engineers: Design and Analysis of written by 24 Space industry engineers,
mostly from Martin Marietta Astronautics.

Chapter 1 Page 25
 The book demonstrates that design and 2. Miller, R. and Sawers, D., The Technical
development of modern spacecraft structures Development of Modern Aviation, Praeger
is much more than structural analysis.) Publishers, New York, London, 1970.
22. Sechler, E.E. and Dunn, L.G., Airplane 3. Trimble, W.F., Jerome C. Hunsaker and the
Structural Analysis and Design, John Wiley Rise of American Aeronautics, Smithsonian
& Sons, Inc., 1942. Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 2002.
23. Shanley, F.R., Weight-Strength Analysis of 4. Loftin, L.K., Quest for Performance: The
Aircraft Structures, Dover Publications, Evolution of Modern Aircraft, NASA, 1985.
1952. (This is a classic book by a 5. Hallion, R.P., Taking flight : inventing the
practitioner. It is a “must-have” book.) aerial age from antiquity through the First
24. Steinbacher, F.R. and Gerard, G., Aircraft World War, New York : Oxford University
Structural Mechanics, Pitman Aeronautical Press, 2003.
Publications, 1952.
25. Sun, C.T., Mechanics of Aircraft Structures, 1.6 - Problems to consider
John Wiley & Sons, 1998. 1. The FAA is in charge of airplane
26. Williams, D., An Introduction to the Theory certification. What else does the FAA
of Aircraft Structures, 1960. do? Look up information about the
27. Young, W.C., Roark‟s Formulas for Stress Federal Aviation Regulations.
and Strain, 1989. 2. How maintainable is your cell phone?
What would you do if it has a problem?
The history or aircraft development is a Does anyone repair cell phones? Why
fascinating subject. Students, young and old, or why not? What is the trade-off?
can learn a great deal by observing the flow of 3. How does the design environment for an
history and the men and women who have automobile differ if it is operated in
contributed to aviation development. These Minnesota compared to south Texas?
include engineers, pilots and industrial What additional design requirements
developers. Some contributors were eccentric might you need to allow a car, originally
while others were quiet and u all were important. designed only for operation in Texas, to
operate in Minnesota?
The list that follows represents a small portion 4. How would design of an Indy Racing
of the material available today. These Car differ from the design of an ordinary
references are some of my favorites, but are not automobile? What design requirements
intended to be the end of the story. for maintainability would you add for
the Indy Racing Car?
1. Gibbs-Smith, C.H., Aviation, An Historical 5. Is a racing bicycle structural design fail-
Survey Form Its Origins to the End of World safe? Why or why not?
War II, Her Majesty‟s Stationery Office,
London, 1970.

Chapter 1 Page 26
Mechanics of truss structures

Chapter 2 – A review of statics and mechanics of simple

structures
2.1 Introduction – Mechanics, Equilibrium
and Free Body Diagrams It has been my experience that more problems
In this chapter we will review basic principles of are caused by lack of understanding of
mechanics using truss structures as an example fundamental concepts, such as the ability to
of how they are applied to analysis of structures. draw sketches of forces and moments acting on
We will also introduce new ideas such as aerospace systems, than are caused by other
topology optimization and terminology such as things, like the ability to apply formulas for
“factor of safety.” stresses.

One of the essential skills required for aerospace You have already spent considerable time
structural design is the knowledge of drawing these types of diagrams in your
engineering mechanics and how to apply introductory courses, but we need to make sure
mechanics principles to the design process. we are all on the same page so we‟ll take some
Mechanics is an applied science that deals with time to review basic theory. You may need to
forces, moments and motions of isolated systems go back to the textbooks you used for statics and
or parts of systems. The simplest case occurs dynamics or strength of materials. However, in
when there is no system motion; we simply call this section we‟ll go heavy on review.
this situation “statics.” The concept of static or
dynamic equilibrium is fundamental to We will use truss structure design as an example
mechanics; all of the forces, moments and of how to apply mechanics to structures
motions are in balance. problems. Truss analysis was one of the first
analytical mechanics methods used by airplane
Central to the application of engineering designers. While truss construction is minimal
mechanics is the ability to draw clear diagrams in modern aircraft structures, as we saw in
that summarize the loads acting on the structural Chapter 1, truss structures are used for
unit and to draw isolated pieces of the structure spacecraft designs, such as that shown in Figure
where external loads and the internal reactive 2-1.
loads are shown in balance. The term used for
these diagrams is a “free body diagram.” The
ability to create these diagrams is the first
essential step in the process of structural
analysis.1

1
The first textbook describing the design and
construction of aircraft, “Elementary Principles of
Aeroplane Design,” by Arthur W. Judge, appeared in
England in 1916. Judge was an accomplished
automotive engineer at the time. His book
emphasized graphics and mechanics. Theoretical
principles of structural analysis applicable to bi- Figure 2-1– A truss design to support a solar array
planes of the time were well-known to railway and
bridge engineers. A book published later, in 1935,
Trusses are defined as structures composed of
had the title “Mechanics of Aircraft Structures” to
also emphasize this importance. Its author, John
slender members that resist loads along their
Younger, was a former senior engineer at Wright axes. These “slender” members include wires.
Field, an accomplished practioner, and later a Trusses are used extensively in bridge design
Professor at the University of Maryland. such as that shown in Figure 2-2. Trusses have
special properties and assumptions. First of all,

Chapter 2 Page 27
Truss structures

external loads are applied only at joints or considered to be the easiest solution to early
“nodes.” In addition, the components are aircraft structural problems. This type of
assumed to be pinned together, making them construction created a stiff, lightweight structure
“two-force” members that resist loading along fabricated from simple “two-force” members
an axis that passes through the node points. that could be easily replaced when damaged.
Seldom are the joints really pinned together, but Reliable methods for analysis and design of
the internal loads determined using this beams and trusses had been available for
assumption dominate over other “secondary” decades.2
loads.

Figure 2-2 – A Pratt truss bridge design. With the

applied loads downward, diagonal members are
always in tension, creating a lightweight design. Figure 2-4 –Wing rib trusses (Introduction to
This was Chanute’s choice for his glider. Airplanes - Navy Training Courses Edition of
1944).
In Chapter 1 we saw that he very first airplane
structures were composed of wires and wooden On the other hand, most aviation experimenters
struts. Testing, not analysis was the primary neglected theory in favor of intuition. In a brief
method of ensuring safety, but later, analysis description of early design procedures, Arthur
methods adopted from Civil Engineering of W. Judge, wrote: "In the earlier type of
bridges and buildings came into the profession. aeroplane body it was the usual practice to
Civil engineering at the turn of the 20th century obtain the sizes of the different members by trial
was well advanced. Skyscrapers were beginning and error methods, or to make chance shots at
to appear. Very large bridges were also being the dimensions, and to trust to luck whether the
built with very long spans. resulting body has any margin of safety or not."3

The Wright Brothers successfully solved the

problem of vehicle equilibrium about three axes.
Their airplane structure, the Wright Flyer,
shown in Figure 2-5, was composed of a
collection of wires, wooden posts and fabric,
held together with screws and glue. The Wright
Flyer was a “space structure” but not in the usual
meaning of the phrase as it is used today. Their
wing structure used an “exo-skeleton” much like
bridges of the day to mount thin airfoils and to
distribute and transfer the lift generated by these
airfoils to support the engine and the
Figure 2-3 –Fuselage truss structures:
(Introduction to Airplanes - Navy Training Courses 2
Edition of 1944). S.P. Timoshenko, History of Strength of Materials,
McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1953.
3
A. W. Judge, The Design of Aeroplanes, Isaac
Early airplanes used truss construction for wings Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1917, p. 156. This 242 page
and fuselages like that shown in Figure 2-3 and textbook is one of the earliest airplane design
Figure 2-4. Joining wooden truss and other textbooks.
components together to form a framework was

Chapter 2 Page 28
 Mechanics of truss structures

features and simplifying

some parts of its
behavior.

Analytical modeling is
an art; as your career
progresses you will
become better at this art.
Modeling is so important
that we‟ll have more to
say about this in a later
section of the book. The
Figure 2-5 – The Wright Flyer – 1903 – flight most important thing to An interstage structure
mechanics combined with structural mechanics remember is the obvious, connecting first and
in the form of an open space structure poor models and poor second stages of the
assumptions lead to poor, Zenit-2 vehicle.
pilot/passenger. Their structural approach was Copyright © 2001 by
“cut and try” rather than “analyze, cut and try.” sometimes fatal results.
In structures the most Anatoly Zak
Like other early designers, they got lucky.
important first step of idealization is the
While Newton provided three equations or construction of the Free Body Diagram. If you
“laws” for the motion of a particle in space, can‟t do this in your sleep, you are not going to
when we consider the motion of three- be a happy engineer.
dimensional bodies such as an aircraft or a
spacecraft, there are six “balance” equations that 2.2 Applied, Internal and Reactive forces
apply to our work: three equations for The end products of structural analysis include
equilibrium of forces; and, three equations for structural stresses and deflections. These two
static equilibrium of moments. In structures we items cannot be computed unless we know the
have special terms for these moments such as internal resultant forces and moments such as
“bending moment” or “torsional moment” to tell those we have just computed for the example
us what the moment does to the structure. structures. Determining how these forces and
moments are distributed over the internal cross-
For instance, in a two-dimensional x-y system sections is the subject of stress analysis and
we have three independent equations of static “strength of materials.”
equilibrium. These are:
Determining the size and directions of loads that


will be applied to our structure is a crucial first
x
Fx  0 step towards structural design. Applied forces or
loads act directly on the structure and occur as
 y
Fy  0 the result of operation of the structure in its
environment. A second set of forces are applied
to the structure, but these are called reactions or
 z
Mz  0 “reactive forces.” They are created by the
actions of one component interacting with
Forces sum and balance, but forces on what? another or with a “boundary.” This interaction
There is another feature of mechanics that is may be the reaction between a structure and a
important; this is the concept of a behavioral support for instance. It may also be the result of
“model.” To keep the problem within bounds, the connection between two elements which are
we need to look at the actual physical structure pulling or pushing on each other.
in an idealized way, eliminating non-essential
Central to modeling is the construction of
equilibrium diagrams or what we call “free body

Chapter 2 Page 29
Truss structures

diagrams” or FBD‟s. A free body diagram is a moments that the surroundings, such as
sketch of the system of interest and includes all supports, impose on the system. The free body
of the forces that act on the system. These diagram shows what it would take to
diagrams identify the unknowns in the structures mechanically fool the system into remaining at
problem and help us determine the magnitude of rest if it was cut free of its support.
the unknowns. Unknowns in structures
problems include reactions at supports or The motion of the system should be totally
internal forces such as shear forces in beams, unchanged if it were cut free and the forces
bending moments and shear forces. From these shown on the free body diagram were applied as
internal forces we can then determine stresses. a replacement for all external interactions. In
particular, the applied and reaction forces and
These stresses, also the result of behavioral moments must be shown on the free body
theories that include theory of elasticity, allow diagram at the points where they are applied. For
us to estimate how the resultant forces and reactions, these places are where you made
moments are distributed throughout the structure „cuts‟ to free the body.
and what deflections are caused by the external
loads. These stress distributions and deflections Internal reactions are the result of Newton‟s 3rd
allow us to assess, and perhaps change, essential Law which states that “for every action there is
design features of the structure. These features an equal and opposite reaction.” When we look
include component thickness or component at structures we have cut to expose internal
geometry such as we showed in Chapter 1. reactions, we notice that the forces come in
We‟ll show other examples of this later. pairs, equal, but opposite in direction.

A free body diagram is essential because it In a structure there are many pairs of “action-
precisely defines the system to which you are reaction” forces. We can see these pairs as we
applying Newton‟s mechanics equations and use FBD‟s to disassemble the structure. These
identifies all of the important forces to be action-reaction pairs, when plotted or displayed
considered. The FBD shows the system isolated on a diagram, show “load paths” from the
or “freed” from its environment. We use two applied loads to the supports. An example is the
kinds of FBD‟s: 1) a FBD showing the applied path that aerodynamic forces take from the wing
loads and the reactions; 2) a series of FBD‟s in surface to the fuselage attachment or “support”
which the structure is cut into pieces to show for the wing.
internal reactions.
2.3 Equivalent forces and moments
Drawing either of these FBD‟s is not always Aerodynamic forces acting on a wing are
easy. It takes practice. The free body diagram distributed as pressures over the wing. For some
of a structural system must shows the forces and calculations, we really don‟t need a precise
description of the
pressures. For instance, if
we are interested in the
acceleration of the airplane
we just want to know the
total or “integrated” force
in certain directions. We
want to know a single
Figure 2-6 – Examples of equivalent force systems. The effect of the four
loadings on the reaction at the wall is identical. Note that if the problem is to
quantity such as a vector
find the internal loads between points A and B the four systems give different that is equivalent to the
results. For internal loads we need to ask for the real applied loads. (Source: A. pressure distribution as far
Ruina, P. Rudr, Introduction to Statics and Dynamics, Oxford University as its effect on acceleration
Press, 2002 is concerned. The action
of the single vector on the

Chapter 2 Page 30
 Mechanics of truss structures

center of mass of the airplane is equivalent to the must place a reaction moment or torque at that
action of the pressure distribution. In fact, all point. In case (b) we have used one of the
that the equations of motion know about the equations of equilibrium to eliminate “by
situation is the effect of the inspection” the
integrated force and moment horizontal force.
about some point. Examples of The concept of resultant or equivalent While this is
equivalent force and moment forces is central to all structural correct, it is also
systems are shown in Figure analysis. Two force systems are dangerous because
2-6 equivalent if they have the same sum we may forget that
(the same resultant) and the same net there is a boundary
This concept is important for moment about any arbitrary point in condition at this
structural analysis since it is space. point.
often more convenient to
replace a set of forces and Many of these
pressures as a single load. There are some rules bridge design used truss construction. Truss
about how to do this and we will deal with them elements were steel, iron or even wood. Trusses
as the situation requires. have attachments between members that result
in only a small transfer of moments at these
2.4 Drawing Free Body Diagrams joints. As a result we usually refer to the
We know enough about the representation of attachments as “pinned joints.” The presence of
forces as vector quantities and how to resolve or pinned joints makes the truss elements special in
“break up” these vectors into components. This that they are “two-force” elements. In this case
is a form of “static equivalence.” This term is the “line of action” of the internal forces in each
used to mean that, from the viewpoint of motion truss member must lie along the truss member
of a rigid body, two different systems, although itself. This is in contrast to beam elements
they look different (a single vector replaced by which can transfer bending moments and thus
two vectors), produce exactly the same permit shear forces to be carried within the
translational or rotational effects. When we do element.
static analysis we do not have translation or
rotation so the feature we are most interested in
is the calculation of the reactions at supports.

The Cosmos-2 launche showing truss structure

support between rocket stages.
(Copyright © 2001 by Anatoly Zak)

There are simple rules to be followed when

drawing FBD‟s. When we free a structure from
its supports, we must place a reaction force at Figure 2-7 – Example free body diagrams showing
any point where motion is restricted. This is replacement of supports by reaction forces
shown in Figure 2-7 for a case where translation
is restricted. If rotation is restricted then we

Chapter 2 Page 31
Truss structures

We will review what we should know about

truss analysis since it provides a way to At each of the five joints we could write three
understand several design principles and allows equations, two for force and one for moment.
us to emphasize the importance of sketches and However, the moment equation is not useful
mechanical principles. since all the two-force element forces pass
through a common point and moment arms of
2.5 Truss analysis review - The Method of each force are zero. This leaves us with two
Joints equations per joint or node. This means that in
One method for analyzing trusses is called the this case we have ten available equations (five
Method of Joints. As its name implies, each nodes and two equations per node).
truss joint becomes the focus of writing
equations to solve for internal forces. Consider When we count the unknowns in the problem we
the structure shown in Figure 2-8. This truss have seven unknown internal forces and three
consists of seven bars, pinned together at five external reactions. As a result, the equations of
joints, restrained at two “boundary” or support statics are sufficient to solve for the unknowns.
points, and loaded by three forces. This problem is called a “statically determinate”
problem.

If we added an additional element to connect

joints A and C for instance, we would introduce
an additional unknown without introducing an
additional equation. This case would be
“statically indeterminate” and we would have to
find an additional equation. This additional
equation would be found by considering the
deformation of the elements.
Figure 2-8 – Example truss problem with right end
pinned and left end free to roll Let‟s make all of the angles in the truss equal
and write the equations for this problem. In this
When we cut the joints to isolate them from the case we find that the ten equations are as
rest of the structure, as we show in Figure 2-9, follows:
we expose internal forces in each of the truss
members. These are the problem unknowns. Joint A is supported so that it can move to the
Some of these forces are compressive while left or the right but not up or down. As a result
others are tensile. Before we solve the problem there is no reaction force in the x-direction. The
we seldom know whether the internal forces are direction of the reaction force in the y-direction
tensile or compressive so, as shown in Figure at A is taken to be in the positive direction.
2-9, we arbitrarily assume that all bars internal
forces are tensile. In the end, if the bar is in At joint A
compression we will find a negative number and
associated with that unknown.

The direction of the reaction force in the y-

direction at A is taken to be in the positive
direction.

At joint B

and

Figure 2-9 - Free Body diagram of the five joints

Chapter 2 Page 32
 Mechanics of truss structures

Joint B has a load applied in the y-direction and

it is directed downward. There is no applied
load in the x-direction at joint B. Joint D also has reactions to prevent movement
in either the x or the y directions.
At joint C
At joint E
and
=0 and

Joint C has an applied load in the negative x-

direction. These ten equations can be arranged in matrix
form as follows:
At joint D

and

(go to top of the second column)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The matrix above is more than just an elegant so that

FM    Aij  Pj 
way to express the equilibrium equations. There 1

are two features of this matrix equation that you

should notice. First of all, this equation relates
inputs (the external forces in the vector on the 2.6 Statically determinate and indeterminate
right hand side of the equation) to outputs (the structures
internal forces and the reactions in the vector on The problem we just considered is an example
the left hand side of the equation). Also, the 10 of a statically determinate truss; we have
x 10 matrix depends only on the angle , not the enough static equilibrium equations to determine
actual dimensions of the structure. Once this all of the internal and external forces. If we
relationship between input and output has been have too many elements, the truss structure will
established we simply use a computer code like have more unknown internal forces than static
MATLAB to solve for the unknowns. equilibrium equations and the truss will be
statically indeterminate. Is there a way to
The matrix can be written as: determine whether this is the case before I get
into the nasty business of writing all of those
 Aij  FM   Pj  equations? The answer is yes.

Chapter 2 Page 33
Truss structures

Let‟s first consider how many equations we have then the truss is externally determinate, but
at our disposal. All trusses considered in this internally statically indeterminate.
chapter lie in a single plane and are called
“planar” trusses. We have assumed that truss In general, when r is greater than 3, then, if
element ends are joined by smooth frictionless m+r>2*j we automatically have a statically
pins that do not transmit bending moments and indeterminate structure. The degree of
that the truss elements are loaded only at the indeterminancy DoI is given by the difference
joints or nodes. We have also made sure that DoI=(m+r)-2*j. Our review and the homework
enough truss elements are connected so that the problems in this chapter will only consider
truss cannot behave like a mechanism and statically determinate truss structures.
collapse.
2.7 The Method of Sections
The example in Figure 2-8 has 7 elements, 5 What happens if I don‟t really want to know all
joints or nodes and has 3 unknown external of the truss element forces? Instead of drawing
reactions. Let‟s assume that the more general seven free body diagrams, we can cut the
truss is composed of “j” joints, connecting “m” structure into two pieces, exposing the force that
bar elements with “r” reaction forces at the truss we want. Consider the problem of finding the
boundaries. No matter how many elements force in the element BC. The Free Body
there are in a truss, there are only three Diagram for this calculation is shown in
equations of static equilibrium that are useful to Figure 2-10. This FBD is the result of
solve for external reactions. These three are the sectioning the structure into two pieces, hence
two force summation equations and one moment the name “Method of Sections.” This method is
equation. We can always use two moment also known as the Method of Moments or the
equations and one force equation, but the Method of Shears.
number of useful equations can never be more
than three.

A truss with r>3 is externally statically

indeterminate. For this type of structure we will
have to add compatibility of deformation
relationships to the static equilibrium equations
to solve the problem. These types of problems
are considered in Chapter 4.

At each truss joint there are only 2 useful static

equilibrium equations. The third equation,
moment equilibrium, is not applicable because
the forces at the joint are “concurrent,” passing
through a common point with no moment arm.
If there are j joints then there are 2*j static Figure 2-10 – Free Body diagram for the method of
equilibrium equations. If r=3 (the structure is sections
externally determinate) then statically
determinate structures will have as many To begin, we draw a FBD of the complete
unknown forces (internal plus external) as static structure and solve for the reaction forces at
equilibrium equations and so will satisfy the joints A and D. We then cut the truss into two
relationship m+3=2*j. separate, distinct pieces to expose the internal
forces in elements BC, CE and DE. We need
For the example in Figure 2-8, this formula three equations to solve this problem.
gives us 7+3=2*5 so the truss is determinate.
If we were to add a new element so that m>2*j-3 Since we do not need to know the forces FBC or
FDE we can sum moments about joint E to find

Chapter 2 Page 34
FBC. If we want to know the other internal force 20 P
in CE we can use the vertical force equilibrium M B  0   R2 h  20 P or R2 
h
equation (the so-called “shear equation.” z

Summing forces in the x and y directions,

2.8 A worked truss analysis example
Often, if the truss structure is simple, such as the
case shown in Figure 2-11, we do not need to F y
y  0  R3  P or R3  P
resort to developing large systems of
20 P
simultaneous equations. This simple structure is
a two bar truss with its ends pinned to a wall; a
F
x
x  0  R1  R2  FAB cos  or R1 
h
single downward force of 1000 lb. is applied.
The height dimension “h” is a design variable.

Figure 2-13 – The relationship between R2, R3 and

FAB at node A.

From Figure 2-13, we find that

Figure 2-11– Idealized 2-element truss structure

Figure 2-12 shows the FBD when the supports at

F x
x  0   R2  FAB cos 
the wall are removed; they are replaced by 20 20
reaction forces. The direction of the reaction cos   
force R1 is known since it must be in-line with h 2  20 2  20 
2

h 1  
the two-force element BC. Although the  h 
reaction forces R2 and R3 are drawn so that they
2
appear to be independent, they are not. Like R1 R 20 Ph  20 
these two reactions must have a resultant that is FAB  2  1  
cos  20h  h 
in-line with member AB, as indicated in Figure
2
2-13.  20 
FAB  P 1  
 h 

Note that we have drawn FAB, as a tensile force.

The force in the lower member, FBC, is
compressive and is equal to

20 P
FBC  R1 
h
Figure 2-12 – Free-body diagram for truss
structure with supports removed We‟ll return to this example later when we show
how to calculate weights and optimize the
Let‟s solve for the reaction forces. Summing structural topology.
moments about point C we have:
In general, structures composed of two force
members make the analysis job easier, but you

Chapter 2 Page 35
Truss structures

can see that there is still an element of art

involved setting up the equations.

The importance of a good diagram with clearly

labeled forces is also obvious. In this case we
could “feel” which direction the internal forces
acted and so set up the diagram on that basis.
This is seldom true in real world cases. As the Figure 2-15 - FBD, Node E
result, we will have to have a plan for defining
our unknowns that does not rely on “feel.” Also,
since we have written scalar equations for our
F
x
x  0  R1  R3
solution procedure, we should not lose sight of
sign conventions. In all solutions, we must so that R3 = -3000 lb. The minus sign simply
show clearly the positive direction for all forces tells us that the direction we chose for the force
and force components. R3 is opposite to the actual direction that the
force actually acts. The two forces R1 and R3
2.9 A second example-bar elements connected are equal and opposite and form a “force
to a beam couple” with a moment of 6000 in-lb. in the
The example shown in Figure 2-14 looks like a clockwise direction that counteracts the moment
truss, but it is not; this structure is composed of created by the 1000 lb. load about point D,
2-force members and a single beam-like element which is also 6000 in-lb.
that resists shear forces. The reactions R1, R2
and R3 are as shown. Note that there is a single To complete the calculation of the external
horizontal reaction force R1 because of the single forces, we sum forces in the vertical, y-direction.
truss element at point E, as indicated in Figure
2-15. R2 and R3 are present because two 2-force
members connect at point D in Figure 2-14.
F
y
y  0  R2  1000

or R2 = 1000 lb. The reaction and the applied

load also form a force couple with the
magnitude 6000 in-lb.

To find the internal forces in each of the

members we must cut open the bars to expose
the internal forces.

As indicated in Figure 2-15, at Node E we have

Figure 2-14– Structure with beam element (ABC) the reaction R1 = 3000 lb. and the force in the
attached to truss members bar EF, FEF. Summing forces in the x-direction,
we see by inspection that FEF = R1 = 3000 lb.
We first find the reactions by taking moments This internal force is tensile and tries to pull the
about point D in Figure 2-14. We will take bar apart.
clockwise rotation as being positive.
At node D the situation is more involved. As
M
z
x  0  (60) * (1000)  (20) * ( R1 ) indicated in Figure 2-16,two elements connect at
Node D. Bar element CD is horizontal while bar
From this equation we find that R1 = 3000 lb. DF is oriented 45o to the horizontal. We assume
Summing forces in the horizontal, x-direction, that the forces in the bars are tensile, since we do
we have not know by inspection what their directions
really are.

Chapter 2 Page 36
 or FCF = 1000 lb.

Figure 2-16 – FBD, node D

The correct reaction forces and their directions

are shown as loads on the FBD. Summing Figure 2-18 – FBD, Joint G
forces in the vertical and horizontal directions
gives two equations for the two unknowns. Figure 2-18 shows the Free Body Diagram at
Node G, involving two unknown bar reactions.

F
The static equilibrium equations at this node are:
x  0  3000  FCD  FDF cos 45o

F
x
 0  2000  FAG cos 45o
F
y
y  0  1000  FDF sin 45o
x
x

From these equations we find that

or FAG  2000 2  2828 lb.
FDF  1000 2  1414 lb. and FCD = -2000 lb.
The fact that these forces are negative means
that they are compressive. F y  0   FBG  FAG sin 45o

or FBG = -2000 lb.

Member ABC is a beam, not a two force

member (there are three forces applied to it must
resist bending moments and shear forces). As a
result, member ABC will have an internal axial
force, bending moments and shear forces
present.
Figure 2-17 - FBD, Node F

The situation at Node F, shown in Figure 2-17,

involves previously determined forces in bars
DF and EF. The equation for horizontal x-
direction force equilibrium is written as:

F
x
x  0   FFG  3000  FDF cos 45o
Figure 2-19 – FBD, Node A
or FFG = 2000 lb. Figure 2-19 shows a Free Body Diagram in the
vicinity of Node A. Note that we know that the
The vertical force equilibrium equation is value of FAG is 2828 lb. The FBD shows shear
force, V, and bending moment, M, at a position
F
y
y  0   FCF  FDF sin 45o a distance x to the right of Node A.

Chapter 2 Page 37
Truss structures

F
x
x  0  P  FAG cos 45o

so P=-2000 lb.

F
y
y  0  FAG sin 45o  1000  V

so that V=1000 lb.

M
z
z  0  1000( x)  FAG ( x)  M
Figure 2-20 - Final results for truss element
internal forces
so that M=1000x in-lb. (0< x < 20) This
bending moment equation is valid as long as x is 2.10 Design terminology and weight
less than 20 inches. calculation
Although we are reviewing mechanics and
To the right of Node B, the Free Body Diagram applying it to simple trusses, this is a good time
changes since x>20 inches. (Draw the FBD to to introduce some new material. In particular
confirm this). The equilibrium equations are: we need to make sure that we understand some
important terms like “Factor of Safety.” We

F
also need to reinforce the fact that weight is
x  0  2000  P
important in structural design and also
x
understand the importance of putting together
F
y
y  0  1000  V good structural topology.

M z  0   M  1000 x  2000* 20 Critical airplane loads have very precise

z definitions. During service a wide variety of
loads are applied. These range from landing,
These equations give the following results: climb, gust loads due to turbulence or even the
loss of an engine. We need to plane for these
P = 1000 lb. loads even though they are unlikely.
V = -1000 lb.
M = 40,000 - 1000x (20 < x < 40) The limit loads are the largest loads expected to
be applied to a structure during service, during
In this case the value of x shown for the bending the aircraft‟s life.1, 2 These loads may never be
moment expression is restricted to be greater applied to all or even some airplanes, because
than 20 inches and less than 40 inches. From some loads are highly improbable, but not
these results we see that the compressive force
in the beam element does not change while the
1
shear force value is constant but changes Federal Aviation Regulations Part 25,
direction at Node B. “Airworthiness Standards: Transport Category
Airplanes,” U.S. Department of Transportation,
The final result for the truss elements is shown Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This
in Figure 2-20. Tension and compression are document says that “Unless otherwise specified, a
indicated by the letters (T) and (C). factor of safety of 1.5 must be applied to the
prescribed limit load which are considered external
loads on the structure.”
2
Joint Aviation Requirements, JAR-25-“Large
Aeroplanes,” Joint Aviation Authorities (of several
European countries). This document governs
certification in Europe.

Chapter 2 Page 38
impossible. For instance, most aircraft (and product of a limit load times a factor of safety.
passengers) go through their entire service lives Applying an ultimate load to a structure will
without being subjected to ultra-violent result in failure, defined as permanent
maneuvers. However, loads from such deformation of some parts, fracture or rupture of
maneuvers might happen to one or two aircraft others or buckling that severely limits the
in the fleet over a period of decades. If applied, operation of the structure; the overall structure is
a limit load must be resisted by the structure not allowed to fail or collapse catastrophically.
without developing stresses so large that
permanent deformation would result when and if The FAR 25 requirements specify that the
the load is removed. Permanent deformation ultimate load be supported by the structure for at
stress levels, how high the stress levels need to least three seconds.4 The factor of safety is
be, depend on the materials used. usually equal to 1.5 for transport or military
airplanes with human occupants. For missiles or
Limit loads are computed or determined for for unmanned vehicles, this factor of safety
numerous operational conditions, including might be as low as 1.25.
symmetrical and unsymmetrical maneuvers.3
These load conditions include flight at different Originally, the factor of safety was intended to
altitudes and airspeeds with different weight account for unknowns and uncertainties in
payloads, locations and fuel weight. FAR materials quality, manufacturing and processing,
Section 25.321 states: assembly or operations. In the early days, this
ratio was 2.0 but was later reduced to its present
“Flight load factors represent the ratio of the value of 1.5. This factor is multiplied by the
aerodynamic force component (acting normal to limit loads to obtain the ultimate load factor.
the assumed longitudinal axis of the airplane) to
the weight of the airplane. A positive load factor Since we need to preclude failure, the
is one in which the aerodynamic force acts establishment of limit loads and ultimate loads
upward with respect to the airplane. naturally leads to tying them to allowable
stresses in the structure. How much stress is
Considering compressibility effects at each allowable if we need to prevent permanent
speed, compliance with the flight load deformation? How much is allowable if the
requirements of this subpart must be shown structural members are not allowed to buckle?
At each critical altitude within the range of
altitudes selected by the applicant; To understand the answers to these questions,
let‟s return to one of our truss examples.
At each weight from the design minimum weight
to the design maximum weight appropriate to
each particular flight load condition; and
For each required altitude and weight, for any 4
“The structure must be able to support ultimate
practicable distribution of disposable load
loads without failure for at least 3 seconds. However,
within the operating limitations recorded in the when proof of strength is shown by dynamic tests
Airplane Flight Manual.” simulating actual load conditions, the 3-second limit
does not apply. Static tests conducted to ultimate
Accidental exceedance of the limit load cannot load must include the ultimate deflections and
be excluded as a possibility so we are very ultimate deformation induced by the loading. When
careful to consider ultimate loads. An ultimate analytical methods are used to show compliance with
load for a structure is computed to be the the ultimate load strength requirements, it must be
shown that: (1) the effects of deformation are not
significant; (2) the deformations involved are fully
3
T. Lomax, Structural Loads Analysis for accounted for in the analysis; or (3) the methods and
Commercial Transport Aircraft: Theory and Practice, assumptions used are sufficient to cover the effects of
AIAA Education Series, Reston, Va., 1996. these deformations.”

Chapter 2 Page 39
Truss structures

2.11 Estimating structural weight

Let‟s return to our two-bar truss example in
Figure 2-11 to estimate the truss weight. The
truss elements have known lengths, Li, but we
do not know the cross-sectional areas, Ai, nor
have we chosen the materials. In this case, the allowable stress is a function of
the member length, its modulus of elasticity and
The mass of either of the two elements is
the member cross-sectional area. A cross-
estimated to be:
sectional area of say 2 square inches can give us
wi  Li Ai i many different cross-sectional area moments of
inertia. For instance, we could choose a circular
where  is the material density of the element. cross-section, a square cross-section or others.
The cross-sectional stresses in either of the bars
is computed from the formula For member BC, let‟s choose a square section
F (dimensions b x b). These dimensions give us
i  i
Ai an area The moment of inertia is the
This stress can either be tensile or compressive. same for the in-plane and out-of-plane directions
A designer will use this formula to compute the and is calculated to be:
area using the formula

Fi Fi
Ai  
 allowable  allowable
The cross-sectional area of the compressive
member is now computed to be:
As a result, the weight formula becomes

 Fi   L   12 FBC 
wi  i Li   ABC   BC   
  allowable      E 
Now, the question becomes, “where do I find the The weight of member BC is
stress allowables?” The two members in the
example resist different loads. Member AB has
a tensile internal force while BC is compressed.  12 FBC  2   
wBC    LBC  
 
2
The failure mode for AB will be tensile failure,
  E
either due to exceeding a prescribed stress like
the yield stress or exceeding the rupture stress. with

The failure mode for BC will be buckling of the

member. Buckling depends on the element this becomes
length, the material stiffness (the Young‟s
modulus, E) and the shape of the cross-section
6197 P  
(the area moment of inertia). The buckling load wBC 
for a column simply supported at its ends is  h  E 
given by the Euler-Bernouilli formula:
If we choose the allowable stress to be the yield
stress of the material in element AB, then the
weight of this element is

The allowable compressive stress is

Chapter 2 Page 40
 element internal load, the weight of the
compressive element varies as the square root of
with the internal compressive load.

Since the dimension “h” is a design variable, the

internal loads change with height, h, so the
structural weight changes with h, as seen in the
and
final equation for the truss weight.

Let‟s compare the weight and size of an

aluminum structure to that of the example
structure, with h=20 inches, constructed of wood
or aluminum. For aluminum we use  = 100
lb/cubic inch, yield = 66,000 psi and E =
10,500,000 psi. For wood we will use spruce
The total weight of the structure is then with  = 0.0156 lb./ cubic inch, allowable = 9500
psi and E = 1,300,000 psi.

The calculated data is as follows:

or Aluminum, w1 = 0.0429 lb. w2 = 0.4304 lb.

Spruce w1 = 0.0464 lb. w2 = 0.1908 lb.

The total weight is, for aluminum,

waluminum = 0.473 lb.

This weight expression shows several
fundamental features of structural design. First while for spruce, it is
of all, the term in the parentheses of the weight
component for AB is the inverse of the so-called wspruce = 0.2373 lb.
“strength-to-weight ratio.” The strength to
weight ratio should be large to keep the The calculated areas are:
tensile element weight low. The weight of high
strength elements will be so small in some cases waluminum = AB, 0.0151 square inches
that a wire will do the job. BC, 0.214 square inches

For compressive members, the material strength wspruce = AB, 0.149 square inches
parameter such as yield stress or ultimate stress, BC, 0.612 square inches
does not appear in the weight equation. Instead,
In this case, spruce is a better choice on the basis
the weight to stiffness ratio appears. For of element weight. However, we have not
compressive loads, the element axial stiffness factored in the joining mechanisms or the fact
becomes important; the larger the stiffness, the that “wooden wire” or very thin toothpick-like
smaller the cross-sectional area required. tension members might not be a good idea, from
a manufacturing standpoint. Note also that this
Notice also that very long members subjected to comparison is only for a single applied load and
compression will have very large weights since there are many other loads and considerations to
weight varies as the square of the element be taken into account. We‟ll have more to say
length. On the other hand, while weight of about this when we discuss materials in Chapter
tensile elements is linearly proportional to the 5.

Chapter 2 Page 41
Truss structures

If we plot the total weight of the two elements as computed using the simple strength of materials
a function of h, we find that, for spruce, the bending stress formula = My/I.
minimum weight is reached when the height h is
approximately 45 inches. The difference in The beam cross-section in (a) is square and the
weight between that found for h=20 inches and cross-sectional area is constant from the beam
h=45 inches is about 12%. root to the beam tip. The dimensions of the
cross-section are sufficient to make sure that the
When the two-bar truss is made of aluminum, stress at the beam support does not exceed the
the minimum weight occurs when h is near h=75 100 N/mm2 maximum allowable stress. In this
inches. The difference in the weight with h=20 case the stress is considerably smaller at other
inches compared to h=75 inches is about 28%. points on the beam so material there is wasted.
The optimum structural topology depends on the The weight of this design is 12 kg.
construction material, as well as the loading.
Simple models such as this example can help In (b) the cross-section is rectangular, but also
determine the most efficient structural constant along the beam itself. Once again, the
arrangement. Let‟s consider another example to large bending moment at the root determines the
make this point. height of the cross-section at every point on the
beam. The weight of this beam is 6.1 kg.
Figure 2-21 shows five different structural
configurations. Each structure transfers a load P In (c) the width is the same from beam root to
= 1000 Newtons to a wall 1 meter to the left of tip, but the cross-sectional height, h, varies so
the load application. The two basic design that the maximum stress at any cross-section is
choices are beam configurations (a, b, and c in 100 N/mm2. In this case we have a “fully-
Figure 2-21) or a truss configuration (d and e in stressed” beam design. The weight of this
Figure 2-21). Three different beam cross- design is 4.1 kg.
sections and two different truss geometries are
considered. The effect of using greater beam depth and the
effect of creating a fully stressed design are
The material for each of the five candidate apparent in the weight values. On the other
designs is steel; the maximum allowable tensile hand, the manufacturing cost of (c) will
stress is 100 N/mm2. The beam stresses are probably be greater than either (a) or (b).

Figure 2-21 – Geometry of structural choices to transfer a 1000 N. load to a wall support (Jorgen Kepler,
“Structural optimization as a design and styling tool-with emphasis on truss structures,”) The dimensions
given on the figures are given in millimeters.

Chapter 2 Page 42
Design (b) might be susceptible to lateral “law” states that energy cannot be created or
buckling instability. destroyed; it can only be changed from one form
to another. In the structures application, external
Cases (d) and (e) are truss alternatives to the work is converted to internal deformation or
beam design. In this case, hollow round tubes “strain energy.”
are used as compressive truss elements. The
heavy lines identify truss elements subjected to Strain energy is a useful concept in structural
compression while the thinner lines are truss analysis. Deflection calculations begin with
elements in tension. For truss elements, we need strain energy.
to consider not only the maximum tensile stress,
but also guard against buckling. The cross- Consider the concept of strain energy density for
sectional areas of the compressive members a linear elastic material, a material whose stress,
must be large enough to prevent buckling while , and strain, , are related through the
the areas of the tensile elements are large relationship where the constant e, is the
enough to keep the stresses below the maximum Young‟s modulus. If there is only a single stress
of 100 N/mm2. involved, this density is written as:

Analysis shows that the structural mass required 1 12 1 2

for either configuration (d) or (e) is 0.67 kg. U o     E
2 2 E 2
This is far less than required for a beam design
with the same load. In both truss designs, the
The term Uo represents the energy per unit
angle between the horizontal member and the
volume. For our truss elements the stress in any
angled element is a variable and determines the
one element is constant so the total strain energy
weight of the compression member since the
is a single bar, for instance element AB, is just
load in the compression member is a function of
the constant density times the element volume:
this angle. If, in case (e) this angle  is 62o then
the structural weight is 0.39 kg. 2
1  FAB 
U AB    * AAB * LAB
Structural geometry or topology design is 2 E  AAB 
important. For topology design we design
or
efficient geometry and are rewarded with a least 2
1 LAB FAB
weight design. Trusses are far more efficient U AB 
than beams for uses such as that illustrated, but 2 EAAB
notice also that they take up a lot more space.
This may disqualify them from aerospace use We also should recall that the extension of the
since fitting the structural topology into the element AB is given by the formula
aerodynamic form is not easy.
FAB LAB
2.12 Energy stored in the truss structure –  AB 
EAAB
strain energy and deflection
External loads produce structural deformation.
The deformation may be twisting, bending or so that the strain energy can also be written as:
stretching of elements. As the result, external
1
loads move and do work. Similarly, the internal U AB  FAB *  AB
loads resist the external loads and these internal 2
loads also do work.
Why is the factor of ½ in these formulas? This
Work involves loads and deflections and if we factor takes into account that we assume that the
know the loads and deflections we can calculate external loads are slowly applied, beginning at a
the work. The first law of thermodynamics is a zero value and increasing to their final values.
version of the conservation of energy. This

Chapter 2 Page 43
Truss structures

For the example two bar truss, the total strain Our discussion was limited to the application of
energy is the sum of the energies stored in each a single load to a structure and to statically
member. This means that we have determinate structures. In the usual case where
we have loads applied, removed and then
U total  U AB  U BC replaced with others, such as the case shown in
Figure 2-21 the situation becomes more
complicated.
  20 2 
1   
1  400 P 2 
U total  P LAB      
1 2 h
 EAAB  2 EABC h 2 
* 20
2
   
 
The relationship between the deflection where
the load P is applied, in the direction of P is
found by differentiating the strain energy with
respect to the applied load, P. This gives us:

  20 2 
1    
U total   h  
  PLAB     20 400 * P Figure 2-22- Two truss designs with two loads,
P EAAB EABC h 2 separately applied, at different times.
or
When the load P1 is removed and P2 is applied
   20 2   the two left members carry no load. Inserting an
 1     LAB 
   h   8000  additional element, such as shown in the truss
  P   diagram to the right in Figure 2-22 will tie in
 EAAB EABC h 2  these members and cause them to participate in
  the load carrying arrangement. Insertion of this
 
additional element also makes the structure
statically indeterminate so the analysis is more
This is the result of application of Castigliano‟s
complicated.
theorem.
We also briefly considered a fundamental
2.13 Summary
theorem of structural mechanics, Castigiliano‟s
We started Chapter 2 with the goal of reviewing
Theorem, to show how these relationships help
mechanics, including statics and Free Body
us to find deflections. Later we will develop an
Diagrams. Our vehicle for doing this was truss
analysis method, the finite element method; that
construction even though this design approach
will make truss analysis easier and automated.
sees limited use in aerospace structural design.
However, the fundamentals we have reviewed
We expanded upon this review by considering
here are still as important as they were 100 years
the estimation of structural weights and showed
ago when airplane enthusiasts took to the air.
how much of a penalty we incur when we load
truss members in compression instead of
2.14 – Historical notes
tension.
The strong influence of railway engineers and
civil engineers such as Octave Chanute on early
Configuration or “topology” is important for
aircraft structures has already been mentioned in
minimal weight structural design. So is the
Chapter 1. Some famous engineers and
choice of materials. We saw that we got
scientists were contributors to the engineering
different optimal geometries depending upon
mechanics theories that advanced bridge
which materials were used (our case considered
construction and, ultimately, aircraft structures.
aluminum and wood).
William J.M. Rankine‟s name is usually

Chapter 2 Page 44
associated with thermodynamics and the
Rankine cycle. However, he was an early
contributor to engineering mechanics. His book
Manual of Applied Mechanics was published in
1858 in England and was for years one of the
primary sources for structural theory and what
we know today as strength of materials.
Rankine, whose name we associate with
temperature measurement, penned a poem about
engineering units, one stanza of which reads:

“Some talk of millimetres, and some of

kilogrammes,
And some of decilitres, to measure beer and
drams;
But I'm a British Workman, too old to go to
school,
So by pounds I'll eat, and by quarts I'll
drink, and I'll work by my three-foot rule.” 2.15 – References
1. R.C. Hibbeler, Structural Analysis, Fifth
The Method of Sections is sometimes referred to Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2002, pp. 69-119.
as the “Method of Moments” or Ritter‟s 2. R.W. Soutas-Little and D.J. Inman,
Method” after Professor Georg A.D. Ritter,5 a Engineering Mechanics:Statics, Prentice-
professor at Polytechnique School Aix-La Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey,
Chapelle, which later became the Technical 1999.
University of Aachen. This university was the
home of von Karman and other early German
pioneers in aircraft design and construction. The
university‟s strong tradition in civil engineering
structures was one reason that Germany was
responsible for so many early airplane successes.

The figures below are taken from one of the

earliest textbooks on airplane design.6 These
figures indicate the early emphasis placed on
“aeroplane” structural design in general and
truss analysis in particular.

5
Elementary theory and calculation of iron bridges
and roofs, Prof. Georg August D. Ritter, Professor
Polytechnique School Aix-La Chapelle, (Aachen)
translated by Henry Riall Sankey, Lt. Royal
Engineers, 1879.
6
S.T.G. Andrews and S.F. Benson, The Theory and
Practice of Aeroplane Design, E.P. Dutton &
Company, New York, 1920.

Chapter 2 Page 45
 Truss structures

2.16 Homework Problems for Chapter Two Problem 2-4: The structure shown in the figure
Some of these problems will be assigned. represents an idealization of an engine mount.
Solutions should contain Free Body Diagrams Find the internal forces in the two-force
and equilibrium equations. Answers should be members. The supports on the right are pinned.
identified by outlining them. A summary
diagram of the answers similar to Figure 2-20
should appear for each problem solution.

Problem 2-1: Find the internal forces in all

members of the truss shown below.

Problem 2-4 – Source – Peery

Problem 2-5. Find the internal reactions of the

three members located in the truss section
between the two supports. The support on the
Problem 2-1 – Source – David Peery
left is on a roller while the support on the right is
fully pinned.
Problem 2-2: Find the internal forces in the
fuselage frame at a cross-section 85 inches to the
left of the tail in the airplane shown below.

Problem 2-5 – Truss structure; source: Bruhn

Problem 2-2 – Truss braced fuselage element; source- Problem 2-6: A design team insists that the
David Peery
truss shown in Problem Figure 2-6(a) is the best
solution for a space system to be launched to
Problem 2-3: Find the internal reactions in the Mars. A different team insists that they have a
structural members 15 inches to the right of the better design whose idealization is shown in
left support (see dashed line) for the structure Figure 2-6(c).
shown.

Problem 2-6(a) – Spacecraft truss design

Problem 2-3 – Source– Bruhn

Chapter 2 Page 46
The two idealizations shown in Problem Figure
2-6(b) and (c) and represent the math models of
the two competing designs. Complete the
following tasks.

a. Estimate the weights of both designs if

allowable for tension elements is 66,000 psi.
with E=10,500,000 psi. The truss element
cross-sections must be circular with radius r,
so that I=r4/4 or I = A2/4 where A is the
cross-sectional area. Which structure will
be lighter? The structural models are shown Problem 2-6(b) – Spacecraft truss idealization
together with their applied loads and internal
loads. You will have to determine whether
the internal loads are tensile or compressive.
(kips = 1000 lb., a kilopound) (Answers:
(b) weight/density = 18.73 in3; (c)
weight/density = 17.72 in3.

b. Compute the strain energy in each of the two

designs. Which design has less strain
energy? (Answers: (b) energy=758.3 in-lb.;
(c) energy = 922.5 in-lb.)

c. The summation of the absolute value of the Problem 2-6 (c) - Competing spacecraft truss
internal forces times the lengths of each
members is written as and a) Compute the reaction forces and the internal
has the units of work. For the structure in 2- loads in members BC, BG and FG.
6(b), n=4 while for the structure in 2-6(c), b) Three members carry no loads. Identify
n=2. Compute the value of J for each those members by inspection and logic.
structure. Which has the smaller value of J?
(Answers: (b) J=400,000 in-lb; (c) Problem 2-8: The seven-element truss shown
J=450,000 in-lb.) below is fixed to two supports. The common
formula m=2j-3 used to determine static
indeterminacy does not apply to this structure.
Explain why.

Problem 2-7; source Sarafin

Problem 2-7: Two loads are applied to the truss

in the figure shown.
Problem 2-8

Chapter 2 Page 47
Truss structures

Problem 2-9
Determine which truss structures shown below
are statically indeterminate and their degree of
indeterminancy.

(a) (b)

(c)

Chapter 2 Page 48
Inertia loads

Chapter 3 – Inertia Loads

3.1 Introduction 7. Evaluate concepts and iterate again,
A red warning light illuminates and a buzzer beginning with steps 4 or 5.
sounds. The pilot of a fighter knows that a
missile has been fired and is headed his way. 3.2 Critical loads
Flares are released and the pilot pulls up while Let‟s examine loads definition mentioned in
turning sharply. He is forced down into his seat Step 3. Loads definition begins with examining
and pulled backward. His g-suit squeezes his the loads on a missile being launched or an
extremities to keep him from blacking out. At airplane taking off, climbing to altitude and
the same time, the turbine shaft strains against cruising. It ends with landing or launch or entry
its bearings and the turbine blades come into space. These operational conditions will
perilously close to rubbing against the engine create loads that define the geometry and sizes
walls. of the structural elements.

A half a world away, a commercial airliner There are thousands of different aircraft loading
encounters turbulence. Overhead bins open and conditions. Identifying which of these
flight attendants and some passengers are thousands of loads are critical is important.
thrown to the ceiling while other passengers “Critical” means “might cause failure unless we
strain against their seatbelts. Still further away, design the component correctly.” An applied
fifty miles above the Earth, a space shuttle is load may be critical for one part like a bulkhead
returning from space, encountering re-entry in the front end of the airplane, but create no
forces that press its occupants firmly into their problem for other components else.
seats. Their vision blurs.
Airplanes loads come from diverse sources.
These three events recognize the importance of These include1
inertia loads in the design of aircraft and
spacecraft. What exactly are inertia loads?  Component and payload weight
 Air loads: lift, drag, gusts
As indicated in Chapter 1, aerospace structural  Acoustic loads
design has a set of logical steps with one major  Thermal loads
goal: produce a minimal (but not necessarily  Landing loads: touchdown, arresting
minimum) weight structure that is reliable, cost-  Take-off loads: runway taxi, catapult,
effective and, above all, safe to operate under a assisted (e.g. jet or rocket) take-off
variety of conditions. This task requires seven  Power plant loads: thrust, engine
steps: torque, gyroscopic effects
 special loads: towing, refueling,
1. Define top level vehicle system
pressurization, cargo, weapons recoil,
requirements
bomb release, blast effects.
2. Define airframe structural system design
requirements, including metrics for success
Most of the loads resisted by structural elements
3. Define load conditions, identify the critical
are due to aircraft weight (actually the aircraft‟s
loads
mass) and the fact that the airplane accelerates
4. Choose materials and layout the structural
during flight.
geometry and components
5. Perform analyses for sizing and to check for
1
compliance, compute factors of safety and The Federal Airworthiness Regulations (FAR) lists
design margins the loads that must be considered before a
6. Calculate system weights commercial aircraft can be certified as airworthy

Chapter 3 Page 49
Inertia loads

“Inertia loads” are a primary source of loads for object into a static load is called d‟Alembert‟s
aircraft and arise because of accelerations Principle.
created by engine thrust, maneuvers or gust
conditions. The concept of the “load factor” or Inertia forces have special properties. They are
“g-force” is used to describe inertia loads vectors that:
created by acceleration and resisted by the
structural components to keep it acting as a unit.  act through the object‟s center of mass
 have a direction opposite to the direction of
3.3 D’Alembert’s Principle – inertia loads acceleration
inside the vehicle  are proportional to the mass of the object.
One of the most important loads on aircraft and
spacecraft is called the inertia load. How do we To illustrate this concept let‟s use a simple
compute inertia loads? Newton‟s Second Law is model with a weight, W, suspended from a wire,
written as F=ma; we compute airplane as shown in Figure 3-1. The weight is subjected
accelerations once we know the airplane mass, to gravitational force, W = mg, and to a force T
m, and the net forces, F. We include all external (as in tension) in the wire. The mass accelerates
forces and gravity acting on the airplane in our upward by an amount “a.” Newton‟s Second
calculation of F. This calculation allows us to
compute vehicle trajectories, but structural T
analysts must compute forces inside the a = (T - W)/m
accelerating airplane structure in a non-inertial T=ma+W
reference system.

The problem is this: while dynamicists compute

the motion of the center of mass of a body, they
g
assume that all of the interconnected particles ma
and components within the body will move with W=mg
the center of mass. Internal forces within the
Law becomes T-W = ma or T = W + ma.
structure ensure that this happens and the
structures supply internal forces to make sure Figure 3-1 - Free body diagram of a wire pulling on
that this happens. These forces try to pull the a mass with weight W, showing the d’Alembert
airplane structure apart while it is in the air. inertia “force” ma.

Computing inertia forces is simple. While we As an observer with feet planted firmly on the
write the dynamics equation F=ma so that we ground, we see that the force T accelerates the
can compute the acceleration a=F/m, we can weight, W, but, if we are moving with the wire
also write the equation as F-ma=0. we don’t see the acceleration, we feel it. The
tension in the wire seems to counteract an
Written this way, this equation looks like a static acceleration “force” ma or (W/g)a.
equilibrium equation so it is called the “dynamic
equilibrium equation.” The term (–ma) is called D'Alembert‟s Principle transforms an
the “inertia force.” accelerating system into an equivalent static
system by adding so-called “inertia forces” and
Inertia forces are also called “D‟Alembert "inertia moments" to the forces acting on the
forces” to honor the French mathematician Jean system. D‟Alembert‟s Principle is just another
le Rond d‟Alembert (1717-1783) who first way of writing Newton‟s Second Law, but
formulated the concept and the process of written in a form more useful to structures
converting the mass times the acceleration of an analysts.

Chapter 3 Page 50
 Figure 3-3 – Aircraft launch loads;
Source – David Peery

A free-body diagram of this configuration is

Figure 3-2 – Centripetal acceleration produces shown in Figure 3-4 with an x-y coordinate
centrifugal force, shown for this airplane as it system. The aircraft accelerates to the left at
banks to turn 3.25 times the acceleration due to gravity. The
aircraft inertia force is 3.25g times the aircraft
Consider the example shown in Figure 3-2. mass or 3.25W and acts to the right.
This aircraft is executing a level banked turn.
To do so the wing banks to redirect lift slightly
inward to create a centripetal force that creates
centripetal acceleration. The centrifugal force
created by the centripetal acceleration. The
d‟Alembert approach leads one to “feel”
centrifugal “force” as the result of centripetal
acceleration.

“Inertia moments” are proportional to the

object‟s mass moment of inertia and angular
accelerations, similar to inertia forces. We‟ll
illustrate this concept later. Once we have Figure 3-4 – Dynamic Free body diagram showing
calculated forces and moments and defined the the airplane inertia force (not to scale)
unknown reactions, we can draw the FBD.
There are three force unknowns in the problem:
the cable tension, T, and, the deck reactions R1
3.4 An example – carrier launch and R2. We need three equations. Writing the
The aircraft shown in Figure 3-3 has a gross summation of forces, including the inertia force,
weight of 15,000 lb. and is being launched from in the x-direction, we have:
an aircraft carrier. The tension, T, in the cable
acts through the airplane c.g. and is sufficient to
give the aircraft a forward acceleration of 3.25g.

We want to find the cable tension and reaction T = 51,879 lb.

loads on the aircraft landing gear, labeled as R1
and R2 in the figure. Note that the force R1 The summation of forces in the y-direction
represents the combined reaction force of both gives:
of the main gear.

Chapter 3 Page 51
Inertia loads

Summing moments about the airplane c.g. in the

clockwise direction (the inertia force acts
through the c.g. since we have modeled the
 Fx
max  mg x
external
 nx 
airplane as a point mass): W W
m a g
M  0  20 R1  70 R2   ax  g x   x  x
c. g . mg g g
c. g .

These equations give:

• Sum forces (excluding weight)
R1 = 25,467 lb. and R2 = 7276 lb. • divide by weight (a scalar)
To summarize, vehicle acceleration requires • Result is the load factor
m
 Fzi
external forces, but also requires internal
reaction forces within the vehicle to force the
vehicle to move as a single unit. We used the nzW i 1
D‟Alembert‟s Principle and dynamic W nz 
equilibrium equations to compute the inertia z W
forces required to solve for internal reactions. apparent static weight
3.5 Load factors and “g-loading”
An alternative way of calculating the vehicle
inertia loads is to use the “load factor” concept.
The load factor is often stated in terms of g‟s.
Let‟s define the load factor and derive a formula When we multiply the load factor by the weight
for the load factor. Let‟s imagine a vehicle
of an object we get the “inertial weight” of the
climbing in flight. First we write the dynamic object. At 2g‟s you appear to weigh twice your
equilibrium equation in a coordinate direction, x, normal weight. At zero g‟s you float.
directed positive upward.
The load factor formula is easy to compute since

external
Fx  max  mg x  0 we don‟t need to know anything about
dynamics, just statics. If we know the load
factor then we can compute the apparent weight
The two terms that are proportional to m consist of masses within the structure.
of the inertia force due to acceleration and a
gravitational force term. This force acts in the Let‟s illustrate the load factor computation for
negative x-direction. the example we showed in Figure 3-4. To begin,
we sum the actual forces in the y-direction,
The term mgx is the component of the aircraft leaving out the weight:
weight acting in the negative x direction. Now

we divide the terms into two groups, the external
Fy  25,467  7276  51,879sin 20o  15,000
forces and the forces due to the mass (these are external
also called “body forces”).
so that

W
Fx  max  mg x   ax  g x  ny 
15,000
1
external g 15,000

We now divide both sides by the vehicle weight, In the y-direction we have a “1-g” condition.
W, to get a number called the load factor in the All mass items inside the airplane exert their
x-direction, nx. normal weight as forces downward.

Chapter 3 Page 52
Summing external forces (excluding gravity and direction is determined as follows: positive load
the inertia force) in the positive x-direction, we factors produce loads in the negative direction;
find that the total is: negative load factors produce loads in the
positive direction. Let‟s illustrate this with the
 Fx
48,750
example shown in Figure 3-5.
nx  external
  3.25
W 15,000

Aircraft weight is always left out of the

summation of forces used to compute the load
factor, but appears as a denominator in the load
factor equation as the total vehicle weight, W.
The same weight, W, is used as a denominator
for both nx and ny. On the other hand, the load
factor for the y-direction is positive while the
load factor for the x-direction is negative. How
do we interpret a negative load factor? Figure 3-5- Load factor example

Suppose we are in the cockpit of this airplane. An airplane is maneuvering so that the following
A pencil weighing one ounce when the airplane load factors are computed: nx = -1.5; nz = 2. An
is stationary will have two “weight” components item weighing 10 pounds is suspended from a
during launch, one in the x-direction and one in wire as shown in Figure 3-5. If the load factors
the y-direction. The magnitude of these weights remain constant for a long enough time, find the
and their directions are important for loads angle that the wire will make with respect to the
calculation. z-axis and find the tension in the wire.

The first weight component is determined, for The apparent loads

this example, entirely by gravity. In the y- are 15 pounds in the
direction, the pencil still “weighs” one ounce or +x direction and 20
ny times 1 ounce. pounds in the
negative z-direction.
On the other hand, the same one ounce pencil This gives us a FBD
will “weigh” nx*1 ounce or -3.25 ounces. How as indicated in Figure
can you weigh minus 3.25 ounces? The answer 3-6. The vector
to this question depends on how we choose the resultant of these two
x-coordinate system. forces is T=25 lb.
The angle is
The summation of external forces always is in a computed from the
direction opposite to the apparent weight. Since equation Figure 3-6- cable tension
the loads in the x-direction are in the negative x- due to load factors
direction, then the apparent weight should be in
the positive x-direction and equal to 3.25 15
ounces. The pencil feels itself being pushed
  tan 1  37.87o
20
backward along the x-axis.
A V-n diagram such as that shown in Figure 3-7
3.6 Summary – the procedure for computing is a way of summarizing operational load factors
apparent weights using load factors and the structural requirements that they create.
The load factor may be a positive or negative. Design requirements are specified in terms of
For each weight item in the vehicle, we multiply load factors called “limit load factors”
this weight by the load factor. The load

Chapter 3 Page 53
Inertia loads

 load factors in the vertical and

longitudinal directions.
x

1 4 ft
z
m ax
4 ft T
1 3 ft
R1 W R2
0 .3 R 2
7 0 ft

Figure 3-9-FBD for example problem

(Source-W.L. Hallauer)

The x-direction is in the fore and aft directions,

as indicated in Figure 3-9. The acceleration ax
Figure 3-7 – V-n diagram showing load factor is an unknown but is in the positive x-direction,
requirements as a function of airspeed. so the inertia force is drawn in negative x
direction. After touching down the aircraft stays
(sometimes called “design load” factors) and on the runway, so az = 0.
“ultimate load factors.” The corner points of the
V-n diagram define critical conditions of inertia First we calculate the vertical reaction forces
loading and aerodynamic loading and represent using force equilibrium in the z direction (notice
“do not exceed” points during flight operation. that the positive z direction is downward).

Since the airplane operates at different weights 

Fx  0   R1  R2  W
external
and since weight enters into the load factor
equation, we must construct more than one V-n
diagram for our airplane.

3.7 Example – aircraft touchdown Next, we sum moments about the airplane center
The airplane shown in Figure 3-8 weighs W = of gravity.
120,000 lb. During touchdown its engines apply


a reverse thrust of 8,000 lb. and the rear wheels
M c. g .  0  56R1  14R2  4T  13(0.3* R2 )
exert 30% of their normal force during braking.
external

1 4 ft Substituting for R1 in terms of R2 we get:

56*(120,000  R2 )  14R2  4*8000  13*(0.3R2 )  0

4 ft
T
1 3 ft
W R2  90,5000 lb.

7 0 ft R1  29,500 lb.
Figure 3-8- Example problem, aircraft landing
(Source-W.L. Hallauer) To find ax we use the x force equilibrium
equation:
Find the:
 vertical reactions at nose and main
landing gears
 acceleration in the x direction

Chapter 3 Page 54
 (a) Determine the vertical airplane acceleration
The negative sign tells us the aircraft is and load factor at the instant that the airplane
accelerating in the negative x direction (acting to touches down.
the right).
The positive z-direction is upward. The
To compute the load factor in the x-direction we unknown is the acceleration so we use the
use: dynamics equation:
W 
F 8000  0.3* R2
 Fx  45,000  45,000  30,000    ax
g

x

W 120,000 W 
35,150   ax  60,000 lb.
  0.293  g 
120,000 ax
2
g
Anything with mass will exert a force to the
right (negative x-direction) equal to its weight
times the load factor (-0.293) due to its Now, compute the load factor, nz:
deceleration. As passengers in this airplane we
will feel ourselves being pushed forward into the F x  45,000  45,000  nzW  30,000* nz
seat. nz = 3
3.8 Calculating internal reaction forces and (b) Compute the compressive force and bending
moments moment in the left
When vehicles accelerate, how do we calculate landing gear
the structural component shear forces, bending strut.
moments, and other internal actions caused by
the combination of both static and dynamic Figure 3-11
loads? Let‟s answer this question with an shows the FBD of
example. the left wheel and
strut assembly
The 30,000 lb. airplane shown in Figure 3-10 is with the inertia
landing so that the ground reaction on each main force included.
wheel is 45,000 lb.2 Aerodynamic lift is The center of the
negligible during this landing impact. tire footprint is
offset from the
oleo strut Figure 3-11- Wheel
centerline by 6 assembly
inches. The
wheel assembly weighs 500 lbs. We will solve
for the oleo strut compression force C and the
bending moment, M, by summing forces and
moments.

Figure 3-10 – Example problem – aircraft

touchdown
F x  45,000  nz *500  C  0

C=43,500 lb.

M
2
This example is adapted from Aircraft Structures
cut  6* nz *500  6* 45,000  M  0
by David J. Peery, (1950) pages 50-52.

Chapter 3 Page 55
Inertia loads

M = 261,000 lb-in.
Each section has a c.g. location xi measured with
(c) Calculate the shear force and bending respect to the vehicle c.g. and a weight, wi. The
moment in the wing cross section 240" inboard relationship between the component weights,
from the wing tip (which is outboard of the c.g. locations and the vehicle center of mass is
landing gear/engine mount). This wing section such that
weighs 1,500 lb and has its center of gravity at 4

the midpoint of the section, as indicated in x w  0

i 1
i i
Figure 3-12.
In Figure 3-13, component 4 has a negative x
location.

Figure 3-12- Wing section FBD showing inertia

force and internal reactions

We first sum forces in the vertical, z-direction.

We use the load factor to “adjust” the weight.
Figure 3-13-Example problem with angular
 Fx  V  nz *1500  0 acceleration

V = 4500 lb. The mass moment of inertia is defined as:

tail
Summing moments at the cut section we have Io   nose
mx 2 dx

M cut  mw  120* nx *1500

where m is the mass per unit length along the x-
axis; the mass distribution, m, is, in general, a
mw = 540,000 lb-in function of x.

We could have used the inertia load of 30,000 To calculate the load factor on the vehicle in the
lb. acting downward, together with the actual z-direction we use
15,000 lb. weight to get the same results.
 Fz  Wnz
3.9 Adding in the angular acceleration
“forces” where W= missile total weight.
Figure 3-13 shows a missile acted upon by
external forces that produce a net force in the z The sum of the external forces times their
direction as well as a counter-clockwise pitching distance from the vehicle c.g. is equal to
moment about the missile c.g. The vehicle sub- M o  I o .
divided into four pieces for analysis purposes.
These pieces may be actual modules or arbitrary
cut sections chosen where we wish to calculate
internal loads.

Chapter 3 Page 56
The vehicle has an angular pitching acceleration 2. An extra inertial load due to angular
 as the result of the net clockwise moment. As acceleration about the vehicle c.g., located at
a result, two effects must be taken into account the component c.g. written as
when computing the inertia loads. but in a direction opposite to the
acceleration itself
First of all, because we are rotating the missile 3. An inertia moment equal to M Ri  Ii in
in pitch there are accelerations with respect to the direction opposite to the angular
the vehicle c.g. not accounted for in the load acceleration. Although we usually draw this
factor computation. As indicated in Figure 3-13, moment as acting around the component c.g.
the translational acceleration at any position x it is a free vector.
from the missile c.g. is computed from the
formula The final inertial load results are shown in
Figure 3-15.
ari  x

The direction of this translational acceleration is

downward if the formula gives a positive
number and upward if it gives a negative
number.

In addition to the translational accelerations at

points along the missile axis created by the
angular acceleration, each missile component
must have its own angular acceleration that is
equal to the angular acceleration of the whole Figure 3-15-Inertia loads final result
vehicle. Otherwise the vehicle would not rotate
as a unit. Internal forces and moments are Let‟s work another example to illustrate an
required to keep the missile moving and rotating inertia loads calculation.
as a single unit.
The 10,000 lb. Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV)
shown in Figure 3-16 is landing; a tail-hook
grabs an arresting wire to stop the airplane.

Figure 3-14-Inertia loads on missile components

Figure 3-16- Example problem showing UAV
The inertia load diagram is shown in Figure arrested landing
3-14. There are three components:

1. The vehicle load factor component

determined by nz*(wi/g)

Chapter 3 Page 57
Inertia loads

Initially the cable tension is 20,000 lb. and its Rotational acceleration generates additional
line of action passes through the airplane center inertia forces in addition to those given by the
of gravity. The inclination of the cable is 20 load factors. These loads are shown in Figure
degrees with respect to the horizontal. This 3-17.
produces a 30,000 lb. reaction force in the main
landing gear located 20 inches aft of the
c.g.

a) Find the load factors nx and nz.

b) Find the apparent weight in the z-
direction of 1 lb. items located at three
positions in the airplane.
1. At the airplane c.g
2. 100 inches ahead of the c.g.
3. 200 inches aft of the c.g.
Figure 3-17- Rotating missile accelerations and the load factor
To find the two load factors we compute combine to create inertia loads.
the following:
Figure 3-17 shows the three points where we
 Fx  20,000cos 20o  10,000nx want to compute the inertia loads. All three
points have the same load factor in the z-
and
direction, as indicated by the green rectangle in
Figure 3-17. We simply multiply the weights at
F z  30,000  20sin 20o  10,000nz any point on the missile by the load factor, nz.

We find that The translational accelerations created by

rotational acceleration are different because the
nx = -1.967 and nz = 2.653 masses lie at different distances from the c.g.
The translational acceleration at any point a
The sum of the external moments about the distance xi from the c.g. (xi can be positive or
airplane c.g. is not zero so there will be angular negative) is:
acceleration,  . Units of angular acceleration ari  xi
are radians per sec.2 Summing moments in the
clock-wise direction we have the result: The direction of ar is determined by the direction
of rotation, as shown in Figure 3-17. The inertia
 20  force direction is opposite to the acceleration
M c. g .  I cg  30,000 *  
 12 
direction.

For this problem the angular acceleration

The quantity Icg in this equation represents the
reduces the apparent load in the nose section 100
aircraft mass moment of inertia computed at the
inches from the c.g. and increases it in the rear
c.g. about the airplane pitch axis. In engineering
of the airplane 200 inches aft of the c.g. At the
units this inertia term has units of slug-ft.2 The
c.g. there is no additional effect.
weights group tells us that Icg=7800 slug-ft.2
Completing the calculation for angular
For 1 pound weights at each of the three
acceleration we find:
locations, the apparent weights are shown in
Figure 3-18.
50,000
  6.41 rad / sec2
7800

Chapter 3 Page 58
Figure 3-18-Internal forces generated by one pound
components located at nose, c.g. and tail of an
aircraft due to translational and rotational
accelerations. The component shown in light green
is the result of a common load factor while the
yellow triangles are the result of angular
acceleration about the aircraft c.g..
Figure 3-20-Partial FBD of aft end of missile
3.10 A second example - missile joint bending
moments in a missile with rotational Data for the aft section shown in Figure 3-20 is
acceleration as follows: 1) mass moment of inertia, Io, about
Inertia moments are important. Consider this its own c.g. is Io = 16,670 slug-ft,2; 2) aft
problem. A missile in flight, depicted in component weight = 3000 lb.
Figure 3-19, is subjected to loads during
turbulence. Resultant forces due to the The first step is to convert this information into
distributed external side loads are shown in the inertia loads. This includes an inertia moment.
figure. As a result, a load factor nz = 1 and a These forces and moments are shown in Figure
counter-clockwise angular acceleration  = 1.08 3-21, together with the shear force, V, at the
rad/sec.2 are created. missile joint and the internal bending moment,
MR .
An assembly joint is located 30 inches aft of the
missile c.g. Compute the bending moment and The c.g. of the component is subject to two
shear force in the field joint. A Free Body inertia forces. The first component is due to the
Diagram is shown in vehicle load factor and is 3000*nz. This load
Figure 3-20. acts at the missile component c.g in the negative
z-direction as shown in Figure 3-21.

The second inertia component is due to the fact

Figure 3-19-Missile in flight showing external

disturbances Figure 3-21-FBD of missile component showing internal
forces and inertia forces

Chapter 3 Page 59
Inertia loads

that the missile component is rotating about the This gives the result that MR = 1,225,000 in-lb.
missile c.g. with angular acceleration 1.08 in the clockwise direction.
rad/sec.2 This angular acceleration produces a
translational acceleration equal to aR  130 The shear force V is found by summing forces.
inches per sec2 in the positive z direction. It also
creates an inertia force located at the component V  1090  3000  20,000  3000  0
c.g of (3000/g)*aR directed to the left, in the V  18,910 lb.
negative z-direction.
The negative sign indicates that the shear force
In addition to these inertia forces, an inertia direction is opposite to that originally chosen. If
moment must be added to account for the fact the joint cannot furnish these internal reactions
that the missile component has rotational then the missile will break apart.
acceleration. Like the d‟Alembert inertia force,
the inertia moment is computed by multiplying 3.11 Example – another idealized missile in
the mass moment of inertia of the missile flight
component, Io = 16,670 slug-ft.2, by the missile Our structural dynamics group has chosen a
angular acceleration to produce the inertia lumped parameter or “stick” model shown in
moment that acts on the missile component. Figure 3- to analyze a missile in flight. .

M inertia  16,670*1.08  18,000 ft  lb.

or
M inertia  216,000 in  lb.

This inertia moment acts in the clock-wise

direction. The FBD is shown in Figure 3- (this
figure is not drawn to scale).

Figure 3-23-Stick model of missile in flight. Mass

elements are equally spaced, 20 inches between
masses.

The model is 100 inches long and consists of six

equally spaced weights. These weights are
number 1-6 with #1 located at the missile tail
and #6 located at the nose. The load factors
Figure 3-22-FBD of aft missile section showing
have been computed for this missile (the loads
inertia force, inertia moments and external forces
together with shear force V and internal moment are not shown, except for the 1200 lb. thrust)
MR. Figure is not drawn to scale. and are nz=3.5 and nx=2 with a counter-
clockwise angular acceleration equal to 0.5
Summing moments at the joint, with the rad/sec.2
clockwise direction as positive, we have:
a) Compute the apparent weights of the six
M jo int  M R  70 * 20,000  216,000
masses for this acceleration condition.
b) Compute the bending moment at the
100 * 4090  150 *3000 missile c.g. due to the inertia loads.

Chapter 3 Page 60
 c) Compute the internal axial force between aR1  22.5 in.
masses 5 and 6. sec.2
aR 2  12.5 in.
First, let‟s solve let‟s locate the missile c.g. sec.2
We‟ll use the temporary coordinate system in aR 3  2.5 in.
Figure 3-. sec.2
aR 4  7.5 in.
sec.2
aR 5  17.5 in.
sec.2
aR 6  27.5 in.
sec.2
The inertia loads due to these accelerations are
computed from the formula
w 
FRi   i  aRi
 g 
Figure 3-24-Lumped mass model cg. locations
The direction of these inertia forces is opposite
to the accelerations, as indicated in Figure 3-26.

w X i i  X c. g . w 
i

Substituting the values for weights and their

coordinates into this equation,

20 * 200  40 *100  60 *100  80 *100  100 *50

 X c. g . * 600
Xc.g. = 45 inches from the left end Figure 3-26-Inertial forces (pounds) due only to
rotational acceleration (lbs.) Not to scale.
Next, we compute the translational accelerations
of each of the six masses due to the angular The total inertia loads in the z-direction are
acceleration. These accelerations, shown in computed by superimposing the loads due to
Figure 3-25, are computed with respect to the angular acceleration with the load factor
missile c.g. using the relationship components. These loads are computed using
the relationship
aRi  xi Fzi  nz * wi  FRi
The final values for the inertial loads created by
The accelerations increase with distance from the six masses in the z-direction is shown in
the c.g. Figure 3-27.

Figure 3-25- Angular acceleration induced Figure 3-27- Final result, inertia forces due to
translational accelerations discrete masses, units are pounds.

The z-direction translational accelerations due to The bending moment at the missile c.g. due to
the angular acceleration are as follows: the inertia forces depends only on the forces in

Chapter 3 Page 61
Inertia loads

the z-direction. The FBD for this calculation is To obtain the final bending moments and axial
shown in Figure 3-28. forces inside the missile we would need to know
the distribution of external aerodynamic forces
over the missile and superimpose these forces
and moments onto the inertial effects we have
just computed.

3.12 Distributed inertia forces–a toppling

smokestack
Everyone likes to watch a demolition. When
large smokestacks are demolished the crowd
Figure 3-28- FBD for cut section sees an initial explosion that removes the
support at the bottom of the smokestack to allow
If we take the positive moment direction to be in it to rotate and fall to the ground.
the same direction as the angular acceleration
(counter-clockwise), the bending moment is In some cases, the smokestack stays intact until
computed to be: it hits, but in other others, particularly for
masonry structures, the smokestack breaks in
M c. g .  45*172.1  25* 693.5 two as it falls. To understand why this happens,
let‟s analyze the inertia loads and stresses in the
5*349.4  M c smokestack cross-section.
This gives:
Mc = -26,830 lb-in. Our analytical model is a beam-column with a
or pinned end shown in Figure 3-31. We will
Mc = +26,830 lb-in. (clockwise) neglect the aerodynamic forces since the speeds
of the rotation are very small. That leaves only
The six inertia loads in the x-direction are shown gravity and inertial loads as the applied loads.
in Figure 3-29. These loads are computed from
the relationship Fxi = nx*wi and are positive in
the negative x-direction.

Figure 3-29- Inertia loads in the x-direction

The axial force is computed by drawing the FBD Figure 3-31-Smokestack structural model showing
shown in figure 3-30. pinned support at the bottom

The model shown in Figure 3-32 is assumed to

have a uniformly distributed mass. The angular
acceleration is counter-clockwise produces a
Figure 3-30-Axial force FBD translational acceleration distribution. This load
distribution varies linearly from zero at the
This gives us T = -100 lb. or 100 lb. in pinned support at the smokestack base to L at
compression between masses #5 and #6. the smokestack top.

Chapter 3 Page 62
 wL2
M 0  w sin xdx 
L
pin 
2

This gives us the angular acceleration expression

3 g 
    sin 
2 L 

This acceleration is in the counter-clockwise

direction. The inertia load per unit length is

w 3 x
f ( x)  maR  x  w   sin 
g 2 L
Figure 3-32- Gravity and inertia loads are
distributed along the smokestack. The gravity load Note that this expression depends only on the
producing stack compression is shown in the figure. smokestack angle.
The angular acceleration also produces an inertia We have drawn the beam model in Figure 3-33
force distribution, written as f(x) and shown in oriented in a horizontal direction to show all
Figure 3-. The units for this distributed force are forces, including the inertia load and
lb/ft. This transverse load produces a shear and components of weight in the transverse direction
bending moments in the smokestack. Unlike our (wsin).
earlier examples, the inertial reference point for
angular acceleration is the fixed pin at the
smokestack base, not the smokestack c.g.

Gravity will produce two load components, a

component along the axis of the stack and a
component perpendicular to the stack axis. Both
functions of the smokestack angle of attack.
The compressive distributed load is mgcos and
is indicated in Figure 3-32. The transverse
gravity component is wsin but is not shown in
Figure 3-32.
Figure 3-33-Transverse inertia and gravity load
To begin the problem solution, first compute the distributions
angular acceleration. To do this we use the
relationship The reaction force Ry can be determined from
force equilibrium for the entire smokestack.
M
Referring to Figure 3-33, this equation is written
pin  I pin
as:

F   f ( x)  wsin dx
L
where the mass moment of inertia about the pin y  0   Ry 
0
is defined as or
L L3  w   L3  3

I pin  mx 2 dx  m     
0 3  g  3 
Ry  wL sin   wL sin    1 wL sin 
4 4
The bending moment for this problem is found
The sum of the moments about the pin is: by drawing the FBD shown in Figure 3-35. This
FBD shows the smokestack cut at an arbitrary

Chapter 3 Page 63
Inertia loads

position a distance x from the smokestack

pinned support.

Figure 3-35-Internal bending moment, at three

different rotation angles, as a function of distance
Figure 3-34-FBD of cut section at an arbitrary from the bottom of the smokestack.
position x on the smokestack-showing only
transverse loads (plus the axial end reaction).
The bending moment creates bending stresses in
the smokestack cross-section given as:
Summing moments about the cut section
(positive if they are clockwise) at the left end of
the diagram in Figure 3-34 we have:  Mo 
 bend    y
 I sec tion 
M
wL
pin  0  M o  x( sin  )
4 On the upper surface of the smokestack (+y) the
 x  x  x  bending stress is compressive while on the lower
( wx sin  )     f ( x) *   surface it is tensile.
2  2  3 
or
We must superimpose these bending stresses
 wL2 sin    x 3  x   x 
2
with those caused by the axial compressive
M o ( x)       2      
 4   L   L   L   loading wsin. The stresses at any point x on
the smokestack due to the compressive loading
are
The bending moment is shown plotted against
F w  L  x  sin 
the coordinate x in Figure 3-35. The bending x  a  
moment at the smokestack tip (x=L) and at the A A
pin (x=0) are zero since the smokestack is Masonry structures are not good at resisting
pinned at x=0 and free at x=L. The bending tension unless they have substantial reinforcing.
moment is a maximum between x=0.3L and Let‟s estimate the stresses are for a solid circular
x=0.4L. cross-section. (The smokestack is hollow, but
then we would have to choose an outside radius
To find the location of this maximum we and an inner radius.) For a cross-section with
differentiate the expression for the bending radius, a, the sectional moment of inertia is:
moment and set it to zero so that:  r4
I section 
4
wL sin    x  
2
M o x On the lower surface of a solid cross-section
0 3     4 
x with radius “a”, the total tensile stress is:
4   L  L 

The value x=L/3 satisfies this equation. This

value is independent of the angle .

Chapter 3 Page 64
  
 total   
Mo   a   w  L  x  cos
  a 4   a2
 4 
or
wL cos
   
 L tan   x 3
 L    1
2
 total   a   L  2 L
x 2 x
 a2  

We cannot develop this formula further without Load factors can act in any
knowing more smokestack geometry details, in direction
particular the ratio L/a. On the other hand, we
can understand that this formula should predict a
negative result (compression) unless we want
the material to fail. However, we expect the
smokestack will begin to fail in the region near
x/L = 0.35. Now, go watch then topple a
smokestack and see if we are right!

3.13 Summary
This chapter has discussed the concept of inertia
loads, where they come from and how to
calculate them. We defined and used the load
factor used by loads groups to define loads due
to acceleration of the vehicle. These loads,
combined with aerodynamic loads, can place
significant stress on the airframe in flight and Computing and interpreting load
during landing. factors

Chapter 3 Page 65
Inertia loads

3.14 Chapter 3 - Homework problems time a jet vane malfunction causes a force
F=20,000 lb. to be applied as shown.
Problem 3-1

Problem 3-1 Figure

A 40 lb. rigid structure consists of a 60 inch

uniform beam resting on simple supports with a
12 inch square uniform block attached to the
right hand end. Both the beam and the block
weigh 20 pounds. The structure is enclosed in a
rocket fairing. During launch the package is
subjected to a vertical acceleration of 4.8 g‟s.
a) Calculate the reaction forces at the supports.
b) Calculate the internal bending moment at
point B.
Answers: MB = 5048 lb-in. Reactions: 139.2 lb. Problem 3-3 Figure
and 371.2 lb.
a) Find the vehicle load factors, nx and nz.
Problem 3-2 b) Find the angular acceleration.
c) An equipment package weighing 30 lb.
when the rocket is sitting on the launch pad
is located 30 inches ahead of the rocket c.g.
Find the force in the z-direction that this
package will exert on the supports holding it
to the rocket. This requires a number and a
direction.
Problem 3-4

Problem 3-2 Figure

An airplane weighing 5000 pounds lands and
develops the forces as shown. An object on the
airplane weighs 1.5 pounds when the airplane is
at rest. The apparent weight has two
components, one in the x-direction and the other
in the z-direction. Find the apparent weight of
the object (magnitudes in both directions). Problem 3-4 Figure

Problem 3-3 A hoist assembly (motor and cable) mounted on

A rocket weighs 50,000 lb. and has a pitch mass a light weight structure weighs 60 pounds. This
moment of inertia of 10,000,000 lb-sec2-in at the frame is designed to lift 1000 pounds with a
instant shown. At an altitude of 1000 feet the maximum acceleration of 15 ft/sec.2
thrust minus drag (T-D) is 150,000 lb. At that

Chapter 3 Page 66
 (a) Compute the tension in the cable at this
acceleration.
(b) Compute the internal loads in each of the
seven elements due to the 60 pound hoist
and the accelerating 1000 pound mass.

Problem 3-5

Problem 3-6 Figure

Answers: P=26,100 lb.; R1=20720 lb.

(downward); R2=29,720 lb. (upward).

Problem 3-7
Problem 3-5 Figure

A 96,000 lb. transport has a centroidal mass

moment of inertia of 48.3 x 106 lb-sec2-in. about
its pitch axis. During landing the total lift is
0.90 times the aircraft weight. In addition, the
forces shown also act.
a) Determine the load factor in the vertical
direction.
b) An electronics package weighs 100 lb. and Problem 3-7 Figure
is located 400 inches aft of the aircraft c.g.
Determine the fore/aft and An overhead compartment, located 30 feet aft of
upward/downward loads (and their a passenger airplane c.g. will unlatch if the load
directions) due to the package mass as the exceeds 75 pounds. A suitcase weighing 20
result of the landing. (Answers: 442.5 lb. pounds is placed in it.
up/down and 52 lbs. fore/aft)
 Develop a formula for combinations of load
Problem 3-6 factor and angular acceleration that will
During the filming of a John Wayne movie an cause the latch to open when a 20 lb.
ancient airplane equipped with a float is suitcase is placed in the compartment.
launched. The 900 lb. engine thrust plus the
catapult force, P, give the airplane a 3g forward Answer: 3.75  nz  0.938*
acceleration. The airplane weighs 9000 lb.

 Find the catapult force P and the two

reaction forces at the start of the launch
when the aerodynamic forces are negligible.

Chapter 3 Page 67
Inertia loads

Problem 3-8 b) Find the apparent weight of the two tip

A missile in flight, climbing out of the Earth‟s tanks due to the touchdown load.
atmosphere, is propelled by a 1200 lb. thrust
engine. Suddenly a side force, F, due to a
malfunction, appears.

The c.g. and the mass moment of inertia (about

the missile c.g.) are provided by the dynamics
group; Io = 113.22 slug-ft2. The c.g. is located
45 inches from the bottom.

A critical joint on the missile, located at a

Problem 3-9 figure
position 50 inches from the bottom of the
missile (or 5 inches from the c.g.) can sustain a
(Answers: 653 lb. and 467 lb.)
bending moment of 25,000 lb-in. (in either
direction) before it fails.
Problem 3-10
Find the value of F required to cause a The uniform rod shown in the figure weighs 40
bending moment just large enough to cause the lb. When unloaded, it is perfectly balanced at
joint failure. the pivot located at its center. The mass moment
50 lb. of inertia of the entire rod about the pivot is Itotal
20 in. = 0.69 lb-in-sec.2
100 lb. x
20 in. The rod is constructed of two pieces glued
Critical joint 100 lb. together at a point located 10 inches from the
20 in. pivot. The weight of the section to the right of
z the glue joint is 10 lb. and its c.g. is located 5
100 lb.
20 in. inches to the right of the joint. The mass
50 in. g
200 lb. moment of inertia, I1, of the section to the right
20 in.
of the glue joint is I1 = 0.22 lb-in-sec.2 (about its
own c.g.).
50 lb.
Side force = F lb.
Thrust = 1200 lb.
A force F=20 pounds is instantaneously applied
Problem 3-8 figure as shown.
a) Compute the load factor nz.
Problem 3-9 b) Compute the bending moment and
A tailless UAV aircraft weighs 25,000 lb. shear force at the glue joint. (Answers
(including two tip tanks weighing 200 lb located V=235 lb. M=1353 in-lb.
with their c.g‟s 120 inches from the airplane
center of mass). The plane accidentally touches
down with only one wheel on the runway. At
this instant, the ground reaction is 50,000 lb, and
the resultant aerodynamic lift is 20,000 lb. acting
through the aircraft c.g.

This landing creates an angular acceleration of

1.5 rad/sec.2 It is up to you to determine the
direction.
a) Find the load factor, nz. (the positive z-
axis points in the upward direction). Problem 3-10 – figure

Chapter 3 Page 68
Problem 3-11
An aircraft is flying with a trimmed lift, L, equal
to the weight of the aircraft, W when a gust with
lift L = 1.5W strikes the aircraft. The resultant
of this gust produced lift is 90 inches aft of the
c.g. Ipitch for the entire airplane = 2.25x107 lb-
insec.2 computed about the aircraft c.g.

Before the gust strikes, a loads sensor located on

the boom attachment point senses a shear force
V of 1000 lb. and a bending moment of 100,000
in-lb. The weight of the boom is 1000 lb. Its
pitch mass moment of inertia about its own c.g.
is 300,000 lb-in-sec.2

a) Compute the aircraft load factor, nz, in

the vertical direction.
b) Compute the value of V (and direction)
at the sensor when the gust strikes.
c) Compute the bending moment, M, (and
direction) at the sensor when the gust
strikes.
Answers: V=3059 lb. and M=467,900 lb-in.

Chapter 3 Page 69
Matrix method analysis

Chapter 4 - Matrix Methods

4.1 Review - Statically indeterminate structures “nodes.” The two pieces must fit together –
Let‟s review what we know about statically before and after the loads are applied. This
indeterminate structures by considering a simple gives the solution its “uniqueness.” There are
example. The bar (also called a “rod”) shown in three nodes in this example. Two nodes are at
Figure 4-1 is subjected to a single load, Po. As the bar assembly boundaries and the third node
indicated, the bar consists of two components of is at the connection point.
different sizes.

Figure 4-1-Two bar combined structure Figure 4-3-Structure boundary conditions

As indicated, this force Po is resisted by two

internal forces, one in the bar segment to the left
and one in the segment to the right. Summing
forces in the horizontal direction, we have:

Left bar element

Even though there are two more equilibrium
equations, they are not useful or usable. As a
result, we have two unknowns with only one
equation and cannot tell how the applied load is Right bar element
distributed to the bars and their supports. The Figure 4-4-Element displacements
forces required for equilibrium are not unique.
Figure 4-4 is a key figure to understanding the
displacement equations and how they are
developed. If the bars were free to move
independently then the left bar would have two
independent displacements, denoted as u1 and u2.
Similarly, the right bar would have two
independent displacements, u3 and u4. However,
when we look at the supports for this
Figure 4-2-Element forces
The forces applied to each of the bar elements arrangement we see that u1=u4=0. In addition,
are as indicated in Figure 4-2. These directions the center node must move as a single point so
are consistent with our assumptions in Figure that u2=u3. We do not know how much this
4-1. nodal displacement is, just that it must be the
same for each bar at that point.
The second equation required to solve this
problem comes from a consideration of the bar Now, if you are counting, we have four
displacements at particular points called unknowns, the two internal forces and the nodal

Chapter 4 Page 70
Matrix methods

displacements of each bar. We have two From these results we conclude that the force in
equations: bar 2, the right bar, F2, is compressive and that
the force in bar 1, the left bar, F1, is tensile.
and
u2 – u3 = 0 We also see that the reaction forces at the wall
attachments are also equal and opposite to the
We also have two other equations that will allow forces F1 and F2. We also see that if the cross-
us to solve the problem. These are the bar sectional area of bar 2 decreases to nearly zero
displacement equations which read: then the external load is primarily resisted by bar
1.
F1 L1
u 2  u1  From these results we have two conclusions.
EA1 First of all, when we have a statically
and determinate structure, the internal loads depend
F2 L2 on the size of the individual components, in
u3  u 4  particular, the stiffness of the elements. In this
EA2
example, the bar stiffness is given as the
FL quantity
This gives us u2  1 1
EA1 EA
k1  1
and L1
F2 L2 Second, we need to take into account the support
u3  conditions and also enforce “compatibility”
EA2
conditions to make sure that the structure
deforms as a unit and doesn‟t come apart as it
Combining these equations, we have: deforms.

F1 L1 FL 4.2 Thermal loads

u2   u3  2 2
EA1 EA2 Aerospace structures are routinely subjected to
large temperature changes in which parts of the
structure heat up or cool off during operation.
This equation gives us:
Since the structure is not at a uniform
temperature this creates a form of load called a
 EA  L  “thermal load.” This term is not quite accurate
F1  F2  1  2 
 EA2  L1  since there is no external load present, but the
effect is there just the same. Let‟s consider an
example.
Combining this relationship with our original
equilibrium equation we have:
Po
F2 
 EA1  L2  
    1
 2  L1  
EA
And
 EA 
Po  1 
F1  Po  F2   EA2 
 EA1  L2   Figure 4-5-Thermal loading of a two-bar
    1 configuration
 EA2  L1  
The structure shown in Figure 4-5 has no
external load applied, but if the left hand

Chapter 4 Page 71
Matrix methods

element is heated it will try to change its length. This equation gives us the ability to solve for F1.
This change in length would be:

L   T L

On the other hand, since the elements are or

connected, free expansion will be resisted by the
right hand bar, element 2. As a result, both bars
will be in compression. The changes in length
of each bar due to a compressive force is
Once again, the element stiffness parameter
EA/L appears in these results.

4.3 Indeterminate structures-a summary

If we assume compression in each member, then In both of the cases we have just examined we
from static equilibrium be see that see some common themes. First of all, statically
indeterminate structures require us to compute
deflection behavior and to then use this
information to mathematically guarantee
This problem is statically determinate. If we compatible deformation. This provides the
consider the deformation of the bars then we necessary “extra” equations to define the
have conditions similar to our previous example internal loads.
in which the supports at either end cannot move
while the center node will move. The only The internal loads and their distribution
restraint on this center node is that the throughout the structure are determined by
movements of the ends of each element must not element stiffness. Structural stiffness is defined
separate as they move. as the amount of deflection per internal load and
is given for bars by the relationship
If we use the same numbering for the
displacements as we used in Figure 4-4 then we
see that

The term ki is the element stiffness and plays a

and central role in statically indeterminate problems.

Finally, from the results of the two problems we

have worked here, we see that solving statically
indeterminate structures problems is a
Both displacements are measured positive to the
complicated matter. In fact, if you consult any
right and we have also taken into account the
of the standard texts on strength of materials,
fact that the two elemental forces are equal.
pages and pages are devoted to special ways of
setting up and solving statically indeterminate
We have introduced two new unknown, but also
problems.
supplied two new equations. We are still one
equation short. Our key equation here is the
In practice, the methods discussed in textbooks
“compatibility” equation:
are seldom used in aerospace work. Instead we
use computer codes to compute internal loads
and external deflections with minimal set-up.
or
The primary method used to solve these
problems is the finite element method, a matrix
based method of analysis and solution. Finite

Chapter 4 Page 72
Matrix methods

element methods are used to solve structural In fact, structural analysis methods range from
analysis problems with incredible geometric the simple to the complex. At its simplest, the
complexity. Our discussion is confined to truss analysis of truss structures, with all of the
and bar element problems such as those we fundamental mechanics it entails, has been a tool
considered in Chapter 2 and in this section of for airplane structural design since the Wright
Chapter 4. Brothers first took to the air. The complexity of
structural designs, the high speeds involved and
4.4 Finite element methods the need to meet schedules were fortunately
In practice we are faced with the need for the accompanied by technology developments such
analysis of a wide variety of structural parts with as the high-speed digital computer. This gave
different, challenging geometries such as that rise to a methodology called matrix methods as a
shown in Figure 4-6. In addition, the way to model structures for a variety of loads,
information we need ranges from stresses due to including vibratory loads. Chief among these
loads and vibration dynamic response. matrix methods is the finite element method.
Providing this information is a challenge.
Finite element methods are a matrix method
approach to formulating and solving structural
problems. During the past 40 years advances in
this area have been phenomenal. The central
reason for this has been the development and
expansion of computers.

4.5 Matrix methods and the finite element

model method
While the actual structure is composed of groups
of discrete elements interconnected by rivets,
welds and other forms of bonding, the
mathematical finite element model is a
Figure 4-6- Finite element model of an aircraft collection of mathematical elements joined
fuselage component-matrix methods in action together at “node points.” These node points are
special in that this is where we measure
During the past fifty years the development of displacements and input external load
high speed computers has taken engineers from information. The finite element node points
large machines with limited special use to the may or may not correspond to physical joints on
wide variety of ultra-fast computers, both large the actual structure. For trusses, the physical
and small, that permeate our lives at every level. node points and the mathematical node points
This availability, together with advanced are identical. The node point is a junction
methods such as the finite element method, has between two or more elements.
led to new capabilities for design and analysis.
Finite element analysis is a type of analysis
While we usually associate the solution of called “matrix structural analysis.” This means
problems in class with a pencil and paper, we that the representation of the mathematical
know that the computer plays an essential part in model yields a set of matrix equations that relate
the solution of real world problems. In Chapter inputs to outputs. In our case, the inputs are
2, one of the truss examples we considered loads and the outputs are internal forces and
yielded a set of equations that were placed in displacements. In general, we will develop a
matrix form so that we could use a computer to matrix relationship for structures such at that
solve the large set of equations required to find shown in Figure 4-6 looks like this:
the seven unknown forces.

Chapter 4 Page 73
Matrix methods

One type of matrix method treats forces as the Deriving the element stiffness matrix
unknowns and this is called the “force method.” We will develop a matrix relationship between
The other type of analysis treats displacements the end forces at the nodes and the nodal
as the unknowns and this is called the displacements for all possible combinations of
“displacement” or “stiffness” method. We will forces and displacements for the rod element
consider only the stiffness method, a method shown in Figure 4-8. The restriction is that the
that has come to dominate finite element relationship is linear, that is
analysis.
F11  a11  b12
Before we go any further with definitions and
descriptions, let‟s go back to our examples in F12  c11  d 12
part one of this chapter and reformulate the
problem. How do we get the constants a, b, c and d? First
take the rod element and fix the right hand end
Our problem consisted of two connected bar so that 12  0 . To be in equilibrium, the two
elements. As indicated in Figure 4-7, if we end forces must be equal and opposite
apply end loads to either of these elements then
the deflection of the element is given as: F12   F11
F  kx
This means that
EA
k
l F11  a11   F12  c12

or c = -a.

To solve for the parameter a recall that the

deflection of a rod with an end force F and
length L is   FL or F  EA  . From this
Figure 4-7-Element length change, x EA L
relationship with 12  0 , 11   and F12  F
The parameter k is called the element stiffness.
we conclude that a  EA . We now have
We can make this relationship a bit more general l
by using the notation in Figure 4-8. EA
F11  11  b12
L
EA
F12   11  d 12
L

Now, let‟s make 11  0 and find the deflection

Figure 4-8-Element forces and deflections 12 at the right hand end. The forces must again
be in static equilibrium so that F12   F21 and
The forces shown in Figure 4-8 may seem odd
since we can see that the internal forces F11 and F12  b 21  F12  d 21 .
F12 have to be equal and opposite for this case.
Humor me for a moment while we continue. This means that b=-d. Using the relationship
We also see that x = 2-11 is the change in
length.   FL EA once again we can conclude
d  EA . This gives the final result
l

Chapter 4 Page 74
Matrix methods

EA EA
F11  11   12
L L
EA EA Figure 4-9- Two element rod arrangement with
F12   11  12 external loads
L L

which is written as
Figure 4-10 – Left hand bar element with element
 F11  EA  1 1 11   k k  11 
     
forces
  
 F12  L  1 1  12   k k  12 
At the left end, the reaction force R1 is in
or equilibrium with the element force F11 so that
F11 = R1. Similarly, at the right hand end of the
 F11   k  k   11 
    assembly the reaction force R2 is equal to the
F12   k k   12  elemental force F22, or F22=R2. Now the
elemental matrices are written as:
This seems like an overly complicated way to
write a simple relationship, but this expression  R1   k1 k1   u1 
accounts for every possible combination of    
 F12   k1 k1  u2 
internal forces and displacements and after all it
is a matrix equation. Let‟s write the relationship
for the second bar element. And
 F21   k2 k2  u2 
   
 F21   k2 k2   21   R3   k2 k2  u3 
   
 F22   k2 k2   22 
Finally, we have the force equilibrium
For our first step in solution, we simply relationship at the center node, node 2. This
guarantee compatible deflections by observing relationship is:
(and writing): u1 = 12; 22 = 21 = u2; and, u =
22. We will do this a little more simply later.
This relationship requires that we write the
This means that we have two element matrices
element forces at node 3 in an expanded form as:
that are written as:
u1 
 F11   k1 k1   u1   
    F12   k1 k1 0u 2 
 F12   k1 k1  u2  u 
and  3
 F21   k2 k2  u2   u1 
   
 F22   k2 k2  u3  F21  0 k 2
 
 k 2 u 2 
u 
 3
Step 1 is a coordinate transformation and it
guarantees that there will be compatible
deformations – the element nodes will stick Then, our equation for force equilibrium
together where necessary. For Step 2, we need becomes:
to make sure that there is force equilibrium at
each of the three nodes.  u1 
 
Po  F12  F21   k1 k1  k 2   k 2 u 2 
u 
 3

Chapter 4 Page 75
Matrix methods

Now we need to put this all back together to get

a matrix expression for the assembled structure.

 R1   k1 k1 0   u1 
  
 Po    k1 k1  k 2   k 2  u 2 
R   0  k2 k 2   
 2  u 3 
The minus sign on the result for R2 means that
or our initial assumption about its direction was
incorrect. In fact, the R2 force vector goes from
right to left, opposing the applied force Po.

At this point you are no doubt thinking “what‟s

The matrix is called the system stiffness this all about?” so let‟s summarize again. We
matrix. began by treating the structure as composed of
elements. We then selected element stiffness
While this seems incredibly complicated now, matrices that related internal element forces to
the assembly of this matrix can be easily done the element deflections. We then matched the
using matrix operations that we will discuss later element deflections (the i‟s) to structural
in this chapter. deflections (the ui‟s). This ensured
compatibility of structural deformation. We
Let‟s point out some of the details of this matrix. then related the element internal forces to the
The loads on the left hand side are of two applied forces and reaction forces. This ensured
different kinds, reaction forces (the R‟s) and force equilibrium. The resulting relationship
applied loads (the P‟s) whose magnitude is related the applied and reaction forces to the
controllable. On the right hand side we have structural displacement, some of which were
two different kinds of deflections, those that are known and some of which were unknown. We
unknown, like u2, and those whose magnitude is then solved the problem. Solving the problem in
controlled (fixed to be zero is “controlled). this case means finding the unknown
deflections. Once these are known, we can
Notice that for the nodes with reaction forces the solve for the reactions.
displacements are known, while for the nodes
where the forces are known, the displacements You should verify that the sum of R1, R2 and Po
are unknown. Let‟s solve the equation. equals zero. A strange feature of this solution
method is that you never had to draw a free body
Since two of the three displacements are zero we diagram or write and equilibrium equation. The
have: downside was that there are several matrix
operations that appear to be magic. We‟ll clarify
those operations later.

With this approach, the problem unknowns are

deflections, not forces. In addition, it does not
matter whether the problem is determinate or
We first solve for u2. indeterminate. The internal forces are found
from the element matrices. For instance, for the
force in element 1 we have:

 R1   k1  k1  u1 
and then we solve for the reactions.
   
F12   k1 k1  u 2 

Chapter 4 Page 76
Matrix methods

or
This gives us the result:
 u1 
 F11   k1 k1 0  
   u2 
 F12   k1 k1 0 u 
Compare this result to the result we found earlier  3
in this chapter and you will see that they are the
same. The elemental stiffness matrix is a square matrix
and so is the system stiffness matrix so there is
4.6 Assembly of matrix equations one more operation we need to do here. The
The building block elements of our bar analysis matrix of zeroes and ones is called the
is the 2 x 2 elemental stiffness matrix, written in coordinate transformation matrix because it
local deflection coordinates. This relationship transforms local displacement coordinates into
computes elemental forces which must be added system (also called global) coordinates. We
together to get the applied forces or the need to do the same thing to the elemental
reactions. The two key operations are to forces. This is done by multiplying the elemental
transform the elemental deflections (the ‟s) into forces by the transpose of the displacement
“system” deflections (the u‟s) and to add the transformation matrix.
appropriate elemental forces together to get the
applied loads. Let‟s see how this can be done. 1 0  1 0   u1 
0 1   F11   0 1   k1 k1 0 u 
First of all, let‟s consider the left hand bar   F     k  
k1 0  2 
0 0  12 
0 0  1
element, element 1. We can use a matrix u3 
relationship to relate its elemental coordinates
(also called “local” coordinates) to the system  F12   k1 k1 0  u1 
structural coordinates. The relationship reads:     
 F12    k1 k1 0  u2 
 u1  0   0 0 0  u3 
  
 11  1 0 0  
   u 2 
 12  0 1 0 u  This last matrix relationship is simply the
 3
elemental stiffness matrix arranged to be
consistent and compatible with the system
Similarly, for element 2, the right hand element, matrix coordinates. You should satisfy yourself
we have: that when we do the same operations with the
right hand element we get the following:
 u1 
 21  0 1 0  
   u 2   0  0 0 0   u1 
 22  0 0 1 u      
 3  F21   0 k2 k2  u2 
 F  0 k k2  u3 
Now we can substitute these results into the  22   2
original elemental stiffness relationship.
Now, when we add forces we have
u 
 F11   k1 k1 0  1 
  u   F11   0   R1 
 F12   k1 k1 0  2       
u3   F12    F21    Po 
 0  F  R 
or    22   2 
u 
 F11   k1 k1  11   k1 k1  1 0 0   1 
    u 
k1  12   k1 k1  0 1 0   2 
and
 F12   k1
u3 

Chapter 4 Page 77
Matrix methods

 R1   k1 k1 0  u1  0 0 0   u1 
       
 P0    k1 k1 0 u2   0 k2 k2  u2 
R   0 0 0 u3  0 k2 k2  u3 
 2  Figure 4-11-Two element bar/rod assembly

so that, finally Let‟s use the example two element assembly

shown in Figure 4-11 to explain the general
 R1   k1 k1 0   u1  procedure. We have the two element model
  
 P0    k1  k1  k2  k2  u2  with three nodes and the opportunity to apply
loads, either reactions or applied, at all three
R   0  k2 k2  u3 
 2  nodes.

The element stiffness matrices, together with the

assembled system stiffness matrix, contain all
the information necessary to solve for external
deflections and internal loads required to keep Figure 4-12-Structure node numbering
the system in static equilibrium. However, as
you have seen there is no free lunch. There are As shown in Figure 4-12, the right hand end is
assembly procedures that must be followed. restrained so that u3 equals zero. The applied
force is now an unknown reaction so we will
4.7 Boundary and support conditions give it the designation R3 instead of P3. The
The example that we have used to illustrate our system matrix relationship now looks like this.
matrix methods approach to structural analysis
as only one free node and two fixed nodes at
 P1   k1  k1 0   u1 
  
k1  k 2   k 2   u 2 
either end. As a result, two of the applied forces
are given the “reaction” designation and two of  P2    k1
the displacements are zero. Knowing which R   0  k2 k 2  u 3  0
degrees of freedom or displacements are  3 
restrained is important. In fact, restraining
degrees of freedom is important. Since the displacement u3 is zero, the third
column is now not applicable and can be
If we were to simply try to solve for all three eliminated from the system matrix. In addition
displacements, treating them as free, and attempt the third row of the matrix equation can be
to invert the system stiffness matrix we would separated from the system equations. This gives
find that the stiffness matrix would be singular the following two results.
and there would be no solution. This occurs
because we cannot apply static equilibrium  P1   k1  k1  u1 
 
methods to a body that is free to move in space.
P2   k1 k1  k2  u2 
Mathematics is not vocal, but speaks to us in
“sign language” and warns us that there is a
problem by creating this singularity (the and
determinant is zero).
u 
For our example, at least one degree of freedom R3  0  k2  1   k2u2
must be restrained to be zero. Given the system u2 
matrix, how do we construct the matrix that is
used to solve for the unrestrained degrees of To solve for the unknown displacements we
freedom? From a conceptual standpoint the must first take the inverse of the stiffness matrix.
answer to this question is easy. From an
operational standpoint the answer is a little more
difficult.

Chapter 4 Page 78
Matrix methods

1 k  k  k1 
1 Figure 4-13 shows the rod element at an
 k1  k1 
 k    1 2 orientation  with respect to the horizontal.
 1 k1  k2    k1 k1 
We want to write our stiffness relationship as a
The determinant  is defined as: function of the ui coordinates due to loads acting
in the ui directions. The first thing we will do is
  determinant  k1 k1  k2   k12  k1k2 to define a relationship between the two i
coordinates that lie in-line with the rod and the
“global” displacements that will lie along the
The determinant is non-zero and positive. This system coordinate directions. This relationship
is a feature of all correctly restrained structural
is a transformation matrix, defined as:
stiffness matrices. The solution then becomes:

 1 1 
i    ij  u j 
1
   
 u1   k2 k1  k2   P1 
    Where the transformation matrix has the
u2  1 1   P2  following elements:
 
 k2 k2 
cos  sin  0 0 
 ij   
k2  0 0 cos  sin  
R3  k2u2    P1  P2  k1
And k1k2
We must also transform the forces according to
R3    P1  P2  the relationship:

The direction of R3 is opposite to loads P1 and P2

and does not depend on the stiffness matrix in
this case. Understanding the coordinate system where the elements of the Tij matrix are
definitions is important. transformation matrix elements also. The Tij
matrix is given by:
4.8 Assembling trusses
So far we have introduced what seems like a
cos  0 
very complicated, even torturous, way of solving  sin 
a simple problem of a multi-segment rod. Let‟s 0 
Tij   
add a feature that will improve the usefulness of  0 cos  
the matrix approach to structures problems.  
This feature is adding the ability to orient the  0 sin  
bar/rod element in space.
Comparing the ij matrix and the Tij matrix
elements we see that there is a relationship
between them:
T
Tij    ij 

The notation [ ]T simply means that rows and

columns are interchanged.

Now we can write the relationship between the

element forces in the global system and
Figure 4-13-Element general orientation displacements in the global system as:

Chapter 4 Page 79
 Matrix methods

T  k k  u 
F      F    
T
global
    ij   1 
 F1  1 0 1 0   u1 
 k
i ij i ij
k  u2  F   0 0 0   
   EA   0 u2 
F  (1)
  2     
 F3   L   1 0 1 0  u3 
i
or
  
 F4  0 0 0  u4 
 k cos 2  k sin  cos  k cos 2  k sin  cos  
   0 
k sin  cos  k sin 2  k sin  cos  k sin 2  
F
i
global
 
 k cos 2  k sin  cos  k cos 2  k sin  cos  
u j  The second element has nodes 1 and 3 at the left
  and right ends of the element so that  = 135o.
 k sin  cos  k sin 2  k sin  cos  k sin 2  
1 1
In this case, cos    , sin   and the
The transformation matrix operation is a 2 2
powerful way to construct global/system
element length is 2L
matrices. These operational steps are required:
 1 1 1 1 
1) Write the transformation matrix as a  F3   2 2 2 2  u 
3
relationship between “new” and “old” F   1 1 1  1  
    2 2  4 
F  EA 2 2 u
(2)
  4  
displacements. In our case here the new i
F 
 1
  1 1  1  u5 
coordinates were the u‟s while the old   5 2 L
 2 2 2 2  
 F6   1  u6 
coordinates were the ‟s.  2
 1
2
 1
2
1
2 
2) Pre-multiply the “old” stiffness matrix (the
matrix to be transformed) by the transpose
of the transformation matrix. Finally, the third element has nodes 1 and 3
3) Post-multiply the old matrix by the
located at the left and right ends. In this case, 
transformation matrix.
= 90o and while .
4) Add the resulting matrices together to get
the system stiffness matrix.

Let‟s work an example.1 Consider the three

element truss shown in Figure 4-14. This truss
has rod elements that have identical cross-
sections. Two elements have length L while the
45o element has length .

This truss has three nodes and six degrees of

freedom. The nodes and displacements are
numbered so that the horizontal (x-direction)
degrees of freedom have numbers that are equal
to twice the node number minus one, while the
vertical (y-direction) displacements at each node
have displacements numbered such that they are
twice the node number.

First we will form the element stiffness matrices,

beginning with element 1 with its left node at 1
and right hand node at 2. The angle  is zero so
that cos = 1 and sin = 0. Note that k = EA/L. Figure 4-14-Three bar example problem

1
This example is taken from R.E. Sennett, Matrix
Analysis of Structures, Waveland Press, Long Grove,
Illinois, 1994, pp.36-39.

Chapter 4 Page 80
Matrix methods

 F1  0 0 0 0   u1  1 0 1 0 0 0 
0 1 
F    1
   EA  0 0 1 u2 
 
 1P  0 0 0   u1 
(3) 1 P   u2 
Fi   2       2
 1 0 (1  1 ) 1 1 1
 2 2  
 F5   L  0 0 0 0 u5 2 2 2 2 2 2
   P3   EA  
   1 1 1 1  u3 
 
0 1 0 1  u   2 2  u4 
0 0
 F6   6  P4   L   2 2 2 2 2 2
 P5  0 0 1 1 1 1  u5 
   2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2  
 P6     6 
u
 1 1 1 (1  1
These three elemental stiffness matrices have  0 1
2 2 2 2 2 2
)
2 2 
dimensions 4x4 and need one more operation
before they can be assembled into the 6x6 global
stiffness matrix. The transformation matrices to
do these operations are:

 u1 
 u1  1 0 0 0 0 0  u2  When we restrain the support displacements to
u  0 0  u3 
 2  1 0 0 0 be zero (u1 = u2 = u5 = u6 = 0) the reduced
    stiffness matrix becomes:
u3  0 0 1 0 0 0  u4 
u4  0 0 0 1 0

0  u5 
    1 
 P3   EA  1  2 2 
1
u6  2 2  u3 
     
 P4   L   1 1  u4 
 u1   2 2 2 2 
u3  0 0 1 0 0 0  u2 
u  0 0  u3 
The solutions are:
 4  0 0 1 0
     L 
u3   P3  P4  
u5  0 0 0 0 1 0  u4  
 EA 
u6  0 0 0 0 0

1  u5 
  and

 
u6   L 
u4  P3  1  2 2  P4  
 EA 
 u1 
 u1  1 0 0 0 0 0  u2  The reaction forces are found to be:
u  0 0  u3 
 2  1 0 0 0
R1 = -P3 – P4
   
u5  0 0 0 0 1 0  u4 
u6  0 0 0 0 0

1  u5  R2 = 0
 
u6  R5 = P4
One step remains. We pre- and post-multiply R6 = -P4
the three elemental stiffness matrices by their
respective transformation matrices and then add The final results are shown in Figure 4-15 and
the results to get the unrestrained system global satisfy static equilibrium.
stiffness matrix. This matrix reads as follows:

Chapter 4 Page 81
Matrix methods

understand some of the basics. You might have

noticed that terminology such as “transpose” or
“inverse” crept into the discussion. Let‟s review
some basics.

Figure 4-15-Reaction forces for example

problem

Finally, we get the member forces due to these

loads by taking the elemental stiffness matrices
for each element and using the relationships
such as that for element 1: To be multiplied together, matrices must be
compatible. “Compatible” means that the
number of rows and columns must match up.
 F1(1)   EA   1 1 1 
 (1)   
Consider the multiplication of the two matrices
  
 F2   L   1 1   2  [Aij] and [Bjn].

or [Aij] has 3 rows and 2 columns (a 3x2 matrix)

while [Bjn] has 2 rows and 4 columns (a 2x3
 u1  matrix).
 F   EA   1 1 1 0 0 0  
(1)
u2 

   
1
 
 F   L   1 1  0 1 0 0  u3 
(1)
2
3x2 * 2x4 3x4

u4 
For this element we find that: The result of multiplication is the matrix [Cjn]
that has order 3x4 (three rows and 4 columns).
 F1(1)   P3  P4  For example, a typical element of the Cij matrix
 (1)     can be calculated using a summation such as:
 F2   P3  P4 

 F1(2)  2  P4 
 (2)    
 F2  2  P4 

 F1(3)  0  As an example of how this is important consider

 (3)     the expansion of a basic elemental stiffness
 F2  0  matrix [kij] that has order 2x2 and is to be
expanded by transforming the coordinates to
4.9 Matrix operations and magic tricks system coordinates using the transformation
Matrix operations belong to the branch of matrix [umn] that is 2 rows (the two 
mathematics called linear algebra. You displacements) by 6 columns (the 6 u
probably studied this last year in one of your displacements).
math courses. To be useful, matrix methods rely
on being able to manipulate large matrix
equations using computer operations. This 6x6 6x2 * 2x2 * 2x6
means that we need to make sure that you

Chapter 4 Page 82
Matrix methods

The transpose of the transformation matrix uij is u = K-1P

also important to our work. Notice that the
transpose of the 2x6 (rows x columns) is a 6 x 2 It also means that we have defined these
matrix that we generate by writing the rows of matrices clearly previously.
[uij] as columns of [uij]T or vice versa, writing
the columns of [uij] as rows of [uij]T. Matrix operations are handled by computer
codes that are available at Purdue. The best
We also note that matrix transposes have the program is MATLAB, but Excel also handles
special property that the transpose of a product simple matrices. You may also want to go
is the product of the transpose, but in reverse online and read about matrices by simply
order Googling “matrix operations.”

4.10 Thermal loads re-visited

Matrix methods present an ideal way of
Matrix inversion is also essential to our solution introducing the concept of thermal loading. At
procedures. First of all, only square matrices the beginning of this chapter we considered a
can be inverted. Even then, the matrix itself may simple example to show how temperature
be singular so that no inverse exists. Singular changes together with structural restraints could
matrices have a determinant that is zero. This is lead to stresses in a structure. The goal here is
a feature of all unrestrained stiffness matrices. to introduce a way of dealing with these loads
using matrix methods.
By definition, if the inverse exists then

The matrix [I] is a special matrix called the

identity matrix and consists of elements that are
all zeroes, except for the elements on the Figure 4-16-Heated structure with loads
diagonal which are all equal to 1. For example,
the 3x3 identity matrix is written as: To handle the problem of restricted thermal
expansion or contraction, we use a superposition
of effects. Figure 4-16 shows a single rod
element, the right hand element, that is heated.
If we do not restrict the expansion equal to
Finally, to make notation easier, many authors Lthermal   2  T  L2
use boldface symbols to represent matrices and
matrix operations. Thus, an multiplication The symbol  represents the material coefficient
operation such as of thermal expansion. No internal stresses
result.

Simply becomes AB=C and the order of the

matrices is then given elsewhere or assumed to
be compatible. This means that we can write
expressions for the strain energy as

U = ½ uKu Figure 4-17-Heated element with restraint forces

or express the displacements as

Chapter 4 Page 83
Matrix methods

On the other hand, if we totally restrict the  F12  EA2 2  T    k2 k2  1 
   
k2   2 
movement of the ends then the total amount of
expansion must zero. To make the rod element  F21  EA2 2  T    k2
expansion free we add a compressive load as k k2  u2 
 2  
shown in Figure 4-17. The total rod expansion
  k2 k2  u3 
is then the sum of the thermal expansion minus
the contraction due to the compressive load.
This is given by the relationship From this relationship we see that we have
P included the equivalent thermal force Pthermal at
L2  0   2 (T ) L2  thermal L2 either end.
EA2
Where Pthermal is the compressive load required to How does this get into the analysis? First of all,
hold the expansion to zero. Solving for Pthermal recall that the end forces for each element are
we find: summed to be equal to the applied loads. When
Pthermal  EA2 2 (T ) we take the model shown in Figure 4-18 and
superimpose it on the rest of the structure, we
The only way to totally restrict the rod get some forces in addition to those mechanical
expansion is to place it between two immovable loads we apply. The best way to illustrate this is
walls and then heat it (by the way, if we cool the with an example.
rod then T is negative and the end force is
negative or tensile). When the heated rod is
placed as a component within a flexible
structure, the end load will have a value that
ranges between zero and Pthermal. This value will
depend on how much the rest of the structure Figure 4-18-Heated element with applied loads
resists the expansion.
Shown in Figure 4-19 is a two element structure
How do we tell the structure that there is an for which we have heated the right hand
element that wants to expand (or contract)? We element. When we assemble the elements, the
must put information into the problem at node equivalent thermal loads appear at the nodes to
points. Here is how we approach the problem. which they are attached.
Referring again to Figure 4-17, we heat the rod
element, but we also place a fictitious set of
compressive forces at either end to hold the
expansion to zero. Now the rod is heated but we
have forces that do not belong to the problem.
We remove these forces by applying equal and
opposite forces as shown. These forces are now
added to the structural model as shown in Figure
4-18.

This situation is the mechanical equivalent of

applying a temperature increase to the rod and is Figure 4-19-Element assembly
expressed in a language that the structural model
can understand (ok, maybe you are confused, but The elements are assembled to obtain the system
trust me, the model is not). equation.

The stiffness model for element 2 now looks like  R1   k1 k1 0   u1 

  
the following:
  Pthermal    k1  k1  k2  k2  u2 
R  P  k2  u3 
 3 thermal   0 k2

Chapter 4 Page 84
Matrix methods

Since u1 and u3 are both zero, the solution to this restraint forces and the temperature. The
problem is thermal restraint forces are equal and opposite to
P  EA2 2  T  the forces in the diagram shown in Figure 4-19.
u2  thermal 
k1  k2 k1  k2
The subtraction of the equivalent force
or effectively adds back the temperature. Now the
EA   T  equivalent forces are gone, the correct
u2   2 2
EA1 EA2 displacements are present, the structure is hot (or
 cold) and the mechanical reactions are present.
L1 L2

If you look at the result for this problem, you

To compute the elemental forces for element 2,
will see that the entire rod is in compression
we solve for F12 and F22 for this element.
even though no mechanical load is applied. This
is called a “self-straining structure.” In addition,
F12  k2u2  EA2 2  T  you should notice that the compression is only a
fraction of what it would be if element 2 were
EA2 2  T  fully restrained against motion.
F12 
EA
1 1 Let‟s consider the same example but consider
EA2
the right end free to move. The element and
system matrices are the same as before but now
F21  k2u2  EA2 2  T    F12
we have two degrees of freedom and there is no
reaction force R3.
We see that the elemental forces at the nodes are
equal and opposite. Also, remember that the  R1   k1 k1 0   u1 
  
 k1  k2  k2  u2 
elemental force F21 is equal to the reaction force
R3. Solving for the reaction forces we find  Pthermal    k1
P  k2  u3 
 thermal   0 k2
EA2 2  T 
R1  k1u2 
k Solving for the deflections:
1 2
k1
R3  k2u2  Pthermal  0 
u2   
      Pthermal L 
 1 
u3   EA 
R3  EA2 2  T    1  2 
k
1  1 k 
 2  u2   0 
  or   
 1  u3   2  T  L2 
  EA2 2  
k
1  2 k  The internal force on the left hand face of rod
 1
element 2 is computed to be
 EA 
R1 and R3 are equal and opposite, as they should F12    2  2  T  L2  EA2 2  T   0
be.  L 
The force on the right hand end of element 2 is
One more step remains; this step removes the also zero. The entire structure is stress free but
thermal loads from the element diagrams and as the rod element has expanded freely.
a result, the system diagram. The argument goes
like this. We want to have the structure have a From these examples we see that we have two
temperature difference so we add back the kinds of loads: mechanical loads that are the

Chapter 4 Page 85
Matrix methods

result of actual loading that produces strain We begin by generating the element matrices in
within an element; and, thermal loads that are global coordinates. For this we need the data for
the result of thermal expansions being restrained element transformation matrices. The table
by other structural components or boundary below shows the transformation angles used to
conditions. generate the element stiffness matrices for this
structure. (Remember that when we measure
Thermal loads are different than mechanical angles we hold a left end fixed and rotate
loads. Mechanical loads produce deformation counter-clock-wise, angles are plus in this
and stresses while thermal loads are due to direction.)
restricted thermal expansion. Thermal stresses
are never produced in statically determinate Element Angle  (degrees)
structures. 1-4 90
1-2 -45
Let‟s consider a final example that will illustrate 1-3 -135
how to assemble a two-dimensional truss and
apply “thermal loads.” This example
The three elements are identified by the
configuration is shown in Figure 4-20. numbering of the left end and right ends.
Element 1-4 has node 1 at the left end and node
4 at the right end. The upper rod (1-4) is heated
an amount Theat (this is a temperature increase
but we have eliminated the  from the term)
while the rod 1-3 is cooled an amount Tcool.
Both of these symbols represent changes in
temperature, not the absolute temperature.

The equivalent force magnitude in member 1-4

is EATheat while the equivalent force
magnitude in member 1-3 is EATcool and acts
in the direction shown. The loads applied to the
structure are shown in Figure 4-22.
Figure 4-20-Three bar truss example

In Figure 4-20 all three rods have the same

length, L, and the same cross-sectional area, A.

Figure 4-22-Thermsl loads

The element stiffness matrix for element 1-2 in

terms of global coordinates is found by
Figure 4-21-Element numbering
multiplying the following matrix by EA/L:

Chapter 4 Page 86
Matrix methods

u1 u2 u3 u4 by taking the first two rows and columns of this

matrix:
 0.5  0.5  0.5 0.5 
 0.5 0.5 EA 1 0 
 0.5  0.5  Kij    
L 0 2 
 0.5 0.5 0.5  0.5
 
 0.5  0.5  0.5 0.5  The loading vector, including reaction forces at
each node is written as:
The element stiffness matrix for element 1-3 in
terms of global coordinates is found by   EATcool cos 45o 
multiplying the following matrix by EA/L  o
- EATheat  EATcool sin 45 
u1 u2 u5 u6  R3 
 
 0.5 0.5  0.5  0.5 Pi    
R4
 0.5 
0.5  0.5  0.5 R5  EATcool cos 45 o
  
 0.5  0.5 0.5 0.5   R6  EATcool sin 45o 
   
 0.5  0.5 0.5 0.5   R7 
 R 8  EATheat 
 
The element stiffness matrix for element 1-4, in
terms of global coordinates is found by The solution for the deflections u1 and u2 are as
multiplying the following matrix by EA/L: follows:
u1 u2 u7 u8  LTcool
u1  
0 0 0 0 2
0 1 0  1 L  Tcool 
 u2    Theat  
0 0 2  2 
0 0
 
0  1 0 1

The result of superimposing these three matrices

is the unrestrained system stiffness matrix,
written as an 8x8 matrix:

Figure 4-23-Isolated elements

The boxed elements in this equation identify the
degrees of freedom that are restrained and From these results we see that the central node,
unrestrained. Since all of the displacements node 1, will displace downward and to the left.
except for u1 and u2 are zero, the restrained
system stiffness matrix for this problem is found The reactions are computed from the
relationship:

Chapter 4 Page 87
Matrix methods

 R3 
 R4   0.5 0.5 
   0.5 0.5
 EA Tcool   
 5R  
 2  EA  0.5 0.5  u1 
    
R  EA Tcool  L  0.5 0.5 u2 
 6 2   0 0 
   
 R7   0 1 
 R 8  EA Theat 

Substituting for the displacements we get:

 R3   0.25  0.1768 
R   0.25   0.1768 Figure 4-25-Applied and external forces
 4    
 R5   0.25   0.1768 The three elements are shown with their local
   EATheat    EATcool  
 R6   0.25   0.1768 displacements in Figure 4-26.
 R7   0   0 
     
 R8    0.5   0.3536 

These force reactions are shown in their correct

directions; the effect due to heating the upper
rod is shown in Figure 4-24 while the effect of
cooling element 1-3 is shown in Figure 4-25.

Figure 4-26-Elemental displacements

The elemental forces for element 1-2 are

computed from the relationship:

EA  cos sin   cos  sin  

Fi  
L   cos  sin  cos
 
sin  
uj

The two elements Fi are the elemental forces in

Figure 4-24-Reaction forces due to heating the directions shown in Figure 4-26 while the
four elements of the uj vector are the global
system displacements at each end of the rod
element. For element 1-2, these are
displacements 1,2,3,4. For element 1-3 the
displacements are 1,2,5,6. For element 1-4, the
displacements are 1,2,7,8.

In this case, only displacements u1 and u2 are

non-zero. As a result, the relationship between

Chapter 4 Page 88
Matrix methods

the elemental forces and the system

displacements is:

 F1  EA  cos sin    u1 
    
 F2  L   cos  sin   u2 

For element 1-4, this relationship is:

 F1  EATheat  EA 0 1   u1 
    
 F2  EATheat  L 0 1 u2 

so that the magnitude of the elemental forces

Figure 4-27-Internal forces for element 1-4
are:
showing effects of temperature increase and
1 2 temperature decrease separately.
F1  EATheat  EATcool
2 4
and
F2   F1
For element 1-2 the relationship is:

 1  1 
 F1  EA  2 2   u1 
    u 
 F2  L   1 1  2
 2 2 
and
1 2
F1   EATcool  EATheat
4 4
and Figure 4-28 - Internal forces for element 1-3
showing effects of temperature increase and
temperature decrease separately.
Finally, for element 1-3 the relationship is:
 1  1 
 F1  EA Tcool  EA  2 2   u1 
    u 
 F2  EA Tcool  L  1 1  2
 2 2 

Substituting we find:

1 2
F1   EATcool  EATheat
4 4
and, again
F2   F1
Figure 4-29 Internal forces for element 1-2 showing
effects of temperature increase and temperature
These results are shown in Figure 4-27, 4-28 and decrease separately.
4-29. These diagrams should always be the final
step in a matrix analysis to make sure that all 4.11 Tricks of the trade-matrix partitioning
forces balance. Matrix methods are extremely powerful and
useful structural analysis tools. This approach

Chapter 4 Page 89
Matrix methods

ua    Kaa  Pa 

relies heavily on manipulation of matrix 1

relationships. Fortunately, commercial codes

are available to the analyst for the sophisticated
problems we encounter in practice. However, it The reaction forces are
is important that we understand the procedures
Rb    Kba ua    Kba  Kaa  Pa 
1
at the fundamental level so that the black box
programs we use are a little less black and
approach glass box status. To finish off our Identifying the partitioned matrices is easy in
discussion of matrix methods, let‟s review and
this case. The easy partitioning here is the result
generalize some of the results we have obtained of foresight in how we connected the elements
in this chapter. to the nodes. We were careful to “anchor” each
element‟s left end to node 1. But, what happens
Let‟s begin by repeating the equation we if we have a more complicated structure (as we
developed for our last truss problem. This
do in the homework problems) or if we don‟t
system stiffness matrix reads
recognize an “obvious” numbering pattern?
The answer to this question is to generate a
transformation matrix to re-order degrees of
freedom.

Let‟s say that we have eight degrees of freedom

and we wish to re-order these degrees of
freedom so that the system matrix is partitioned
as in our example. Let‟s say that we have the
vector of displacements that read as follows:

 u1 
Within this matrix we have blocked out four u 
matrix grouping. Let‟s re-write the matrix  2
 u3 
equation for equilibrium symbolically as:  
from this u 4 
 
 Pa  ua   K aa K ab  ua   u5 
    Kij        u6 
 Rb  ub   Kba Kbb  ub   
u 7 
u 
This matrix is written in “partitioned form.” The  8
partitioning requires the classification of degrees
of freedom. The “a” displacements are free to to a re-ordered set of system displacements:
move (they are caused by the applied load set  u5 
Pa) while the “b” displacements are restrained to u 
be zero (they are associated with the reaction  6
 u3 
forces, Rb). In the previous example there were  
two “a” displacements and four “b” u 4 
 
displacements. The [Kaa] matrix was found by  u1 
simply crossing out the “b” rows and columns in u 2 
the unrestrained stiffness matrix.  
u 7 
u 
When you compare the elements outlined in the  8
stiffness matrix with the elements in the
partitioned equilibrium we can see that the This can be done by forming the following
unrestrained displacements are given as: relationship between the current displacements
(current means the ones we are using now) and

Chapter 4 Page 90
Matrix methods

the new displacements (new means the

displacement ordering that we now want):

 u1  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  u5 
u  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  u6 
 2 
u3  0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  u3 
    
u4  0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  u4 
   
u5  1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   u1 

 u6   0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  u2 
    
u7  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  u7 

u   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  u8 
 8  Figure 4-30-Six element truss example

Note that the elements of this transformation The truss shown in

matrix are zeroes or “ones.” Let‟s call this 8x8 Figure 4-30 has six elements (the two diagonal
transformation matrix [Tc] so that the above elements are continuous) and a total of eight
equation reads: system degrees of freedom before we restrain it.
The truss is statically indeterminate.
ui   
 Tc  u j
original new
The degrees of freedom in the x-direction, the
horizontal direction, are numbered as DOF(x) =
We also need to re-order or transform the forces. 2*N-1 while the degrees of freedom in the y-
We find that the way to do this is to have the direction, vertical, are numbered as DOF(y) =
relationship 2*N. The system stiffness matrix is an 8x8
symmetrical matrix.
Tc T ui original  Pj 
new

Consider the case in which we apply loads at

nodes 2 and 4 and restrain nodes 1 and 3 such
You should work this out to understand that it is that u1 = u3 = u6. The solution to the problem
a true relationship. Now we simply form the requires that we find five unknowns, u2, u3, u4,
system equation as follows in terms of the new u7, u8. The reduced stiffness matrix to be used
coordinate order. for this solution begins with the unrestrained 8x8
matrix. We then eliminate rows 1, 3 and 6 as
Tc T ui original  u j   
 Tc   Kij  Tc  u j
new T new well as columns 1, 3 and 6. This problem
formulation has not lead to a partitioned matrix
form.
The matrix Tc T  Kij  Tc  is called the
We can re-order the degrees of freedom by
“transformed stiffness matrix.” Now the introducing a transformation matrix to change
transformed system will be in partitioned form. the ordering from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 to 2, 4, 5,
Let‟s do one example to practice this. 7, 8, 1, 3, 6. This transformation matrix [Tc] is
written as:

Chapter 4 Page 91
Matrix methods

structures ranging from built-up beams to door

latches.

In particular, vibration behavior and loads can

be accurately approximated by finite element
methods. The result is a very complex model
such as those shown in
Figure 4-31s 4-31, 4-32 and 4-33.

The transformed stiffness matrix is:

 Kij   Tc   Kij  Tc 

T

This matrix can be partitioned so that

K K ab 
 Kij    aa 
 Kba Kbb  Figure 4-31- Fighter aircraft finite element model

The  K aa  matrix is the 5x5 matrix that must be

inverted to find the solution for the
displacements. The  Kba  matrix is a 3x5
matrix that is used to find the reactions. For the
reactions we use the equation

P 
1
Ri    Kba   Kaa  j

Notice that the R matrix is a 3x1 (row) matrix

that is the product of a 3x5 times a 5x5 times a
5x1 (row) vector. Figure 4-32 – Commercial airliner finite element
model
4.12 Matrix methods in general
Aerospace structural analysis relies heavily on
matrix methods, in particular a matrix method
approach called finite element methods. Instead
of the rod elements that we used to solve our
limited set of problems, finite element problems
use beam elements, plate elements and shell
elements to solve a variety of complex
problems. The elements approximate the
behavior of beams, plates and shells. Like our
elements, they are connected, restrained and
loaded at node points. Unlike our examples, the Figure 4-33 - Wing finite element structural model
assembly of elements approximates a variety of

Chapter 4 Page 92
Matrix methods

Finite element analysis packages are available to

perform a wide variety of analyses. These codes
include NASTRAN, ANSYS and ABAQUS.

While the analysis is automated, there is still no

substitute for understanding the process and no
substitute for being able to check results to make
sure that results make sense or are consistent
with simple theory. With so many numbers and
matrices being manipulated the opportunity for
errors and silly mistakes is nearly boundless. Be
careful!

Chapter 4 Page 93
Matrix methods

4.13 Chapter 4 - Homework Problems one-half the cross-sectional area of the other
elements.
Problem 4-1
(a) Solve for the unrestrained 3 x 3
system stiffness matrix. This matrix
will have the factor EA1/L1, where
A1 is the area of element 1 and L1 is
the length of element 1.
(b) Solve for the system stiffness matrix
for the 2 x 2 restrained system.
(c) Find the deflections u2 and u3 and
Problem 4-1-Figure the total reaction force at node 1
where the three elements are
a) Develop the system stiffness matrix for the attached to the wall. These will be a
three element bar shown. function of the parameter L1/ EA1.
b) Use the applied loads and boundary (d) Solve for the internal forces in each
condition to develop the restrained system of the 4 elements in terms of L1, E
stiffness matrix with the applied loads and A1.
c) Find the deflections at each node
d) Solve for the internal forces in each rod Problem 4-3
element
e) Draw the applied forces in their correct
directions for each of the three elements
f) Draw the free body diagrams for each of the
three nodes showing the loads on the nodes
and the loads in the elements
g) Compute the strain energy in the structure.

Problem 4-2

Problem 4-3 Figure

Four rod elements form a single structure. Note

that element 4, although it is shown slightly
below the other three elements, is actually in-
line with the other three so that u4 is the same for
element 4 and element 3, but connected only at
nodes 1 and 4.

Problem 4-2 Figure (a) Solve for the 4 x 4 system stiffness for
this structure.
A configuration has four rod elements connected (b) Solve for the 3 x 3 restrained stiffness
to three node points shown circled. All elements matrix.
have the same Young‟s modulus. Node 1 is (c) A 500 lb. load is placed at node 4; find
fixed (u1 = 0). The nodes move only in the the displacement of node 4 and the
horizontal direction. Node 2 has an applied load internal forces in each of the four
of 1000 lb. Node 2 has only elements 2 and 4 elements.
attached to it. Node 3 has three of the four
elements directly attached to it. Element 4 has Problem 4-4
Two loads are applied to a three element truss.

Chapter 4 Page 94
Matrix methods

a) Develop the 4x4 stiffness matrices for each b) If a single force Po=100 lb. is applied at
of the three elements using the nodal node 1, upward along the y-axis, solve for
numbering provided. Degrees of freedom the deflections.
are numbered odd in the x direction and c) Solve for the element forces in each spring.
even in the y-direction. Be sure to indicate which are in tension or
b) Develop the three transformation matrices compression.
required to expand 4x4 matrices to the three
8x8 matrices required to generate the system
stiffness matrix.
c) Write the three element stiffness matrices in
terms of 8x8 matrices in system coordinates
d) Superimpose (add together) the three
element stiffness matrices to find the
unrestrained system stiffness matrix.
e) Identify which degrees of freedom are
restrained.
f) Apply the loads and solve for the truss
displacements
g) Solve for the nodal reaction forces. Draw
them on a diagram (and check to see if
equilibrium is present).
h) Solve for the internal forces and draw them
on a diagram. Be sure to identify tension Problem 4-5 Figure
and compression.
Problem 4-6
Five elements are used to form the truss shown.
All members have equal areas. Nodes 3 and 4
are fully restrained against movement. The truss
members are made of aluminum (E=10.5 x 106
psi) and have cross-sectional areas equal to 0.5
in.2 Write and use a MATLAB program to do
the following:

Problem 4-4- Figure

Nodal coordinate dimensions are in inches

Problem 4-5
Four springs are assembled as shown. Nodes 2,
3, 4 and 5 are restrained to be zero. The angle 
is 45o. Two different axis systems are shown.
This problem will use the x-y system oriented
horizontally and vertically. Use the global
system numbering shown.
a) Solve for the 2x2 restrained system stiffness
matrix in terms of the x-y system when k1 = Problem 4-6-Figure
2k2.

Chapter 4 Page 95
Matrix methods

a) Compute the 5 element stiffness matrices in Problem 4-8

terms of the 8 degrees of freedom, as The three members of the fully restrained truss
numbered in the diagram. shown have equal lengths, L=40 inches, equal
b) Assemble the system unrestrained stiffness areas, A=0.5 in.2 and are constructed of the same
matrix. material so that E=10.5 x 106 psi. and  = 12 x
c) Assemble the restrained system stiffness 10-6 in/in/oF. The bar cross-sections are circular.
matrix.
d) Solve for the unknown deflections. a) Compute the deflection (in terms of the
e) Solve for the reactions. parameter EA/L) of the center node
f) Solve for the internal forces in each of the 5 point when a vertical force of 1200
rods. pounds is applied. Compute the internal
g) If the cross-sectional area of member 2/3 is forces in each bar.
changed to be ½ that of the other 4 b) The 1200 lb. force is removed. Then all
members, recompute the internal forces in 3 members are heated by sunlight until
each bar. What would happen if the element they have a temperature difference of
were removed? Could you solve the 100o F. Compute the deflections of the
problem without matrix methods? center node and the internal forces in
h) Draw your results for the reaction forces on each bar.
a figure and check to see that they satisfy
equilibrium.
i) On the diagram in part (h), label your
internal forces and indicate tension (T) or
compression (C).

Problem 4-7
Develop the restrained stiffness matrix for the
redundant truss shown in the figure in terms of
the two nodal displacements shown.

a) Solve for the displacements.

b) Find the force in each rod.
c) Draw a diagram to display these results and
check to see that equilibrium is satisfied.

Problem 4-8-Figure

Problem 4-7-Figure

Chapter 4 Page 96
Matrix methods

Problem 4-9 Problem 4-10

The truss shown has seven elements. Element 1- Consider Problem 4.2 in which four rod
5 is heated so that the temperature difference is elements are attached to each other to form a
100o F. Solve for the force in each element if all single structure. Use a matrix method analysis
members have equal cross-sectional areas. Note approach to do the following problem.
that the structure is rectangular, not square.
a) If element 2 is heated 100 degrees
Fahrenheit, find the stresses in each
element. Be sure to specify which
elements are in tension or compression.
b) If elements 1, 2 and 3 have no
temperature change, but element 4 is
cooled 50 degrees Fahrenheit, find the
stresses in each element.

Problem 4-9-Figure

Chapter 4 Page 97
 Materials and processes

Chapter 5 -–Materials and Processes

5.1 Introduction with 85 miles of wiring; these parts are

Engineers make things. These “things” are supplied to Boeing by 1300 vendors.23 A
made out of materials using materials large variety of materials are used to
processing. All engineers must have a construct these 3.1 million parts.
working knowledge of materials, their
properties and the processes by which Aircraft design has many requirements
materials are formed into components, related to materials choices, as illustrated in
joined together, assembled, react to the often Figure 5-2. Materials selection for aircraft
harsh aeronautical environment, and are components is a complicated task; the array
inspected and maintained. Aerospace of different types of materials is in the
engineers in particular face a challenge
because of the harsh environments that our
products operate in and the high standards of
safety and efficiency that the industry
demands.

The purpose of this chapter is to lay out the

materials selection process and to provide
useful data so that you are able to make
materials choices and processing decisions.
I want you to have a perspective on how
materials are used, where they come from,
how we respond to requirements, how we
choose materials and to speak the language
required to communicate with those in the
material world. The influence of material
properties on aerospace design is illustrated
in Figure 5-1.

Properties
INTRINSIC ATTRIBUTIVE
Bulk
mechanical Price &
properties availabilty
Figure 5-2-Mechanical properties are important for
aircraft operation (Source:Ashby)
Bulk non- Production
mechanical DESIGN properties thousands or even tens of thousands. How
properties
do we organize materials selection with such
a huge menu of choices? How do we match
Surface Aesthetic
properties properties our choices to respond to system

Figure 5-1 -How materials properties influence 23

aerospace design J. Simpson, L. Field, D.A. Garvin, “The
Boeing 767: From Concept to Production,”
Harvard Business School Case Studies, Harvard
To provide some perspective, the Boeing Business School Publishing, 1988.
767 has 3.1 million interconnected parts

Chapter 5 Page 98
 Materials

requirements? What are the metrics we not be of greater weight per square foot and
must use? must have reasonable resistance to tearing.”

Materials have an important effect on what The fact that this statement seems so
airplanes look like and the challenges of primitive to even the uneducated layman is a
aircraft and spacecraft development tribute to how far teams of materials
determine what materials are developed. engineers and structural engineers have
Figure 5-3 shows the major types of brought our aeronautical structures
materials used today in aerospace design. technology in less than a century.
These materials are largely metallic, but this
was not always so. In an article published in Materials also progress through a series of
1922 this observation was made.24 stages of development as they progress from
a scientific curiosity to a full-blown, reliable
“So long as wood is used, the making of product.
good aeroplanes will be a matter of art
rather than science. In the covering from New materials often make improved
aeroplane wings, nothing has yet been structural concepts feasible, but, as noted in
produced to compete seriously with linen or a National Research Council report,
cotton fabric treated with suitable dope and developing and “characterizing” a new

Figure 5-3 - Summary of aircraft materials and their uses

protective covering. It certainly would be material requires a large commitment of

an advantage if this could be replaced by resources and time for both the materials
metallic covering, but such covering must supplier and the aircraft manufacturer. A
production commitment also requires that
the structure be producible (i.e., the
24
Major Fred M. Green, “Research from the
materials, processes, and assembly
Designers, Constructors and Users Points of procedures are established); the operational
View,” Flight, February 23, 1922, pp. 121-122. implications such as maintainability and

Chapter 5 Page 99
Materials and processes

repairability must be fully understood and About 80% of commercial aircraft airframes
acceptable. are composed of aluminum. While this is
changing – consider the new Boeing
We can summarize six requirements for a Dreamliner with its extensive use of
material to be considered for use in advanced composite carbon fiber materials –
aerospace products, these are: aluminum holds a prominent place in
airframe construction. Aluminum is the
 Stabilized material and material third most abundant metal in the Earth‟s
processes crust. – after iron and silicon – but it usually
 Producibility occurs as an oxide so it is expensive to
 Characterized mechanical properties extract from ore. A century and a half ago,
 Predictability of structural performance aluminum was so rare and expensive that the
 Supportability – the ability to repair a French Emperor Napoleon III had a set of
structure in the field and inspect during cutlery made from it and used it while
manufacture and service entertaining the King of Siam. In 1857,
 Availability and affordability Charles Dickens wrote this about aluminum:

We can also define “maturity levels” as “Within the course of the last two years… a
follows to assess whether or not the treasure has been divined, unearthed and
materials we are considering are risky for a brought to light ... what do you think of a
particular design. These maturity levels are metal as white as silver, as unalterable as
defined by a numbering scheme as follows: gold, as easily melted as copper, as tough as
iron, which is malleable, ductile, and with
1-2 For a ranking of 1 or 2, materials are not the singular quality of being lighter that
available and need development, no glass? Such a metal does exist and that in
complex parts are built, no test data considerable quantities on the surface of the
available globe.
3-4 For this range of numbers properties are
not reproducible, testing is not complete, no The advantages to be derived from a metal
sub-components or full scale components endowed with such qualities are easy to be
built, no cost model validation with full- understood. Its future place as a raw
scale parts material in all sorts of industrial
5-7 Limited data with large error bars, sub- applications is undoubted, and we may
expect soon to see it, in some shape or other,
components built but testing is incomplete,
full-scale parts built but not tested to design in the hands of the civilized world at large.”
loads, cost model validation is incomplete
8-10 Materials and processes are well- In 1884 aluminum was chosen to be the
characterized, solid data base for different metal for a pyramidal cap to be placed at the
conditions, reproducible sub-components top of the Washington Monument as part of
and full-scale components built and tested to a lightning protection system. At that time,
design loads, cost models validated the price of aluminum was $16 per pound
and the pyramid (whose replica is shown in
The development of aluminum is a prime Figure 5-4), was fabricated using 97.75%
example of a material advancing from a pure aluminum, weighed a little over 6
rarity to a standard material for aerospace pounds (2.85 kg.).
use. Aluminum is the primary material used
to construct aircraft today. There are many The only U.S. producer of aluminum at that
different aluminum alloys to choose from time was William Frishmuth of
today, but it was not always the case. Philadelphia. The total production of
aluminum by his foundry for 1884 was 51

Chapter 5 Page 100

 Materials

kg. He used a chemical reduction process is no longer used although is essentially an

with anhydrous aluminum chloride and alloy referred to as Aluminum 2024.
sodium at elevated temperatures. While
Frishmuth originally estimated that the piece
would cost $75, the bill submitted for this
aluminum piece was $256.10, an amount
revised downward to $225.00. Note that a
worker on the Monument made about $1 per
day. 25

In 1886 two young scientists, Paul Louis

Toussaint Héroult, in France, and Charles
Martin Hall, in the U.S., unaware of each
other's work, simultaneously invented a new
electrolytic process to extract aluminum
from oxides, now called the Hall-Héroult
process. They discovered that if they
dissolved aluminum oxide in a bath of
molten cryolite and passed a powerful Figure 5-4 – Replica of aluminum pyramid
electric current through it, then molten at the top of the Washington Monument
aluminum would be deposited at the bottom
of the bath. This process is the basis for all Duralumin‟s early use in airships provided
aluminum production today. German aircraft engineers with a lead in the
development of metal airplanes. Later
Even though aluminum was being produced developments outside Germany led to rapid
more cheaply, pure aluminum is a relatively advances in airplane design and the level of
soft metal; it is easily deformed and does not maturity we have today.
resist large stresses. In 1906 a German
metallurgist, Alfred Wilm, discovered that Although eventually successful, the
an aluminum alloy with 4% copper added increased use of metal in aircraft
(together with 1% magnesium and 1% construction did not begin with a conscious
manganese.) would slowly harden and effort to take advantage of the superior
develop high strength after heat treatment structural properties of metals. It is amazing
and a phenomenon called “age-hardening.” how difficult it was to get some airplane
designers, particularly those in Britain, to
This new high strength alloy, called embrace the use of metals. In 1923, John D.
“duralumin,” was the predecessor of modern North, a noted British authority of the time,
aluminums used for all aircraft flying today. wrote:26
Its first uses were in German Zeppelin
airships. It was so successful that during “Of the three separate metal aeroplane
World War I its alloy composition was a movements in Great Britain, Germany and
military secret. Today, the term duralumin France, that in this country, at least,
received its principal impulse, not from a
realization of the great engineering
25
George J. Binczewski, “The Point of the
26
Monument: A History of the Aluminum Cap of John D. North, “The Case for Metal
the Washington Monument,” JOM, The Construction,” The Journal of the Royal
Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1995. Aeronautical Society, Vol. 28 (September 1923),
(http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9511/Bi pp. 3-25.
nczewski-9511.html#RTFToC9)

Chapter 5 Page 101

Materials and processes

advantages attending it, but from the these loads. Some materials must be
pressure of a world shortage of the limited transparent to light or radar.
supplies of that class of timber most suitable
for light structural purposes”. Materials selection also requires strong
consideration of how the part will be
North was referring to a situation that manufactured. Will the part be cast,
occurred during the latter part of the World stamped or machined? It is not unusual to
War I when a shortage of aircraft quality have a one pound part milled and cut from a
wood seriously threatened to disrupt British 50 pound forging. How do materials
aircraft production. Brought on by Britain's choices affect the size of the part? Can the
reliance on imported supplies of aircraft part be manufactured as a single piece or
woods, one would expect to find a strong must it be assembled? Do we use bolts or
interest on the part of British engineers in do we weld components together?
advancing metal construction. Such a In my opinion, the best book to learn the
movement failed to develop and a period of fundamentals of materials and the selection
British aeronautical stagnation followed process that we should follow is Michael
World War I. British engineers ignored the Ashby‟s textbook.28 I will make frequent
progress in metal construction being made reference to this text and use his PC based
by their counterparts in Europe and in the design code (CES EduPack). This code is
United States, and adopted a conservative accessible from the Purdue Libraries web
and unprogressive approach to design. site and the ECN Network. When you have
the chance, buy a copy of Ashby‟s book for
In 1924, as England moved to revitalize your own use.
procurement of military aircraft, the Air
Ministry ruled that all vital parts of future 5.2 Materials families and classification
service aircraft were to be made of metal. Let‟s start at the beginning. There are 103
Disappointingly short of a positive decision, naturally occurring elements. Everything
which might have promoted development of that ever has been or ever will be is
all-metal aircraft designed to take advantage composed of pieces from the periodic table
of the superior weight/strength properties of of elements. Aerospace materials are sub-
metals, the ruling did little more than foster divided into six different “families” or
continuation of fabric-covered biplanes with categories: 1) metals; 2) polymers; 3)
high alloy steel frames.27 elastomers; 4) ceramics; 5) glasses; and, 6)
hybrids such as advanced composites
While we usually think of choosing obtained by combining two or more
materials on the basis of strength there are different materials. Families have common
other important features of materials that features. These features include mechanical
come into play. properties, applications and processing.

Not all design requirements involve As shown in Figure 5-5, families are sub-
mechanical or thermal loads. The aerospace divided into classes, sub-classes and
operational environment can be harsh; for members. Each family member has
instance, naval aircraft operate in a highly
corrosive salt water environment. In 28
addition, materials must not only resist M. Ashby, H. Shecliff and D. Cebon,
loads, but may be called upon to store, Materials: Engineering, Science, Processing and
Design, Elsevier, 2007. This is a “must have”
transmit, dissipate or diffuse energy from
book. The majority of the figures used in this
chapter are taken from this textbook. We will
27
Charles H. Gibbs-Smith, Aviation, Her also use the CES/Edupack program for
Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1970. homework.

Chapter 5 Page 102

 Materials

attributes or properties. These properties

include density, mechanical properties such
as yield strength and Young‟s modulus,
thermal properties such as coefficient of
thermal expansion and optical properties
such as transparency. Density and cost are
two of the most important categories for
aeronautical use.

Each material family has attributes that

make it desirable for some uses and
Figure 5-5-Material classes and organization
unsuitable for others. The summary for (Source: Ashby, Shercliff and Cebon)
these families is as follows. Not all of these
materials are suitable for airframes. Also, as
you read these summaries notice that there depend on temperature; polymers can be
are technical terms that need some either brittle (at low temperatures) or very
discussion and definition. flexible and rubbery at high temperatures.
“High temperature” means temperatures
Metals have a relatively high Young‟s around the boiling point of water. Polymers
modulus, E. When pure, most metals can be are easy to shape – that is why they are often
easily formed (or deformed). The pure called “plastics.”
metals can be made stronger by alloying –
mixing in small amount of other materials – Elastomers are polymers with the property
or by heat treatments using mechanical that their stiffness is low, but they can be
processes like rolling to press them into easily stretched but recover their original
sheets. Metals are good thermal and shape when the load is removed. They have
electrical conductors, but metals are easily low stiffness but they are strong and tough.
corroded unless protected. They are also Car tires and rubber used for running shoes
ductile and can be drawn into wires or are examples.
extruded.
Hybrid materials include different materials
Ceramics are non-metallic inorganic solids blended together. Glass and carbon
like porcelain used in spark plugs. Ceramics reinforced polymers are example of hybrids.
are stiff (high E), hard and abrasion
resistant; they retain strength at high Airframe materials – at least metallic
temperatures and resist corrosion. On the airframe materials – have several
other hand, ceramics are brittle and their requirements. These are (this listing is not
strength is degraded by small chips, cracks in prioritized order):
or internal defects.
High yield strength
Glasses are non-crystalline (called Ductility
amorphous) solids. Like ceramics, glasses High stiffness
(Pyrex ovenware is a good example) are Fatigue resistance
hard and corrosion resistant. Also like Corrosion resistance
ceramics, they are brittle and do not have Creep resistance
resistance to stress concentrations or cracks. Light weight
Low cost
Polymers are organic solids composed of Availability
long chains of carbon. Polymers are light- Machinability or producability
weight but have low moduli, of the order of
1/50 that of metals. Polymer properties

Chapter 5 Page 103

Materials and processes

This list uses terms that need further fighter aircraft. The United States imports
definition and we will do so in the next 100% of its manganese and 78% of its
section. Some terms, such as availability, cobalt and chromium.
are important but are not technically
measurable. Availability is sometimes 5.3 Material properties
affected by the political climate. For Materials scientists and engineers have their
instance, strategic materials are those that own language. Words and phrases must be
may be readily available in some countries used carefully. Unfortunately some of the
but not others. For instance, alloys might terms, like “strain,” “elastic” or “plastic” are
have certain elements such as chromium but also used imprecisely in common everyday
these elements might be in short supply in use to mean something different or less
the United States. precise.

Obtaining these elements during a crisis or Material properties fall into four general
during wartime can be a problem. In categories: 1) mechanical properties;
particular, the "Big 4" chromium, cobalt, thermal properties; electrical, magnetic and
manganese, and platinum are the most optical properties; and chemical properties.
critical. Because of the obvious importance of
strength, weight, deformation and durability
In addition to airframe development, to structural design, mechanical properties
materials development plays an essential are at the top of the list for designers.
role in new engine development. Materials
innovations such as titanium alloy Material properties change with
development, directional and single crystal temperature, a major problem for high speed
blade production, thermal barrier coatings, designs or designs that operate in space.
and composites development have opened Seldom does an increase or severe decrease
the design space to implement new engine in temperature improve a material property.
design concepts. As temperatures increase, materials such as
aluminum will “creep.” They slowly
deform or sag over time. Because of this
there is a maximum service temperature.
Some materials such as stainless steel have a
high service temperature – around 800o C –
while polymers have low service
temperatures – around 150o C.

We have also seen that the coefficient of

thermal expansion, denoted as , is an
important parameter for thermal loads.
Figure 5-6-Pratt-Whitney F-100 engine Other properties such as thermal
cutaway listing metallic elements required for conductivity, heat capacity and thermal
manufacturing. diffusivity may be important for operation in
extreme temperatures.
Figure 5-6 shows the materials required to
construct a Pratt-Whitney F-100 engine.29 Electrical, magnetic and optical properties
This engine powers the F-15 and F-16 might be limiting for some designs.
Electrical conductivity is expected for power
29
J. W. Christensen, Global Science: Energy, transmission, but it may also be a problem
Resources, Environment, Kendall Hunt for stealthy aircraft. We also need to pay
Publishing Company, 2003 attention to this group of properties when we
design radomes.

Chapter 5 Page 104

 Materials

between the rod longitudinal deflection, ,

Finally, chemical properties are important, and the load, P, is:
particularly for those structures that operate
in corrosive environments. While the beach
PL
may be a great place to vacation, it is not a 
great place to operate an aluminum airplane. EA
Hot gases from turbine or rocket exhaust are  EA 
similarly destructive if the wrong materials
or P    k
 L 
are used.
If the material has a small Young‟s modulus,
then a large cross-sectional area is required
For any design problem, there will usually
to provide enough axial stiffness to keep the
be design limiting properties of materials.
longitudinal deflection small. The rod
For instance, a turbine might be able to
cross-sectional area is:
achieve a certain level of thermal efficiency
due to the service temperature limits of PL
A
titanium or stainless steel parts in the E
turbine. Identifying these design limiters The rod mass is:
and using them in the selection process is a
PL2   
fundamental, important part of the design m  LA 
process.   E 
From this expression we can see that when
5.4 Materials metrics and Bubble charts P,  and L are prescribed by the designer,
Component and structural stiffness are key we must choose a material with a large value
factors in determining structural vibration of E/ to keep weight small. This metric is
frequencies that in turn affect flutter speeds called the material‟s “specific stiffness.”

Ashby introduces the concept of “Bubble

charts” to help us find materials with large
(or small) values of design metrics. Bubble
charts are highly visual ways of displaying
Figure 5-7-Rod element with end loads, P material properties in a way that supports
of airplanes, as well as determine fatigue design decisions. Figure 5-8 shows a
and sound and vibration features of the notional bubble chart with Young‟s modulus
airplane. Buckling is another stiffness plotted on a logarithmic scale, base 10
related design criterion. Stiffness not only against material density for different
depends on the Young‟s modulus but also
the design topology – the structural
component cross-sectional areas and
shapes as well as layout or geometry.
How do we choose the right materials
when stiffness is a requirement?

The simplest example is the axial

deformation of a rod with a tensile load
applied at each end, as depicted in Figure
5-7. The goal is to choose the lightest
weight material when the deflection of this
rod has a maximum value. The mass (or
weight) of this bar, m, is m=AL where  Figure 5-8-Bubble chart showing constraint line
is the material density. The relationship

Chapter 5 Page 105

Materials and processes

families of materials. With this this column before it buckles is given by the
representation each family of materials Euler buckling formula:
occupies a particular area of the plot –
metals near the upper right, foams at the
    b 
2 2 4
lower left, polymers low central, and so on. P  Pcrit    EI    E  
L  L   12 
In terms of logarithms the specific stiffness    EA
2 2

relationship E/ = C (C is a constant that we  

choose) is written as:  L  12

log(E) = log() + log(C) The area is unspecified so we must find a

suitable area with dimensions b x b. From
the buckling formula we compute the
On a log-log graph such as Figure 5-8, this minimum cross-sectional area required to
relationship plots out as a straight line with prevent bucking to be:
slope equal to 1. Figure 5-8 shows the
bubble chart for this design “constraint”
with a slope of 1. Materials above the line L 12 Pcrit
A
are acceptable while those below are not.  E
Depending on the value of “C” we will get a
family of different lines with the same slope. The column weight, m, is m   AL
With C large we will find a group of
candidate materials. L2   
m
  E 
or 12 Pcrit

5.5 Materials indices for stiffness design

The purpose of this section is to illustrate From this equation we see that the best
further how to make stiffness choices in two minimum weight beam material is one that
important design constraints: 1) beam
E
buckling; and 2) plate buckling. We will maximizes the ratio . This ratio is
then show how bubble charts can furnish 
information to help to select the competitive “material index” for this problem with these
materials. constraints. If we repeated this computation
for a beam with a different type of cross-
section, for instance an I-beam or a hollow
circular section, we would get a similar
expression.

Figure 5-9 – Beam with compressive load

Consider the design of a straight beam with

a square cross-sectional area (undetermined
width, b, and undetermined depth, b)
subjected to compressive loading, P shown Figure 5-10-Plate with transverse load
in Figure 5-9. The maximum value of
compressive load, P, that we can apply to

Chapter 5 Page 106

 Materials

Consider the flat plate shown in Figure 5-10. First of all, the bending stress due to the
The load, P, the maximum deflection, max, applied load is:
and the width, b, are specified; the only free
design dimension is the plate thickness, h.  
My

 FL   t 2  FL
6 3

4
The relationship between P and the center I t t
deflection is: 12
t4
EI  Ebh3  where I
P  3  max   
3  max
12
L  12 L 
2
The thickness dimension, h, must be  FL  3
The area is A  t   6
2

 y 
1  
 12P  3
h  L 
 Eb max  The weight is w   t 2 L

The plate cross-sectional area is  


w   6F  L 3 2 
2 5
or 3
 3 
y
1
 12P  3 
A  bh  L  
 Eb max  The material index appears as the final term
in the above equation.
The panel weight is:
1 5.6 Shape selection and optimization
   2  12Pb 2 
 
3
m   AL   1 For load carrying, not only is the material
 3  L  
E    max  important, but so too is the cross-sectional
shape. Shaped sections carry bending loads
more efficiently than rectangular or circular
From this equation we see that the material sections. Efficient shapes require less
index is the ratio /E1/3. Minimizing this material than other shapes.
ratio or maximizing the ratio E1/3/ will give
us the lightest weight structure subject to a
deflection constraint.

Figure 5-11 – Example – a light-weight strong

beam
As shown in Figure 5-12, structural
Suppose that we want to design a beam
elements come in many different cross-
element with a concentrated load applied at sectional shapes ranging from I-shaped
its end, as shown in Figure 5-11. The sections to thin-walled tubes and box
length, L, is specified. The beam must
sections. For plates, the options are more
support the load F without yielding. We limited, but choices include honeycomb
want to minimize the beam weight. We are
plates with face sheets or composite material
free to choose the area, A, and the material. laminates.

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Materials and processes

The cross-sectional areas and area moments

of inertia for 5 common cross-sectional
shapes are shown in Figure 5-13.

In the first case shown in Figure 5-12, axial

tension, the load carrying area is important,
but its shape is not. This is not true for
bending. We know that I-beams are more
efficient than solid sections and are used in
many different forms of construction. For
torsional elements we use circular cross-
sections instead of rectangular or square
cross-sections.

Figure 5-13 – Cross-sectional areas and

centroidal area moments of inertia for 5
different sections.

To compare the efficiencies of different

shapes we first choose a standard reference
Figure 5-12-Common loading and some case. This can be a standard cross-section
efficient shapes to carry the loads such as a circular section or a square cross-
(source:Ashby) section. In our case we choose a square
cross-section of dimensions b x b so that the
For structural optimization we need a metric area is A=b2 and the moment of inertia is Io
for shape optimization. This metric is the = b2/12 or Io = A2/12. The shape factor is a
shape factor suggested by Michael Ashby. ratio defined as
Ashby also suggests a neutral comparison
shape, in this case the square cross-sectional,
I 12 I
as a reference for comparison. B  
I o A2
To begin, let‟s compare the bending
stiffness efficiency of several cross-sectional For instance, consider a circular cross-
shapes. The bending stiffness is section with outer radius 40 mm. and inner
proportional to EI, the product of the radius 36 mm. The moment of inertia and
Young‟s modulus and the cross-sectional area are:
moment of inertia, I, defined as:
I    ro2  ri2   2 rot
I  y 2 dA
area The bending efficiency factor is:

Chapter 5 Page 108

 Materials

If the cross-section is square with

12 I 
12 ro3t 3ro dimensions b x b then
B    3
A2

4 2 ro2t 2 t I b3 A 2
Z square  zz   .
ymax 6 6
For the given dimensional values we have
B  9.5 , meaning that the circular tube The bending stress shape factor is defined as
cross-section is 9.5 times stiffer than a Z 6Z
rectangular cross-section with the same area. Bs   3 where the cross-
Z square A 2
From Figure 5-13 we compute the bending sectional area and Z are those for the
efficiency for the elliptical area to be: particular cross-section. This shape factor is
equal to 1 when the cross-section is square.
I 12 I 12 a3b 3a
B   2  2 2 2    Recall that the materials selection process is
Io A 4 a b  b also influenced by the cost to manufacture a
component. The cross-sectional shape
As indicated in Figure 5-14, efficiency is not determines the cost of a component and the
a function of size. On the other hand, for a manufacturing process to be used. This cost
constant area, the efficiency factor not only depends on the cost of the raw
determines which shape is best. If the areas material, but also the cost of the
are allowed to vary, then the cross-section manufacturing process.
with the highest efficiency will have the
smallest area.

Figure 5-15 – Function, materials, shape and

process are intertwined.
Figure 5-14- Efficiency factors are not a
function of absolute size In the next section we will examine material
properties to identify some constraints on
The strength of the cross-section is also our materials selection process.
important. The flexural formula also gives
the maximum tensile bending stress on a 5.7 The relationship between stress and
beam cross-section in terms of a Z-factor: strain
Determining the stress and strain at points
 Mymax M I within a structure is fundamental to analysis
  where Z  zz and to communicating information about
I zz Z ymax

Chapter 5 Page 109

Materials and processes

materials; stress is a relatively new concept where A is the area of the test coupon. For
in structural mechanics. Gordon30 credits test data purposes this area is assumed not to
Cauchy, who we generally associate more change as loading proceeds.
with mathematics than structures, with the
origins of the modern concept of stress and Materials data such as this are available in
strain, although Hooke is credited with the Metallic Material Properties
recognizing the linear relationship between Development and Standardization
load and deflection.31 (MMPDS) Handbook. This handbook
replaced another government sponsored
Stress causes strain. Strain is a measure of handbook, MIL-HNDBK-5, as the official
relative deformation; strain is dimensionless. source of materials properties in 2003. The
Normal strain is created by tensile and MMPDS Handbook is the only government
compressive stresses. recognized source of design allowable
materials properties for commercial and
military aircraft certification and
airworthiness. The MMPDS Handbook
contains data such as tensile and ultimate
We can also measure strain in terms of yield stresses for the most widely used
percent strain. In that case we multiply the metallic materials used in aerospace
number above by 100. construction. It also contains information on
fracture toughness and Young‟s modulus.
A stress-strain diagram for metals, such as
the one shown in Figure 5-16 provides an
illustration of many of the important
properties of structural materials. Such
stress-strain diagrams are developed by
loading small test specimens or “coupons”
in tension (or compression) with an axial
load, P, and measuring elongations, , under
loading. These elongations are converted
into strain measurements while the loading
is converted to stress using the relationship
 =P/A.

30
J.E. Gordon, “Structures-or Why Things
Don‟t Fall Down.” This book and its
companion, “The New Science of Strong Figure 5-16- Typical stress-strain diagram for metals.
Materials” are “must haves.” Source: Ashby, Shercliff, Cebon
31
Cauchy derived the equations of equilibrium
for in infinitesimal element within the elastic Figure 5-16 shows that when first stretched,
body. He showed that on any plane within an most materials, such as the metals used in
elastic material the stress had three components aerospace construction, have a linear
(two shears and one normal). Timoshenko relationship between stress and strain so that
attributes Cauchy‟s interests in the theory of  = E. The initial slope of the stress strain
elasticity to a paper by Navier (of Navier-Stokes curve is the Young’s modulus E and the
equation fame). Cauchy was a renowned stress-strain relationship is said to follow
mathematician who pioneered the study of real
and complex analysis, convergence and
Hooke‟s Law.32 When first loaded, most
divergence of infinite series, differential
32
equations, determinants, probability and Young‟s modulus is named after Thomas
mathematical physics. Young (1773-1829) who has been referred to as

Chapter 5 Page 110

 Materials

materials are also elastic. Elastic Above the yield stress, when we unload a
deformation means that when a load is material the unloading will occur along a
applied to a material it deforms, but when straight line (shown as a dashed line in
the load is removed, the material will return Figure 5-16) whose slope is given by the
its original form; when an elastic material is modulus of elasticity or Young‟s modulus.
loaded above a stress called the “yield Note that this line is parallel to the original
stress” or “yield strength” and then loading line.
unloaded it will have a permanent
deformation. Above the yield stress the This unloading line will intersect the
material is inelastic or “plastic.” horizontal strain axis at some point. By
agreement among engineers, when this
Plasticity is the ability of a material to straight line intersects the strain of 0.002
undergo permanent changes in shape under (note that strain is dimensionless since it is
stress. When materials become plastic they defined as the change in length divided by
are easier to deform, as indicated by the the original length) we define the yield
reduction in the slope of the stress-strain stress. Thus the yield stress is often called
diagram. the 0.2% “offset yield” stress (this is the
strain times 100). The percentage unit is
Materials can also be nonlinear elastic, but used in the definition and can be confusing,
the key concept of material elasticity is that but the important thing is that this strain is
when stress is removed, the material returns extremely small.
to its original state with no permanent
deformation. Figure 5-17 shows four typical stress-strain
curves for polymers. Two of the four stress-
As indicated in Figure 5-16 ductile materials strain curves are for polymers with extreme
with may have no clear yield point. The plasticity before failure. On the other hand,
material is linear elastic up to a point and one of the polymers is brittle and shows no
then becomes nonlinear elastic for a small plasticity before failure.
range of stress, then becomes plastic.
Plasticity is a desirable feature and is
Yield strength is a transition point between related to ductility. Ductility is the ability of
elasticity and plasticity. Materials such as a material to deform substantially (of the
titanium have high yield strength while order of 10% increase in length) before
others like lead have low yield strength. failure. Ductility is characteristic of metals
like steel or aluminum alloys. At a large
strain, of the order of 10% change in length,
these materials reach their “ultimate” stress
as indicated in Figure 5-16. Further loading
causes fracture.

“England‟s Galileo.” Young developed his idea Ductility has several definitions but “the
without stress and strain as we use it today. He property of being capable of sustaining large
was truly multi-dimensional in his contributions plastic deformations without fracture (able
to science. His development of the double slit to be drawn into a wire)” is probably the
optical experiment helped to establish the wave best.
theory of light. A memorial plaque in
Westminster Abbey describes him as a “man Mechanical properties should not depend on
alike eminent in almost every department of
the size of the test specimen. However,
human learning.” Young‟s biography by
Figure 5-17-Stress-strain
Andrew behavior
Robinson is "The for polymers
Last Man Who Knew
once the material becomes plastic, the cross-
showing strain to
Everything" (Pi Press, 2006).failure sectional area changes substantially; the
stresses are no longer uniformly distributed

Chapter 5 Page 111

 Materials and processes

along the length of the test specimen. To

standardize data, the American Society of
Testing Materials (ASTM) specifies the
sizes of test specimens and the way in which
loads are applied and data is taken.

Standards are extremely important so that

everyone understands what is and is not
present in experimental data. ASTM
International is an organization with
members who are experts in testing. This Figure 5-19-Through the thickness crack
organization, originally known as the formation (Source: Ashby)
American Society for Testing and Materials
International (ASTM), was formed in 1898 primary problem with pressurized fuselages
is metal fatigue and the presence of initial
to address the problem of railroad rail breaks
flaws or cracks that tend grow with time.
The result can be exciting if not deadly, as
indicated in Figure 5-18

An eighteen-foot long section of the forward

cabin of the Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200,
was lost at 24,000 ft on April 28, 1988, due
to the combined effects of fatigue and
corrosion. A flight attendant was killed and
one crew member and seven passengers
were seriously injured. The crew managed
Figure 5-18- April 28, 1988-cracks and metal to make an emergency landing on the island
fatigue - Aloha Flight 243 with the upper part of its of Maui. It was concluded that the probable
fuselage blown away in flight cause of failure was the presence of
that had caused fatal accidents in the United numerous fatigue cracks along the rows of
States. Their work led to standardization of rivet holes.
the steel used in rail construction. During the
past 100 years ASTM has provided Small cracks in pressure vessels such as an
consensus standards that have made aircraft fuselage start at a “damage site” that
products and services safer, better and more may be the result of a “ding” or “nick.” The
cost-effective. damage site may also be present during
manufacture. An aircraft fuselage may be
One of the biggest problems in structural
design is fatigue and fracture. While single
applied loads are important to ensuring
adequate strength, vibratory loading and
small loads applied over and over are
important. It is possible for a structure to
fail below the yield stress if cracks form in
the structure.

For the majority of modern passenger

aircraft the fuselage is pressurized and the
airplanes may operate at altitudes exceeding Figure 5-20-When a crack reaches a critical length it
50,000 feet. Explosive decompression at suddenly grows and the part fails. Metal plasticity
helps retard the crack growth. (Source: Ashby)
these altitudes can lead to disaster. The

Chapter 5 Page 112

 Materials

pressurized and depressurized half a dozen called the mode 1 stress intensity factor.
times in a day of operation. As a result, a The symbol for this quantity, including the
crack like those shown in Figure 5-19 and parameter Y, is:
Figure 5-21 may form and then grow. When
the crack reaches a critical size it will
suddenly lengthen, creating a breach in the
skin and the skin material will fracture. The The stress intensity factor K1 has units of
ability to resist the growth of cracks is called stress times the square root of length.
fracture toughness and is measured by the
material property K1c. A crack will propagate if the crack length
exceeds a value that will cause the stress
intensity factor to exceed a critical value.
This critical value is the fracture toughness.
Fracture toughness is a material property. It
is independent of how we measure it; it can
be used for design.

Material properties enter into the choice of

structural materials. Materials may be
superb at doing one thing, but fail or be
limited in doing others. As before, knowing
the requirements is the first step in the
design process and we see that there are
functional requirements other than simply
finding how many pounds of loading will be
applied.

Figure 5-21-Plastic zone near crack tip (Source: 5.8 Fatigue

Ashby) Among the most important design criteria
for aerospace structures is the problem of
fatigue.
Cracks concentrate stresses, that is, cause
local conditions that create stresses larger The first aircraft accident attributed to
than the nominal stress calculated from the airframe fatigue happened to a Lufthansa
simple formula P/A. Dornier Merkur September 23, 1927. As
shown in Figure 5-22, the Merkur was a
For instance, near the tip of a crack of length single engine monoplane with a high wing
c, such as that shown in Figure 5-21, the braced by struts between the outer wing and
stress is at a distance from the crack tip is the fuselage. The accident was caused by
predicted to be fatigue failure of a wing-to strut attachment
fitting. Six people were killed; the accident
led to an extensive German research
program on the fatigue of wood, steel and
Duralumin (aluminum/copper alloy) wing
The factor Y is a constant that is spars.33
approximately equal to 1 and takes into
account the specimen geometry. The value
of  is that calculated from the standard P/A 33
Wilhelm Hoff, "Analysis of Stresses in
formula. The parameter is a measure German Airplanes." N.A.C.A. Report No.143,
of the intensity of the local stress and is Washington D.C., 1922

Chapter 5 Page 113

Materials and processes

corrosion created a so-called “damage site”

from which a crack propagated.

Between the Comet accidents in 1954 and

the Boeing 737 accident in 1988, many other
major incidents were caused by rapid
Figure 5-22- The Dornier Mekur. On its first fuselage decompression. These included:
regularly scheduled service day, April 6, 1926,
Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH) owned as many as
 A Turkish Airlines DC-10, which
162 aircraft consisting of 18 different models.
Most of these aircraft were the single-engine, crashed in France on March 3, 1974.
strut-braced Merkur. Decompression of the fuselage
following loss of the aft cargo door
Among the more famous incidents are the caused collapse of the cabin floor, which
Comet disasters, leading to airworthiness de- jammed or ruptured the flight controls.
certification of the aircraft in 1954, and All 346 people on board died.
some say the demise of the British  A Far Eastern Air Boeing 737-200
commercial aircraft industry. Metal fatigue which crashed with the loss of over 100
in the U.S. Air Force C-5A cargo aircraft lives in Taiwan in 1981 following
wings caused grounding of these aircraft and corrosion-accelerated fatigue failure of
a serious reduction of military air transport the lower fuselage skin. The corrosion
in the 1970‟s. was probably caused by raw fish, which
had been carried in the cargo holds.
In 1989 a United Airlines aircraft crashed  The Japanese Airlines Boeing 747
during an emergency landing at Sioux City, which crashed in Japan on August 20,
Iowa after one of its turbine engine disks 1985, following fatigue failure of the
disintegrated in flight. A manufacturing rear pressure bulkhead, which had been
defect in the fan blade of one of its engine repaired incorrectly following damage
resulted in metal fatigue. Seventeen years of in an emergency landing. 510 people
routine maintenance and six fluoroscopic were killed in the accident.
examinations failed to reveal the metal  A United Airlines Boeing 747 which
defect. lost the forward cargo door and ports of
the adjacent upper fuselage structure
On July 19, 1989 the defect reached a after taking off from Hawaii on
critical size and propagated, breaking the fan February 24, 1989. Blowout panels may
disk broke into hundreds of shards, which have limited damage. The aircraft
sprayed explosively from the engine housing landed safely, but some passengers were
and peppered the horizontal stabilizer and lost in the accident.
the cone section of the tail. The pilot was
able to land but the crash killed nearly half
of the passengers.

In addition to turbine engine failures,

propellers are a source of trouble. In 1995,
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529
crashed in near Carrollton, Georgia, killing 9
of the 29 people onboard. The crash of the
Embraer Brasilia turbo-prop aircraft was
caused by the failure of the propeller due to
metal fatigue resulting from corrosion. The Figure 5-23-Wing cyclic loading during operation
(Source: Ashby)

Chapter 5 Page 114

 Materials

As indicated in Figure 5-23, aircraft generate an S-N curve we load a test

components are subjected to cyclic loading specimen cyclically so that the stress has a
during operation. Stresses are not static but maximum and minimum but the mean stress
change in amplitude and frequency during is zero. The change in stress is called 
flight. As long as the vibration is low and is shown in the figure.
amplitude there is no permanent visible
damage. However, this cyclic loading will An important feature of the S-N diagram is
eventually cause fatigue, even in the “endurance limit.” This stress is shown
components with no visible damage or in Figure 5-24 as the stress at which the
cracks present. The maximum stress values materials specimen survives 107 cycles
are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, without failure.
and may be below the yield stress limit of The endurance limit and strength are related.
the material. For metals and polymers, the approximate
relationship between the endurance limit e
For high cycle fatigue in metals the and the tensile strength ts is given by
maximum stresses are less than the yield Ashby as:
stress. Most of the time to create a fatigue  endurance  0.33 ts
failure is spent generating an internal crack.
This is called “crack nucleation” and the
If the structure is already cracked, as is the
phenomenon is called initiation-controlled case when a small defect is introduced
fatigue. In any case, the stresses generated
during manufacture or service, then we must
are always below the yield stress.
be concerned with crack growth rate.
Although the crack starts small, cyclic
There is a second kind of high cycle fatigue
stresses cause the crack to open and close
and that is “propagation controlled fatigue.” and grow in size.
This kind of fatigue occurs when there are
The critical crack size is computed to be
small cracks present at the beginning of
structural use. As we use the structure the
crack size grows until it reaches a critical
size; failure then occurs. In this case “crack
growth rate” is important.
To determine how many cycles it will take
One feature of fatigue data is the so-called to grow the crack to this critical size, we
S-N curve such as shown in Figure 5-24. To must consider the change in the stress
intensity, denoted as

The Paris Law (named after Professor Paul

Paris who proposed the “law” in 1961, not
Paris Hilton) predicts the rate of change of
the crack size c to be

Where B and m are material constants. This

equation can also be written as:

m
Figure 5-24- The endurance limit; fatigue strength at dc
107 cycles. (Source ASC)  B( )m ( c) 2
dN

Chapter 5 Page 115

Materials and processes

dc than 20 years; 44 Boeing 707s and 720s had

or dN  m exceeded 25 years of service. As of July
B( )m ( c) 2 1989, another seven hundred and forty nine
1 ccritical dc Douglas DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft had been in
and N 
B( ) initial
m c m service for more than 20 years, twenty five
( c) 2 of which had over 25 years of service.

Integrating this equation, we find that In Australia, an Ansett Airlines Fokker F-28
turboprop short range airliner was retired
from service in 1988 after 29 years and 9
    months of service. The flight time record for
1   1  1  1
N  
the F-28 was 70,000 hours in 1989.82
 B 2  m   1  m  c m 2 1 c m 2 1 
 
m
  2   initial critical 
Although the age of an airliner is not as
important to structural integrity as the
The design life of an airliner is defined by number of flights and flight hours, age
the aircraft manufacturer after discussions becomes important if the aircraft is
with the airlines. The design life is based operating in a wet or salty environment. This
upon an economic analysis of procurement will accelerate corrosion unless the airframe
and operating costs in combination with is properly protected, inspected and
forecasts of obsolescence with the maintained. The combination of age,
availability of the next generation of more corrosion, and improper maintenance may
economic aircraft. result in a significant reduction in the
damage tolerance of the structure.
After the First World War most airliners
were modified bombers and their life was 5.9 Special problems in aerospace
only a few hundred hours. By the late 1920s, structures
most of the aircraft in airline service were Aerospace structures face most of the
specially designed for airline operations. problems considered by mechanical and
The economical service life of these aircraft civil engineers plus a few others that make
in service with the major airlines was only aerospace structural design challenging.
four to five years and between 5,000 to Aerospace includes not only the design of
10,000 flight hours. airframes for use from low to extremely
high speeds (including re-entry) but also the
By the mid- 1950s with the introduction of design of gas turbines and rockets. Where
turboprop and turbojet airliners, the design these designs involve human passengers and
economic life had been increased from 10 to operators safety requires high degrees of
20 years. Design flight time was increased reliability.
from 10,000 hours to between 60,000 and
140,000 hours, depending on the aircraft 5.10 Homework – Chapter 5
range. The airframes of short range airliners Problem 5-1 – We want to design a
were being designed for more than 100,000 centrifuge disk (flywheel) that can rotate as
flights. fast as possible. The maximum stress
cannot exceed the yield stress of the
By 1997 a large number of the jet airliners centrifuge disk. The disc has radius, R, and
which were produced in the 1950s and thickness, t. The energy stored in the disc is
1960s were still in airline service and had 
exceeded the original economic design life U  R 4 2t while the disc mass is
4
of 20 years. By the end of 1988 eight
hundred and eight Boeing 707, 720, 727 and m   R 2t . The quantity to be maximized
737 aircraft had been in service for more

Chapter 5 Page 116

 Materials

U 1 2 2 1
is  R  . Find the material index to E2
m 4 M (neglect self weight). (Figure
aid in the choice of a material for the 
centrifuge so that it can rotate at maximum d). Begin by computing the beam mass.
angular velocity. The maximum stress in
1
the disk is given as  y   2 R 2 .
2
Problem 5-2 – A panel has a fixed width, b,
and length, L. The thickness is h. The
moment of inertia for calculating the
bending stress is I = bh3/12. The maximum
bending moment applied to the beam is
Mmax. If the beam stress cannot exceed the
yield stress, derive the material index to help
us choose the lightest weight beam material.

Problem 5-3 – A beam has a rectangular

cross-section with the width b always being
3 times the height, h. For the same Problem 5-5
conditions as Problem 2, find the material The point of this problem is that the
index that helps us choose the minimum
2
material index depends on the mode of
 3
loading, on the geometric constraints and
weight beam. (Answer:  )
on the design objective.
Problem 5-4 - A cantilever beam has a Problem 5-5 – Solve for the material index,
square cross section and can be loaded by a M, to select materials for a minimum weight
single concentrated load at the tip or by its cantilever beam of length L and sufficient
own weight. strength to support an end load, F. The
(a) Show that the material index for the beam has a solid square cross-section t x t.
lightest cantilever beam of length L with The equation for the failure load of the beam
a square section (not given, i.e., the area is
is a free variable) that will not deflect by I failure
more than δ under its own weight is Ffailure 
E ym L
M . (Figure c). Note that the
2 where ym 
t
is the distance between the
beam deflection at the free end is 2
neutral axis of the beam and its outer surface
1  AgL4
 . Begin by computing t4
8 EI and I  is the second moment of the
the beam mass. 12
(b) Show that the lightest cantilever beam cross-section.
of length L and square section (area
free) that will not deflect by more than δ Problem 5-6 – A spring material is to be
under a concentrated end load F (neglect chosen so that the energy stored per unit
the weight of the beam) is that made of volume is maximum while the weight is
the material with the largest value of minimal. The maximum stress is the yield
stress. The maximum energy density in the
spring is

Chapter 5 Page 117

Materials and processes

1 y
2
1 1  b
U    A  2t  h  b  I zz  h3t 1  3 
2 2 E 6  h
h t
Find the material index that defines a 3  0.10
minimum weight spring. b b

Problem 5-7
The expression for the bending shape factor
is
12 I
B  2
A

For the three cross-sections shown below,

derive expressions for the bending shape
factors and evaluate them for the data given.
1   t  b 
2 3
A  2t  h  b  I zz  h3t 1  4     
6   b   h  
h t
3  0.10
b b

Problem 5-8
a) Calculate the bending shape factor B for
2 t
A  4bt I zz  b3t  0.125 a thin-wall circular cross-section with outer
3 b radius 40 mm. and inner radius 36 mm.
b) Calculate the cross-sectional area of a
solid square cross-section with the same
value of cross-sectional moment of inertia as
the thin-wall circular tube in part (a).
c) Determine the relative weights of two
beams with equal length L, one with the
thin-wall circular cross-section and the other
with the solid square cross-section. Both
  b
A    a  b  t I zz  a 3t 1  3  beams are constructed from the same
4  a material.
a t d) Calculate the shape factor for a hollow
2  0.10 square cross-section with b/t=5.
b a e) Calculate the shape factor for an I-beam
with h/b = 3, t/b = 0.125.
f) Which of the cross-sections in parts (d)
and (e) will provide the lightest weight beam
if the beam material used is the same?
Why?

Problem 5-9
The bending stress shape factor is defined
Z 6Z
as Bs   3 where the area and Z
Z square A 2
are those for the particular cross-section.

Chapter 5 Page 118

 Materials

a) Compute algebraic expressions for

Bs for the each of the cross-sections
shown in Problem 5-7.
b) Compute Bs for a rectangular
hollow section with h/b = 3, t/b =
0.125.
c) Compute Bs for an elliptical section
with a/b = 2 and t/b = 0.125.
d) For two equal weight beams (fixed,
equal cross-sectional areas and a
given material), which of the two
cross-sections in parts (b) and (c)
gives us the strongest beam?

Problem 5-10
The I-beam cross-section in Problem 5-7
with h/b=4 and t/b=0.125 is to be designed
to carry a bending moment Mo.
a) Solve for the dimension h required
to resist this bending moment
without yielding. Use general
material properties such as y and 
to develop an expression for the
weight (per unit length) of the beam
cross-section.
b) Develop the same relationship for
the weight per unit length for a thin-
wall elliptical cross-section with the
same material as part (a) with a/b =
3 and t/b=0.125.

Chapter 5 Page 119

Beam Bending

Chapter 6 - A review of Beamology-Bending and shear

stresses in classical beams
6.1 Introduction – the flexure formula bending moment as M; in general V and M
The first step in stress analysis is to compute are functions of where the section is located.
internal forces and moments. We then apply
the proper theory to convert these forces and Free body diagrams again play an essential
moments into stresses. Beam bending role in determining internal forces and
theory is one of these theories. Beam moments. If the beam is statically
models have more applicability to civil determinate then we solve force and moment
engineering structures than aerospace equilibrium equations to obtain the external
structures. However, some aerospace support reactions .To solve for V and M we
structural components, such as wings and must draw the Free Body Diagrams shown
fuselages are beam-like. Beam models are in Figure in which we cut the beam to
used to develop design understanding and to expose V and M.
make configuration choices early in the
design process when more complex models Equilibrium equations produce shear and
are not available. bending moment diagrams like those shown
in Figure 6-1. Here the shear force is
In this chapter has two objectives: 1) review constant, with a discontinuity where the 100
beam bending theory, including formulas for pound load is applied. The bending moment
bending stress and shear stress; and, 2) varies linearly with distance from either the
extend this knowledge to develop analytical left or right support.
models for thin-walled, shell-like beams
using an approximation known as the “skin-
stringer” approximation.

Figure 6-1 – Shear and bending moment

diagrams are the first step for stress analysis

Figure 6-1- An example of beam loads and Beam bending moments are converted to
structural behavior stresses by using the “flexure formula.” The
flexure formula provides the bending stress
(also called a “normal stress”)  at a point y
“Strength of materials” deals with structures on the beam cross-section. The y-position is
such as that shown in Figure 6-1, loaded by measured from the neutral axis, an axis that
a 100 pound transverse load that creates passes through the beam cross-section area
support reactions as well as internal shear centroid. For a symmetrical beam cross-
forces and bending moments. The internal section with a bending moment M:
shear force is labeled as V while the internal My
 
I

Chapter 7 Page 120

 Beam bending and shear stresses

that cross-sectional “plane sections remain

Mz plane” during bending. However, he failed
y x < 0, compressive to locate the neutral axis correctly,
something almost any sophomore can do
NA today.
x > 0,
tensile
About 1750, both Euler and a nephew of
Jacob Bernoulli, Daniel Bernoulli,
Figure 6-3 A side view of beam cross-sections
independently developed a theory now
showing the resultant bending moment and
the normal stress distribution it produces.
called Euler-Bernoulli theory that related
beam internal bending moments to beam
deflections. Strange as it may seem, it was
This formula tells us that the normal stress not until 1825 that Navier published the
varies linearly with the distance from a final solution to the beam bending stress
neutral axis, as shown in Figure 6-3. A problem. He called the formula the
different view of this stress distribution is “equation of permanent cohesion” but we
shown in Figure 6-4. call it the flexure formula.

The key to the flexure formula is an

assumption about the deformation behavior
of beam cross-sections when a pure bending
moment is applied to the beam. To satisfy
bending moment equilibrium we can have
any stress distribution we want on the cross-
section as long as the resultant of the
stresses satisfies the equilibrium equation
(depicted in Figure 6-3)

M    y  dA
Figure 6-4 - Normal stress distribution area
pattern over a solid symmetrical cross-section
The minus sign appears because, as shown
In both of these figures the resultant bending in the diagrams in Figure 6- and 6-4,
moment (positive as shown) creates negative positive M produces a compressive
(compressive) normal stress above the (negative) normal stress  when the location
neutral axis. is above the cross-section neutral axis.

The development of the seemingly simple Even though any normal stress distribution
flexure formula has a long interesting that produces the resultant bending moment
history. In Medieval times timbers were M is theoretically possible, the stress
used for bridge and building construction; it distribution must produce compatible
was important to understand how large a deformations. Compatible means that when
timber member should be to carry loads. we consider how the beam deforms under
stress we have to have something that makes
Galileo began the beam theory development, sense and is close to that observed in the
but used some basic wrong assumptions that actual system. As a result, there is only be
gave him the wrong answer. DaVinci also one stress distribution that satisfies
tried his hand at predicting beam stresses but equilibrium and produces the correct
was also was unsuccessful. He was deformation.
followed by Jacob Bernoulli, who assumed

Chapter 6 Page 121

Beam Bending

Early researchers noticed that a beam axis for the flexure formula must be located
subjected only to bending moments at the cross-sectional area centroid. The
deformed into an arc of a circle, as shown in “neutral” surface with zero stress is located
Figure 6-2. This led to the classical at the cross-sectional area centroid. The
assumption that “plane sections remain neutral axis (y=0) is a transition point
plane.” between tensile and compressive stress.

The resultant bending moment on the cross-

section is:
M    y  dA  E    y  dA
2

area area

  y  dA is the “second area

2
The term
area

Figure 6-2– “Plane sections remain plane” is moment of inertia” and is written as
I NA    y  dA since it is computed about
a fundamental assumption about the 2
deflection of beam cross-sections loaded by area
bending moments. Bending produces stresses
the cross-section neutral axis.
but no longitudinal resultant forces
The deformation pattern in which cross- The expression for bending moment now
sections rotate but do not otherwise distort becomes:
means that the strain  on internal cross-
sections varies as follows: M   E  I NA

 y We solve for the constant  to get:

M
( is a constant that we will determine). This  
EI NA
means that
so that
  E  E  y
My
  E y  
As shown in Figure 6-5, the cross-sectional I NA
bending stresses do not have a longitudinal
force resultant, P, perpendicular to the cross- 6.6.1 – Moment of inertia example
section. The zero resultant force computed To illustrate the computation of INA consider
from the assumption that plane sections the “T-section” constructed by combining
remain plane is:

P   dA    E  y  dA  0
area area

This means that, when a pure bending

moment is applied,

E   y  dA  0
area

The condition that bending moments create Figure 6-3-Example T-section used to
no in-plane force resultant means that the y- illustrate how we find the cross-sectional
neutral axis and area moment of inertia

Chapter 6 Page 122

 Beam bending and shear stresses

To use the flexure formula we compute the

T-section area moment of inertia about its
area centroidal, neutral axis. We do this by
using the “parallel axis theorem.” For
instance, we know that the area moment of
inertia of a rectangular area about its own
bh3
area centroid is I o  where b=base
12
dimension and h=height.

Figure 6-4-Temporary coordinate system used We can transfer moments of inertia

to find the sectional area centroid computed about elemental centroidal axes to
another location along a non-centroidal axis
two 1x3 inch cross-sections and shown in system parallel to the original system by
Figure 6-6. We first find the centroid of this simply adding another term equal to the
T-section by sub-dividing it into two pieces element area times the distance between
as indicated in Figure 6-3. axes. For the individual elements this
relationship is written as:
In Figure 6-4 we have set up a temporary Y-
Z axis system. The Y-axis is an axis of I1  I o  A1 y 2
symmetry. The total area of the cross-
section is 6 square inches. The distance Y
Don‟t be confused by the use of the term
that the area cross-sectional centroid lies
“centroidal” for two distinctly different
above the Z axis is:
situations. Each element of the total area
has its own centroid and its own value of Io.
1 2 Y A Y2A The “non-centroidal” axis we are
Y  Y i Ai  1 A1  A 2
A i 1 transferring to is the centroidal axis system
1 2

(3.5)(3)  (1.5)(3) of the entire cross-section.

  2.5"
(3)  (3)
The moment of inertia is:
To compute the bending stress we need to
re-set the axis system to the area centroid of Itotal  I 01  A1 y12  I o 2  A2 y22

3*13
I total   3*  3.5  2.5 
2

12
1*33
  3* 1.5  2.5 
2

12
 0.25  3  2.25  3  8.5 in 4

6.1.2 – Moment of inertia computation

– Example 2
Let‟s do another example. Consider the
beam cross-section shown in Figure 6-9.
This cross-section is composed of three
Figure 6-5-T-section example with neutral basic element shapes, two rectangles and a
axis located circle.
the whole section. This is shown in Figure
6-5.

Chapter 6 Page 123

Beam Bending

sectional elements. The distributed bending

stress has force resultants. To find the total
normal force acting on each of the area
elements we integrate the bending stress as
follows:

 My 
P   dA    
area area
I
 dA


If the integration area extends over the entire

Figure 6-6 – Example beam cross-section cross-section then P is zero. But, if the
integration is applied only to the elemental
area, for instance area 1 in Figure 6-6, then
The table below contains element area the integral is not zero.
information together with information about

element A Yi Ayi Io Yi - Yc A(Yi - Yc)2

1 0.1 0.05 0.005 8.333E-05 -0.42558 1.811E-02
2 0.08 0.5 0.04 4.267E-03 0.024424 4.772E-05
3 0.070686 1.05 0.07422 3.970E-04 0.574424 2.332E-02
sums 0.250686 0.11922 4.747E-03 4.148E-02

the centroids of the three areas with respect This integral is computed over the area of
to a temporary axis with an origin at the element 1.
base of Figure 6-6.
M
The centroid of the assembled area is P1  
I   y  dA  0
Y  0.476 inches above the section base. Y area 1

is the sum of the terms in column 4 divided

by the sum of the elements in column 2. The integral is defined as Q1 and written as:

The individual area moment of inertia of

each area about its own centroid is recorded
Q1    y  dy  y A
area (1)
1 1

in column 4. The contribution of the The resultant forces on each of the three
parallel axis term is shown in column 7. elemental areas are computed from these
These terms are summed to create the total three formulas:
area moment of inertia of the entire cross- M
section about its own area centroid. P1   Q1
I
M
Izz = 0.04623 in.4 P2   Q2
I
Now we can use the flexure formula to find M
P3   Q3
the bending stress. Let‟s look at a load I
carrying feature of each of the three cross-

Chapter 6 Page 124

 Beam bending and shear stresses

These three force resultants (due to bending

stress) are located at the area centroids of the
three areas. The sum of the three resultant
forces is zero since there can be no net force
on the entire section. For the two elements
whose area centroids lie above the neutral
axis the force is negative, (compression).

If we apply the resultant bending moment of

1000 in-lb. shown earlier in Figure 6-1to this
three-element cross-section, the resultant
cross-sectional forces on each element are:
Figure 6-11 – Small beam element, shown in
P1  878 lb. side view, with resultant forces, due to
bending stresses and bending moments,
P2  42 lb. drawn on left and right faces
P3  920 lb. right faces we have force resultants that act
at the three element area centroids and
These forces are shown in Figure 6-10, whose sum is zero.
acting at the area centroids of the three
elemental areas that make up the cross- We will do one more calculation before
leaving this section. We want to see how
much of the 1000 in-lb. resultant bending
moment is resisted by each of the three
elements that comprise the cross-section.
To do this we do the following integration
over each element:

 My 2  M
Mi   
area i
 ydA   
area 
I
 dA 
 I 
area i
y 2 dA

 y dA
Figure 6-10- A side view of a beam cross- 2
section FBD showing force resultants and the
Mi Ii
 
Ai
bending moment in force and moment
equilibrium M I I

section. The sum of the three forces equals The fraction of the bending moment resisted
zero and their net moment (the sum of the by each cross-section elemental area
products of the three elemental forces times moment of inertia (computed with respect to
their distances from the neutral axis) is equal the sectional neutral axis) is proportional to
to the bending moment, 1000 in-lb. the elemental area moment of inertia
Elements lying further away from the (computed with respect to the sectional
neutral axis (and having large areas) carry neutral axis), divided by the centroidal area
the highest loads. moment of inertia of the entire section.

Figure 6-11 shows the same side view of the For the cross-section in Figure 6-6 we get
beam element, but with all stresses shown in the following results:
terms of resultant normal forces on each of
the two beam “faces.” On both the left and

Chapter 6 Page 125

Beam Bending

M1 The resultant forces on the left and right

 0.513 faces are equal and opposite. Considering
M
M2 force equilibrium, the internal shear forces
 0.093 in Figure 6-12 must be zero.
M
M3 Pure bending is seldom if ever found in
 0.394
M aerospace structures. Beam cross-sections
resist bending moments and shear forces.
The sum of these contributions equals The shear force resultants act on both the
“one.” The small element at the top of the left and right faces of the beam cross-
cross-section, element 3, resists 51% of the sections, as indicated in the Free Body
total bending moment while the center diagram shown in Figure 6-13. In this Free
element, element 2, resists only about 9% of Body Diagram, the resultants are equal and
the total. opposite. Figure 6-13 shows the positive
sign convention for V.
6.2 Beam shear stress
When we separate the Free Body Diagram Figure 6-13 also shows a dimension denoted
shown in Figure 6-11 into three pieces we as “a,” the distance between the left and
get the Free Body Diagram shown in Figure right beam faces. This distance is arbitrary
6-12. but extremely small.

The beam cross-section is subdivided into From Figure 6-13 moment equilibrium
three elemental areas to expose internal requires that the bending moments are
shear forces. The shear force resultants are different on the left and right faces when a
shown as horizontal vectors in Figure 6-12 shear force V is present. Summing moments
acting parallel to the horizontal faces. about a point on the left “face” of the
element (in the clockwise direction), we
have

 moments Va  M   M  M   0
so M  Va

Figure 6-12 – Cross-sectional and side views of

example cross-section showing FBD’s of the
three area elements cut to expose shear forces.
The two shear forces acting between the
upper section and the middle section are Figure 6-13 – A side view of a beam
equal and opposite. The shear forces on the section with both bending moments and
lower part of the middle section and the shear force resultants. The left and right
upper surface of the lower section are also faces are located a small distance apart.
equal and opposite. This distance is “a.”

Chapter 6 Page 126

 Beam bending and shear stresses

This bending moment M+M creates

different bending stresses on the left face, as
indicated in Figure 6-. While the normal
stresses are still distributed linearly and their
force resultants still sum to zero in the
horizontal direction, the maximum values
are slightly different because of M.

Figure 6-15 – FBD showing the net

difference between bending stresses after
the term My/I is subtracted. Although this
FBD contains a mixture of stresses and
force resultants, it is in static equilibrium.

Va Va
P1    ydA    y1 A1 
I area 1 I
Figure 6-14 – Bending stress distributions on left Va
and right faces of a beam element located a  Q1
I
distance ”a” from each other when a shear force
Va
resultant V is present. Note that directions are P2   Q2
shown with positive values. I
Va
Now, subtract the distribution My/I from P3   Q3
I
each side of Figure 6-14 and redraw the
FBD showing only the “net stresses”  = If the shear force V=100 lb. in Figure 6-1 is
My/I. This  distribution is shown in applied, the net forces on each cross-
Figure 6-15. sectional element are:
The resultant forces in the horizontal
P1  87.8* a lb.
direction are computed by integrating the
normal stresses over the cross-sectional P2  4.23* a lb.
areas on the right hand or “back” face. P3  92.1* a lb.

 Vay 
  dA    
P  These net forces are shown in Figure 6-16;
 dA
area area
I  their sum is zero. They act at the area
centroids of the individual area elements so
If the area of integration is over the entire the P‟s and the shear forces that create
cross-sectional face area then the resultant them are in moment equilibrium.
force P is zero. However, if we simply
compute this integral over any one of the Figure 6-17 shows the Free Body Diagrams
elemental areas then we get a non-zero we need to find the horizontal shear forces,
result. The results for each of the three labeled as F32 and F21.
elemental areas in Figure 6-9 (p. 105) are as
follows. To compute F32 we use the equation of
horizontal force equilibrium on the upper
area element, element 3 in Figure 6-6 (p.
105).

Chapter 6 Page 127

Beam Bending

F32  87.8* a  0

Figure 6-16 – Side view FBD for cross-

sectional moment and shear equilibrium

Figure 6-17 – FBD’s for the example

For F21 we use the FBD for the lower problem showing the shear forces
element, element 1. counteracting the net forces due to bending.

These two equations assume that the shear

F21  92.1* a  0
stresses are uniformly distributed over the
exposed cut areas between area elements 1
From these equations we find: and 2 and area elements 2 and 3.
F32  87.8* a Shear flow is the product of shear stress and
F21  92.1* a the thickness of the element over which it
acts. Shear flow is denoted by the term q (it
The horizontal shear forces depend on the has units of force per unit length). It is, for
value of the shear force V acting on the left this example:
(or right) face (in this case V=100 lb.). The
F32
shear forces are also a function of the q32    32t32  87.8 lb / inch
arbitrary dimension “a”, the distance a
between the two faces. F
q21  21   21t21  92.1 lb / inch
a
The shear forces F32 and F21 are the result of
shear stresses distributed over horizontal Note that even though we used the arbitrary
areas. One of the area dimensions is the dimension “a” for our FBD‟s and
arbitrary length “a” while the other is the calculations, shear flow is independent of
known thickness of 0.10 inches. To keep the arbitrary dimension “a.”
things general, let‟s call the thickness
dimensions t32 and t21 even though they are To calculate the shear stresses, we divide the
identical. The relationships between the shear flows by the thicknesses t32=t21=0.10:
shear stresses and the resultant shear forces
F32 and F21 are:
q32 87.8
 32    878 psi
F32   32 A32   32t32 a t32 0.10
F21   21 A21   21t21a q21 92.1
 21    921 psi
t21 0.10

Chapter 6 Page 128

 Beam bending and shear stresses

Neither the shear flows nor the shear This means that 1   2 .
stresses are functions of the arbitrary
dimension “a.” This is an important result because once we
have found the shear stress on one surface of
We have computed the shear stress on a small element we know it on the other
longitudinal (horizontal) surfaces, three surfaces. This is called the “Principle
perpendicular to the front and back faces on of Complementary Shear.”
which the shear resultants act, but we want
the shear stresses on the left and right Figure 6-19 shows shear stresses at the point
vertical faces. Do we need an additional between the upper element and the middle
computation? The answer is “No.” element.

Figure 6-18 – A very small element with Figure 6-19 – The Principle of
shear stresses acting on all four sides. Complementary Shear – all shear stresses
on an infinitesimally small element must be
equal.
Figure 6-18 shows a small structural element
with dimensions x by y by z with shear The Principle of Complementary Shear
stresses acting on four sides. The allows us to use FBD‟s to compute the shear
dimensions x, y and z are extremely small so stresses and shear flows on longitudinal
that the shear stresses are constant over each sections and then conclude that the shear
surface. stresses are identical on the front and rear
faces of the beam section.
First of all, the two vertical shear stresses
(2) act on surfaces with the same areas Remember that the shear stress changes
(A2=zy) so they must be equal and opposite when we move upward or down ward on the
or this element would not be in static
equilibrium. The same holds true of the
shear stresses in the horizontal direction (1)
since they act on identical size surfaces
(A1=zx).

When we take moment equilibrium about

the lower left corner of the element in Figure
6-18 we get the following equation:

1 ( xz )( y )   2 ( yz )( x)  0 Figure 6-20 – Beam cross-section

 2  1  ( xyz)  0 showing shear stresses at the neutral
axis and the lower and upper junctions
of the center element.

Chapter 6 Page 129

Beam Bending

cross-section. These results are shown in The term Q is the first area moment of the
Figure 6-20. The shear stress changes its area above the point at which the cross-
value depending on where the cross-section section is cut to expose the shear stress, that
is cut. At the lower junction of element 2 is, where we wish to compute the shear
the shear stress is 921 psi. Note that the stress.
shear stresses are in the same direction as
the resultant shear force V=100 lb. that
created them.

The formula for P contains the parameter

Q, the first area moment for the cross-
section above the cut.

 y VaQ
P    dA  Va   I  dA  
area area
I

Figure 6-21 – FBD showing side view of

The net force is maximum at the neutral
element with net forces.
axis; we expect to find the maximum shear
stress there unless there is a large thickness
Force equilibrium gives the classic shear
present. In Figure 6-20 the maximum value
stress formula:
of shear stress occurs at the neutral axis.
Fs  P  0
6.3 – Summary - a formula for simple
sections Fs P VaQ VQ
   
The development in Section 6.3 emphasized at at Iat It
that beam shear stresses are the result of the
changes in the bending moment which are in The shear stress is present both on the cross-
turn created by internal shear force sectional face and longitudinally.
resultants. While both the shear force
resultants and the shear stresses appear on The area used to compute Q is that area
the beam cross-section, the computation of above the cut. The thickness, t, is the length
these shear stresses was done using Free of the cut, measured on the beam cross-
Body Diagrams which included a small section.
longitudinal dimension “a.” We do not want
to go through the derivation every time we To illustrate this formula, let‟s use an
have to compute the shear stress. example cross-section constructed of wood
with four boards glued together as shown in
The shear stress formula that appears in Figure 6-22. This section has an axis of
strength of materials textbooks is symmetry. The area centroid of this
combination is located at the center of the
VQ middle 1”x4” board, as indicated.

It
Figure 6-21 shows a side view of a beam The area moment of inertia of the four
element with a shear force resultant on the element combination, taken about the
front and back faces (the shear is not shown neutral axis is computed to be 47.89 in4.
on the back face to keep the figure The cross-section supports a resultant shear
uncluttered). The net forces on the back force of 1000 lb. We will compute the
face are shown in their correct directions. shear stresses at the glue joints.

Chapter 6 Page 130

 Beam bending and shear stresses

The (blue) area below the joint is

A2 = 2*1.667 = 3.33 in2.

This area has its centroid located a distance

1.5 inches below the area centroid. This
means that
Q2 lower = -5 in3.

Since the sum of the Q‟s for the lower left

and upper right areas is zero, we have

Q2 upper = +5 in3.
Figure 6-22 – Example problem
The thickness dimension for this cut is t =
First, cut the cross-section at the upper glue 1.667” so that
joint. The thickness of this cut is t = 1.”
The (red) area above the glue joint is A1 = VQ2 1000*5
   62.64 psi
1x4 = 4 in4. The centroidal coordinate of It I *1.33
this area is 2.5 inches above the neutral axis.
The value of Q1 is 2.5x4 = 10 in3. Using the Using the Principle of Complementary
simple formula for the shear stress we find Shear, this stress also occurs in the lower
that left longitudinal glue joint. A similar
VQ 1000*10 computation for the lower right glue joint
 upper  1   208.8 psi
It I *1 will give the same answer.

To find the shear stress in the lower glue Consider one final example. Compute the
joint we cut the joint, being careful to cut shear stresses in the center element of an I-
away only the lower left element. We have beam cross-section shown in Figure 6-23.
two choices for computing Q. First of all,
our formula was derived considering the A shear resultant of 40,000 lb. acts on this
area above the cut. What do we mean cross-section. The moment of inertia for
“above the cut?” this section about its neutral axis is 43.3 in4.
We will compute the value of Q at a general
There are three areas in the cross-section position located a distance  from the
above the cut for the lower left glue joint. In
general, the Q for areas “above the cut” will
be positive. The calculation for the value of
Q then seems to require consideration of
three elemental areas. On the other hand we
can simplify this calculation if we remember
that the sum of all of the Q‟s for the cross-
section is zero.

To find the value of Q for the area above the

cut that separates the three elements from Figure 6-23 –Example I-beam with an upward
the lower left area we need only compute Q 40,000 pound shear resultant
for the area on the lower left element in
Figure 6-22. neutral axis, as indicated in Figure 6-23. Q

Chapter 6 Page 131

Beam Bending

is the sum of the contributions from the two carrying passengers, cargo and fuel.
areas above the point y=: Suppose that a portion of the wing "box" is
made of aluminum alloy 7075-T6 and has
Q  y1 A1  y2 A2 the hollow, rectangular, doubly-symmetric
cross section shown (not to scale):
 2  
Q  1 2       1 3 2.5
 2  A bending moment Mz = 2000 kip-in is
2 applied to this beam.
Q  9.5 
2 (-2<<2)
Calculate the maximum tensile and
The shear stress is: compressive bending normal stresses.
(Answer: 51,700 psi) The theory leading to
 2 
 9.5   the flexure formula is not valid if the
VQ  40,000  2 
    predicted stresses exceed the material's yield
It  43.3  1  strength. Is the theory valid?
 
 
  8780  462.5 2 Problem 6-2:
(-2<<2)

These results are plotted in Figure 6-24.

Problem 6-2

a) Determine the area moment of inertia

about the horizontal axis passing through the
Figure 6-24 – Shear stress distribution for the
area centroid of the T-section shown. For
example cross-section in Figure 6-23.
this problem break the section into 3
elements. (Answers – the area centroid is
4.65 inches from the bottom of the section;
6.3 Problems
Izz = 101 in4.)
Problem 6-1
b) If a positive bending moment Mo is
applied to this section, what percentage of
the bending moment is carried by each of
the three elements?

Problem 6-1

Thin-walled, closed cross sections are very

important elements of aeronautical
structures. They are lightweight yet stiff,
and the space they enclose is available for

Chapter 6 Page 132

 Beam bending and shear stresses

Problem 6-3: A beam with a channel

cross-section is loaded with a concentrated
moment as shown.

Problem 6-3 loading

Problem 6-4

Problem 6-5. Four 5 x 1 inch boards are

glued together to form a symmetrical 6 x 6
inch box-beam. The cross-section is
subjected to a vertical shear force resultant
of 800 pounds that can act upward or
downward. Calculate the shear stress in
Problem 6-3 Beam channel cross-section the glue joints at points A and B.
a) Determine the cross-sectional area
moment of inertia about the horizontal
axis passing through the area centroid of
the beam cross-section. (Answer: 41.6
in4.)

b) What percentage of the bending moment

is carried by each of the three elements?

c) Find the maximum tensile and

compressive bending stresses and their
location on the 10 foot long beam.
Problem 6-5

Problem 6-4: The symmetrical beam Problem 6-6: The symmetrical beam cross-
section shown has a total area moment of section shown is composed of three different
inertia Izz (about the horizontal neutral axis) types of element shapes. Element 1 has
equal to 1.504 x 109 mm.4 ( Do not dimensions 8x2 inches; element 2 has
recalculate this number) A vertical shear dimensions 2x2 inches; element 3 has
force resultant of 6 kN is applied. dimensions 20x1 inches.

Determine the shear stress at the upper

glue joint, shown as a line between the
vertical flange and the web.

Chapter 6 Page 133

Beam Bending

6.4 Review: area moments of inertia and

the parallel axis theorem*

Figure 6-25 – Beam bending with symmetrical

cross-section
Problem 6-6
In this section we will review the
computation of area moments of inertia. We
a) Find the neutral axis and solve for will define second area moments in general,
the area moment of inertia Izz where derive some of their useful properties, and
the z-axis is horizontal and passes develop methods for calculating them.
through the cross-sectional area
centroid. (answer: Izz = 3648 in.4 In the previous section we showed that a
b) If a bending moment of Mz = 4000 bending moment Mz, acting on a beam
in-lb. is applied to the section, find cross-section about the z-axis, as shown in
the maximum compressive and Figure 6-25, produces bending stresses
tensile stresses caused by the found from the formula
moment and the fraction of the
bending moment resisted by area Mz y
element 1 and either of the two x  
I zz
element 3 pieces shown on the
diagram.
c) Solve for the value of the vertical Izz is called a second area moment, a
shear force resultant, V, required to property of the cross sectional shape.
fail the glue joint indicated at the
lower left if the shear stress in the The double subscripts "zz" are used to
glue cannot exceed 4000 psi. Note identify the fact that this is a second moment
that the lower area attached by the about the z axis. For a rectangular cross
glue has its area centroid located 11 section,
inches below the neutral axis and a
4 square inch. Suppose that there are applied bending
moments about both z and y axes, as
indicated in Figure 6-26.

**
Section 6.4 is adapted from notes written by
Professor W. L. Hallauer, U.S. Air Force
Academy.

Chapter 6 Page 134

 Beam bending and shear stresses

Figure 6-26 – Bending about two axes

With both moments My and Mz applied the

bending stress is
Myz Mz y
σx  
I yy I zz

Iyy is the area moment about the y axis Figure 6-27 – Example 6-1 – rectangular cross-
because z in the integral is distance of a section showing integration areas for the three
moments of inertia.
point away from the y axis.
For Izz we use the area defined in the upper
In general, a cross-section has three area
left figure to get a familiar formula for the
second moments, defined as:
area moment of inertia of a rectangular area.

I yy   z 2 dA h/2
A I zz   y 2 dA  y 2 bdy
 h/2

I zz   y 2 dA
A
h/2
h/2 y3 
 b  y dy  b 
A 2

I yz   yzdA  h/2 3  h/2

A
h3 h 3  bh 3
 b    
Iyz is called the cross-sectional “product of  24 24  12
inertia.” The results of the integrations for
Iyy and Izz are always positive, but Iyz may be For Iyy we use the area defined in the lower
positive, zero, or negative. left portion of the figure.

Iyy, Izz are always greater than zero. They b/2

give measures of the material distribution I yy   z 2 dA  z 2 hdz
 b/2
away from the axis. Iyz is a measure of the A
b/2
asymmetry of material distribution between b/2 z3 
axes. It is always zero if either y or z is an  h  z dz  h 
2
 b/2 3   b/2
axis of symmetry.
 b3 b 3  hb 3
6.4.1 Example 6-1-moments of inertia h   
Find the second area moments for a  24 24  12
rectangular cross section shown in the upper
left portion of Figure 6-27. Typical areas of For the product of inertia we use the figure
integration are shown. in the lower right portion of the figure.
Since this is a symmetrical cross-section we
expect this integral to be zero.

Chapter 6 Page 135

Beam Bending

I YY   Z2 dA

I yz  yzdA  yzdydz  A

A A I ZZ   Y 2 dA
b /2 h /2 A
  
 b /2  h /2
ydyzdz I YZ   YZdA
A
b /2
h /2 y 
2
   h /2
 zdz  0
2  b /2
Substituting the relationships between the
centroidal coordinates (Yo,Zo) and the
centroidal axis coordinates (y,z) we have:
For beam analysis we require the 2nd area
moments relative to the "global" centroid of I YY   (Zo  z ) 2 dA
the beam cross section. For a simple section A

such as a rectangle, the element centroid and I ZZ   (Yo  y ) 2 dA

the global centroid are one and the same. A

However, most beam cross-sections are I YZ   (Yo  y )(Zo  z )dA

combinations of several different area A
elements. Unless we want to compute some
interesting integrals, we must subdivide the For the first integral IYY we have:
beam cross section into a collection of
simpler subsections. I YY   (Zo 2  2Zo z  z 2 )dA
A
We can then calculate the subsection 2nd  Zo  dA  2Zo  zdA   z 2 dA
2

area moments relative to the global centroid, A A A

which is usually not at a subsection centroid. The three component integrals are evaluated
To do this we need to develop the Parallel as:
Axis Theorem for 2nd area moments about a
 z dA  I
2
non-centroidal, global axis system which is yy
A
parallel to the elemental centroidal axis
system. 
2Zo zdA  0
A


Zo 2 dA  Zo 2 A
A

Combining these three integrals we have

I YY  I yy  Z o A
2

By going through a similar process for IZZ,

Figure 6-28 – Parallel axis theorem example we find:
I ZZ  I zz  Yo A
2
Consider the cross-sectional area A shown
in Figure 6-28. Its area centroid is located at
point C, with a differential element of area Finally, for the 2nd area product IYZ, we start
dA located at coordinates Z=z+Zo and Y= with the definition
y+Yo. Zo and Yo are the coordinates of the
elemental area centroid. By definition the
three area moments of inertia are:

Chapter 6 Page 136

 Beam bending and shear stresses

I YZ   (Yo  y )(Z o  z )dA area product can be either positive or

A
negative. You must remember that
Yo and Z o are defined as the distances
=Yo Z  dA Yo  zdA Z o  ydA   yzdA
A A A A
from the cross-sectional centroid to the
component centroidal system.
in which
6.4.2 Example 6-2, calculation of 2nd
area moments by subsection
Yo Z o  dA  Yo Z o A analysis
A
This term is the product of the distances The generalized flexure formula for bending
between the centroidal axis of the element stress on an unsymmetrical cross-section is,
cross section and the axis about which the for the centroidal axis system shown in
product of inertia is desired multiplied by Figure 6-29:
the element area. Note that the coordinates
may be positive or negative.  M z I yy  M y I yz 
x    y
 ( I yy I zz  I yz 2 ) 
Yo  zdA  0  
A  M y I zz  M z I yz 
 z
This term is Yo times the 1 area momentst
 ( I yy I zz  I yz 2 ) 
 
about the elemental y-axis. Since this The positive directions for the moment
elemental axis is centroidal, this term is vectors is in the same direction as the y-z
axis system. The flexure formula now
zero. contains not only the area moments of
Z o  ydA  0 inertia Iyy and Izz, but also the product of
A inertia term Iyz.
This term is Zo times the 1st area moment
Geometrically complicated cross sections
about the elemental z-axis. Since this
are subdivided into two or more simpler
elemental axis is centroidal, this term is subsections. We use the Parallel Axis
zero. Theorem to calculate I's of such areas by
applying subsection analysis. This analysis
Therefore, we find: method will be illustrated with the
unsymmetrical cross section in Figure 6-29.
I YZ  I yz Yo Z o A
Two subsections are labeled 1 and 2. We
need the 2nd area moments of this cross
In summary, the three equations of the section about the centroidal yz axes, whose
Parallel Axis Theorem are: origin is at the "global" centroid C (the
element centroids are marked with crosses,
I YY  I yy  Z o A
2
+).
I ZZ  I zz  Yo A
2

I YZ  I yz Yo Z o A

The signs of Yo and Zo are not important in

the first two equations because the terms are
squared. However, the signs are important
in the product of inertia equation; the 2nd Figure 6-29 – Example cross-section

Chapter 6 Page 137

Beam Bending

In general there is an arbitrary number

subsections; call this number n. In the
present case n=2. We can write the integral
as:
n
I ZZ   Y 2 dA    Y 2 dAi
A i 1 Ai

Y
2
The integral dAi is the 2nd area
Ai
moment of subsection area Ai about the
cross-sectional or “global” centroid C,
which is generally not the centroid of Figure 6-30 – Example 6-3 beam cross-section
subsection area Ai , so we apply the Parallel
Axis Theorem: First determine the area centroid of the
cross-section. This position is shown in
Figure 6-31. We then apply the general
Y dAi  I ZZi  I zzi  Yi Ai
2 2
parallel axis formulas.
Ai
Then our equation becomes

 
n
I ZZ   I zzi  Yi Ai
2

i 1

By going through the parallel axis procedure

with the other two 2nd area moments, we
find the other two equations similarly. All
three are summarized below:

 
n
I YY   I yyi  Z i Ai
2

i 1
Figure 6-31 – Example 6-3 elements showing
 
n
I ZZ   I zzi  Yi Ai
2 cross-sectional centroid location
i 1
Starting with the z-axis we write:
I YZ   I yzi  Yi Z i Ai 
n

i 1 I zz  I yyi  z
i
2
Ai  I yy1  z12 A1  I yy2
 z2 2 A 2  I yy3  z32 A3
It is essential that you understand that
Yi and Z i are the coordinates of the ith local This gives us the following result:
centroid relative to the global centroid and (3)(1)3
that Ai is the cross-sectional area of the ith I zz   (3)(1)(-2.36) 2
12
sub-section
(1)(3)3 (5)(1)3
  (1)(3)(-0.36) 2 
6.4.3 Example 6-3 12 12
 (5)(1)(1.64) 2
Find the second area moments of the
unsymmetrical beam cross-section shown in  33.46 in 4
Figure 6-30. To begin we break this cross- The area moment of inertia about the y-axis
section into three elemental areas. is found by using the following relationship.

Chapter 6 Page 138

 Beam bending and shear stresses

5"

I yy  I yyi  Z i
2
Ai 1"
y

 I yy1   I yy2
2 .5 8 "
Z12 A1
z
 Z2 2 A 2  I yy3  Z32 A3 4"
3 .9 2 "

or 1"
(1)(3)3 (3)(1)3
I yy  + (1)(3)(0.18) 2 + 1"
12 12
3 3"
(1)(5)
+ (3)(1)(1.18) 2 + + (1)(5)(-0.82) 2 Problem 6-5
12
= 20.56 in 4

The product of inertia is:

I yz  I yzi  Y Z A i i i

 I yz1  Y1Z1A1  I yz2  Y2 Z2 A 2

 I yz3  Y3 Z3 A3
or 6-6. The thin-walled cross section shown
has wall thickness of 1/8", or 0.125". The
centroid coordinates Yo = 0.6522", Zo =
I yz  0  (1)(3)(-2.36)(0.18)
0.1522". Calculate Iyy, Izz, and Iyz for this
 0  (1)(3)(-0.36)(1.18) cross section. Answers: 0.02633; 0.1503; -
 0  (1)(5)(1.64)(-0.82) 0.03567 in4
Y
  9.27 in 4

6.4.4 PROBLEMS
6-4. Calculate Iyy, Izz, and Iyz for the cross
section shown. Answers: 207, 535, and 0 2"
in4
6"
2"
y

Z 1"
6"
z
Problem 6-6
2" 4 .2 7 "
2"

10"
Problem 6-4

6-5. Calculate Iyy, Izz, and Iyz for the cross

section shown.
Answers: 31.92, 53.92, and -29.58 in.4

Chapter 6 Page 139

Thin-wall beams

Chapter 7 Reinforced, Thin-walled Wing & Fuselage

Structure Idealizations

7.1 - Introduction
In this section, we consider beam-like Bechereau's Deperdussin was a streamlined,
aircraft structures, and the simplified externally braced, mid-wing monoplane,
idealization of those structures to permit with a shell-like or “monocoque” fuselage of
approximate structural analysis for molded plywood. Contemporary aircraft
conceptual and preliminary design. We will structures used the skin only as a covering
also discuss the main characteristics of and relied on trusses and frames to carry the
reinforced, thin-walled structural design primary loads; monocoque construction
applicable to aircraft with high-aspect-ratio, derived its strength solely from the load-
relatively aerodynamic surfaces. carrying capacity of the skin.

7.1.1 Semi-monocoque aircraft A shell without stiffening members, such as

structural design an egg, is called a "monocoque" design
The purpose of this section is to develop a (mono = single, coque = shell).
type of beam analysis specialized to Monocoque designs are excellent for
aeronautical engineering design. This so- carrying purely tensile stress. But, if a
called skin-stringer analysis recognizes monocoque structure is required to carry
that aircraft structures are reinforced shells compressive stress or if it is loaded normal
that can be analyzed, at least in a to the shell surface, parts of the shell in
preliminary manner, using beam analysis. compression (such as the upper skin of a
wing) must be very thick to prevent skin
buckling; the structure becomes very heavy.

Figure 7-1 – Early airplane structures used

trusses and frames to resist bending and shear
forces

While early aircraft structures were little

more than cloth covered trusses and frames
such as that shown in Figure 7-1, visionary
engineers had other ideas. Louis Bechereau,
a French-educated engineer, improved
structural efficiency by unconventional Figure 7-2 – Deperdussin Racer design with
means. In late 1911, Bechereau adopted the monocoque shell structure fuselage, 1912.
ideas of the Swedish engineer Ruchonnet Compare this design to the Wright Brothers
and produced the first of the Deperdussin airplane only nine years earlier.
racing monoplanes, shown in Figure 7-1.

Chapter 7 Page 140

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

A precursor of modern stressed-skin F-13s were in service with more than 60

construction, the introduction of airlines between 1919 and 1935, when they
monocoque, and later semi-monocoque, were finally retired.
construction was an important milestone in
the evolution of light-weight structures. Its
use on the Deperdussin began a trend toward
extensive use of shell structures for airplanes
such as the racer shown in Figure 7-2.

Bechereau's racers were highly successful,

but monocoque construction was not
extensively adopted. The main reason was
that the Deperdussin's fuselage was made
from three layers of tulip wood reinforced
with intermediate layers of fabric - an
approach which proved to be expensive and
difficult to fabricate without highly skilled
workmen. Figure 7-4 –A 3-View of the Junkers F-13
showing advanced aerodynamic and
Since most aircraft of the period were built construction features.
on a limited production basis, contemporary
designers continued to rely on conventional
truss and frame construction. Exceptions
appeared in Germany during and after
World War I.

Hugo Junkers used combinations of metal

beams interconnected by load-bearing skin
to create a semi-monocoque structure. His
primary interest was in using metal rather
than wood for construction of low-drag Figure 7-5 – Semi-monocoque wing reinforced
monoplanes with high durability. The first shell structure construction includes space for
all-metal airliner, the German Junkers F-13, fuel and other essential components
was flown in 1919.

Figure 7-3 Junkers F-13 passenger airplane (in

the Berlin museum). First flight was June 25,
1919.

314 F-13 airplanes were produced between

Figure 7-6 – Modern fuselage showing semi-
1919 and 1929. The F-13 used a Duralumin
monocoque shell with frames and stringer
(aluminum-copper alloy) corrugated skin elements
and internal structure that qualified as a
semi-monocoque structure since the
Beginning in the late 1920‟s, major airplane
corrugated skin supported bending stresses.
structural components (wings, fuselage,

Chapter 7 Page 141

Thin-wall beams

horizontal and vertical stabilizers) began to 7.1.3 Fuselage

use thin-walled shells, but with the addition The fuselage shown in Figure 7-8 surrounds
of internal stiffening members. A the passengers and cargo. Like the early
reinforced-shell aerospace structure is called Deperdussin fuselage, it is aerodynamically
a "semi-monocoque" design such as those shaped on the outside, but unlike the
shown in Figures 7-5 and 7-6. Deperdussin modern fuselages are
reinforced to resist buckling and thus use
Let‟s review some of the nomenclature used thinner skins. The elements used in
in wing and fuselage semi-monoque construction are defined below. Note that
construction. both the wing and the fuselage use stringers
to guard against local shell buckling.
7.1.2 Wings, tails and other
aerodynamic surfaces:

Figure 7-7 – Semi-monocoque wing structures

are used in modern aircraft construction

As indicated in Figure 7-7, modern aircraft

use shells for aerodynamic shaping. These
shells carry substantial loads, as we will
show in sections to come. These shells are
reinforced by elements that help the shell
resist buckling and also assist the shell in
gathering airloads and transferring them Figure 7-8 - A comparison between monocoque
inboard to the fuselage. Wings also store and semi-monocoque fuselage structures
fuel. Here are the definitions of these showing stringer reinforcement.
elements.
 Frame or ring: a transverse skin
 Spar: longitudinal beam parallel to the stiffener perpendicular to the fuselage
wing, depth equals the wing thickness,  Bulkhead: a heavy frame (transverse
attached to both the upper and lower member) which covers a greater portion
skins of the cross section (sometimes all of it,
 Spar cap: the top/bottom flange of the e.g., a pressure bulkhead) than a ring
spar  Longeron: a relatively heavy
 Spar web: the vertical thin-walled longitudinal stiffener parallel to the
member of the spar fuselage
 Stringer: a longitudinal skin stiffener  Stringer: a small longitudinal skin
parallel to the wing but smaller than a stiffener parallel to the fuselage but
spar, attached to either the upper or smaller than a longeron
lower skin (Figure 7-7)
 Rib: a member perpendicular to the The reinforced shells can be modeled as
wing, spars, and stringers, which usually beams although the accuracy of the model
covers the entire structural cross section depends on several factors to be discussed in
ensuing sections. To understand the beam

Chapter 7 Page 142

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

models we need to understand the semi-

monocoque element functions.  Help to resist bending moments and
axial loads.
7.1.4 Skins  Divide the skin into smaller panels to
Wing and fuselage skins shape the airplane increase buckling stresses.
and generate the aerodynamic loads. They  Act together with the skin in resisting
are also multi-functional because they form axial and hoop stress forces caused by
part of the structure. Here are several pressurization.
functions of the wing and fuselage skins.
7.1.7 Spar caps
 Transmit aerodynamic forces to the Spar caps are found in wings and horizontal
longitudinal and transverse supporting and vertical stabilizers. They have three
members by plate and membrane action. major purposes.
 Develop shearing stresses which
equilibrate the applied torsional  Join spar webs to the skins.
moments and shear forces.  Help to resist bending loads.
 Act with the longitudinal members in  Increase spar web and wing skin
equilibrating the applied bending loads. buckling stresses by reducing the
 When the structure is pressurized, act compressive stresses carried by these
with the longitudinals in equilibrating thin-wall members.
axial force and with the transverse
members in equilibrating hoop force. 7.1.8 Transverse members (ribs,
 Provide an aerodynamic surface and frames, bulkheads)
cover for the contents of the vehicle.

7.1.5 Spar webs

Spars are major beam bending elements.
The upper and lower parts of the spars, the
spar caps, are connected by thin vertical
elements called spar webs. These webs
develop shearing stresses which resist both
bending shear forces and torsional moments.

7.1.6 Longitudinal elements-

stringers/stiffeners/longerons

Figure 7-10 – Frame members furnish special

functions such as shell reinforcement.
Larger transverse members such as those
Figure 7-9 – Stringer reinforcement on wings shown in Figures 7-8 and 7-10 appear in
and fuselages prevents skin buckling semi-monocoque structures for special
purposes. These include:
Longitudinal elements in wings and
fuselages range from small cross-sectional  Maintain the cross-sectional shape of
area elements (stringers shown in Figure 7- aerodynamic surfaces and fuselages.
9) to larger area elements (longerons).  Transmit concentrated loads such as
Longerons are found primarily in fuselages. weight or thrust from an engine, or force
The purposes of these elements are as from a landing gear) to a wing or
follows. fuselage structure.

Chapter 7 Page 143

Thin-wall beams

 Redistribute stresses around structural (2) The skin panels resist only shear stress;
discontinuities, such as skin cutouts this shear stress is assumed to be constant
(windows and bomb bay doors for across the thin wall. The shear stress is also
instance). constant along the arc length of a skin panel
 Provide edge restraint for skin panels, to between stringers. Constancy of shear stress
increase buckling stress. along the skin panel arc length is equivalent
 Provide end seals for pressurized to the wall thickness being so small that the
fuselages. axial force due to normal stress in the skin
panel due to bending is negligible.
7.2 The skin-stringer idealization -
fundamental assumptions A third assumption is that the transverse
Modern computers did not exist when semi- members are rigid within their own planes.
monocoque design evolved after World War The cross-section shape is unchanged during
I, so engineers developed a relatively simple loading. This condition is usually enforced
method of structural analysis that was by ribs and bulkheads.
appropriate for preliminary numerical
evaluation early in a design program. When the cross-sectional dimensions of
longitudinals are very small compared to the
cross-sectional dimensions of the entire
semi-monocoque beam, assumption (1)
above produces little error. However, skin
panels in such a beam may actually resist
significant normal stresses as well as
shearing stresses, so assumption (2) above
may not be reasonable. Therefore, it is
necessary to construct an idealized math
Figure 7-11 - Idealized semi-monocoque model of the structure which recognizes the
structures turn shells into beams normal-stress (bending stress) carrying
capability of some skin elements.
For this method, the structure is idealized, as
shown in Figure 7-11, to consist of two This is done by combining the areas of the
principal types of load carrying elements: 1) skin panels adjacent to a longitudinal
thin webs and skin, called skin panels; and, element with the area of the longitudinal
2) longitudinal stiffeners, called stringers. into a total effective stringer area. One
simple and common method of finding this
Skin and stringer elements resist many quantity is use of the one-half and one-sixth
different types of loads, but the main stress- “rules” that we will develop in the next
carrying purpose of each of these elements section.
is different. As a result, the skin-stringer
idealized models assume that each structural The fact that cross-sectional dimensions of
type carries its own type of stress most longitudinals are small compared with
exclusively. Specifically, this means that: those of the entire semi-monocoque beam
makes it possible to assume without serious
(1) The stringers will resist only normal error that the area of the effective stringer is
stresses such as those from bending. In concentrated at a point on the midline of the
addition, we assume that the load carrying skin where it joins the longitudinal. The
capability is “concentrated” at a point in locations of these idealized stringers are
space. As a result the stress is constant over indicated by small circles as shown in
the cross-section of a stringer. Figure 7-12.

Chapter 7 Page 144

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

7.3 The one-half and one-sixth rules for

skin-stringer idealization
Rules are developed primarily for idealizing
a stiffened wing box, such as that in Figure
7-13.

Figure 7-12 – I-beam skin-stringer model

The main objective in developing a skin- Figure 7-13 – Wing box cross-section and
stringer model is usually to estimate equivalent skin-stringer model (ignoring the
accurately the area moments of inertia so stringers)
important to computing bending stress. In
the last section we found that these area The most concern is accurately modeling the
moments of inertia were written as: moment of inertia about the z-axis since this
moment of inertia determines the bending
stresses due to airloads. The one-half and
I zz   (I zz i  Ai Yi )
2
one-sixth rules are intended to preserve as
closely as possible the true Izz in a skin-
I yy   (I yyi  Ai Z i )
2
stringer model (the two models ought to
I yz   (I yzi  Ai Yi Z i ) have approximately the same resistance to
bending even though we lump some areas
together).
Here the area elements represent the
contributions of stringers and spar caps to In the skin stringer model we do not care
the moments of inertia. what the actual shape of the longitudinal
member is. This means that areas such as
The 2nd area moments and products of the four corner areas shown in Figure 7-13
longitudinal members about their own are simply idealized circular cross-sections
elemental centroids are very small compared with no elemental moments of inertia about
to the other contributions in the above their own area centroids.
equations, so they are neglected. Therefore,
the appropriate equations to use for any For vertical thin web elements we develop
skin-stringer model of a cross section are: the one-half and one-sixth rules for a section
such as the wing box cross section drawn in
Izz  A y i i
2
I yy  A z i i
2
Figure 7-13.
I yz  A y z i i i
First, let's develop the equivalent stringer
area A that preserves the Izz of the vertical
web shown in Figure 7-14 so it can get

Chapter 7 Page 145

Thin-wall beams

“credit” for the small bending moment it

does resist.

Figure 7-15 – Horizontal element idealization

For the actual horizontal skin:

Lt 3
Izzi   0 (because t is small), and Ap =
Figure 7-14 – Vertical web skin-stringer 12
idealization Lt . Therefore, the panel's Izz about the
centroid of the cross section is
The area moment of inertia and area of the
2
vertical web are: h
bh 3 Izz  0  A p  
Izz  A w  bh 2
12
For the idealized member, Izzi = 0 for a
For the idealized member, Izzi = 0 for a point-area, so
“point-area” (an area assumed to be
I zz   I zzi   yi Ai
2
concentrated at a point), so
2 2
h  h h2
2 = 0 +   A+   A = A
I zz   I zzi   y i A i = 0 + (h/2) Ass  2
2
2 2
2
2 h2  h
+ (-h/2) Ass= A ss I zz    Ap
2  2
bh 3 h 2 bh 1 h2
I zz  = A  A =  Aw =
1
A  A == A p
12 2 6 6 2 2
Because of the factor 1 in this formula this Because of the factor of ½, this is called the
6
is called the one-sixth rule for a vertical one-half rule for a horizontal skin panel. In
web. We have divided the web into two this case the area is preserved and so too is
different types of stress resistors, one that the bending moment.
only resists shear and the other - the two
small areas - that only resist bending. Note Finally, we idealize a longitudinal member
that the moment of inertia is “preserved” but (stringer/longeron/spar cap) shown in Figure
the bending stress carrying area is changed. 7-16

Next, we develop the equivalent stringer

area A that preserves the Izz of a horizontal
thin-skin panel shown in Figure 7-15. These
panels form the top and bottom covers in
Figure 7-13. Figure 7-16 – Lumped area model-the actual
area and the idealized areas are equal.

Chapter 7 Page 146

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

longitudinal cap elements are moved slightly

The 2nd area moment about the centroid of to the corners of the section.
the cross section is
Y
I zz   I zzi   y Ai
i
2
Z
1 y 2
4 .2 6 "
For a longitudinal member, Izzi  0 because z
the member's cross-sectional dimensions are 3 .7 4 "
3 4
small relative to h, and the area is given as
Alo . Therefore, for the idealized stringer, 24"
Izzi = 0 for a point-area, so
Figure 7-18 – Idealization for Example 7-1
I zz  0   y Ai   y Ai
i
2
i
2

Areas of idealized stringers are the sum of

In summary, when you idealize a wing-box  Area of actual longitudinal member

cross section into a skin-stringer model, add  ½ area of adjacent horizontal skin
the effects of longitudinal and skin elements panels
into each idealized stringer model the  1 area of adjacent vertical web
following: 6
panels
 Total area of the longitudinal
For idealized stringer area we compute:
member
 1/2 the area of the adjacent
A1 = 0.5 + 1/2(.05)(48) + 1/6(.05)(8)
horizontal skin panel
 1/6 the area of the adjacent vertical = 1.767 in2
web
For area A2 we find:
7.4 Example 7-1
Consider the cross-section shown in Figure A2 = 0.5 + 1/2(.05)(48) + 1/6(.05)(8)
7-17. = 1.767 in2
48"

1 2 For A3 we have:
8"
3 4 A3 = 0.75 + 1/2(.05)(48) + 1/6(.05)(8)
= 2.017 in2
Figure 7-17 - Example 7-1 cross-section Area A4 is:

The actual areas and skin thickness are A4 = 0.75 + 1/2(.05)(48) + 1/6(.05)(8)
2 2 = 2.017 in2
A1,2= 0.5 in A3,4= 0.75 in t = 0.05 in
The area centroid of this idealization is:
a) Idealize the cross section as a skin -
stringer model.

We place stringer elements at the corners as

shown in Figure 7-18. This figure also
shows the final results of our calculations.
Note that the area centroids of the actual

Chapter 7 Page 147

Thin-wall beams

 Yi Ai 8 A3  8 A4  Mz
  My 
Yo   x   
 Ai A  y   z

 I zz
  I yy 
8(2.017)  8(2.017)
  500,000   100,000 
1.767 1.767  2.017  2.017  0   (4.26)    (24)
32.27  120.8   4,359 
   4.26"
7.568  x  171,000 psi

 Zi Ai 48 A2  48 A4 The negative sign indicates that this stress is

Zo   compressive.
 Ai A
48(1.767)  48(2.017)
 7.5 Example 7-2
1.767 1.767  2.017  2.017 Let‟s look at a more realistic wing structure.
181.63 Consider the cross-section in Figure 7-19.
   24"
7.568
10 "

 (I  Ai yi 2  0  1.767  4.26 
2
Izz  zzi
20" 30" 20"

0 + 1.767  4.26   0   2.017  3.74 

2 2
Figure 7-19 – Cross-section for Example 7-2

0   2.017  3.74   120.8 in 4

2
Loads engineers have computed the largest
bending moments for this wing section
I yy  (I yyi  Ai zi 2 ) during normal operation:

I yy  1.767  24   1.767  24 

2 2
M z  859 x 103 lb  in
  2.017  24    2.017  24 
2 2
M y  377 x 103 lb  in

I yy  4359 in4 All measurements on Figure 7-19 are from

one stiffener-skin attachment point to the
The section is symmetric so adjacent stiffener-skin attachment point.
The top wing skin is 0.050" thick and the
I A y z
bottom wing skin is 0.032" thick. The front
I yz  yzi  i i i 0
spar web is 0.080" thick and the rear spar
web is 0.125" thick.
b) Find the normal stress in idealized 0 .1 5 6 "
stringer #1 if Mz = +500,000 lb-in, My =
+100,000 lb-in. For this calculation we use
y
the area centroidal coordinates, yi. To find 1 .6 2 5 "
x in idealized stringer #1, y1 = 4.26", z1 =
24" z
0 .4 4 8 "

1 .7 5 0 "

Figure 7-20 – Spar cap - Example 7-2

Chapter 7 Page 148

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

The front spar caps, shown in figure 7-20, The stringers shown in Figure 7-22 have the
have the following dimensions and following dimensions and properties:
properties: 2 4
Area = 0.482 in Izz = 0.247 in
Total area = 0.502 in2 4 4
Iyy = 0.027 in Iyz = -0.055 in

Izz about its own centroidal axis Now we‟ll model the beam cross-section as
= 0.124 in4 eight idealized elements (stringers) that
carry only normal stress and skin panels that
Iyy = 0.070 in4 carry only shear stress. This idealized
model is shown in Figure 7-23.
Iyz = 0 y

0 .8 7 5 " 2 3 4 5
10 "
y 1 8 7 6
z
20" 30" 20"
1 .5 0 0 " z
Figure 7-23 – Skin stringer model for Example
0 .1 5 6 " 7-2

The effective idealized stringer areas are

0 .2 9 2 " found from this relationship:
Figure 7-21 – Rear spar cap geometry for Area of idealized stringer =
example 7-2
Area of actual longitudinal member
+ 1/2(Area of adjacent skin panels)
The rear spar caps, shown in Figure 7-21,
+ 1/6(Area of adjacent spar web)
have the following dimensions and
properties:
A1 = 0.502 + 1/2(.032)(20)
2
Area = 0.458 in 2
+ 1/6(.080)(10) = 0.955 in
4
Izz = 0.146 in
4 A2 = 0.502 + 1/2(.050)(20)
Iyy = 0.032 in 2
Iyz = 0 + 1/6(.080)(10) = 1.135 in

A3 = 0.458 + 1/2(.050)(50)
2
0 .6 0 " = 1.708 in

A4 = 0.458 + 1/2(.050)(50)
0 .1 5 6 " 2
y = 1.708 in
2 .0 "
z
A5 = 0.482 + 1/2(.050)(20)
0 .9 4 0 " 2
+ 1/6(.125)(10) = 1.190 in

0 .6 8 2 " A6 = 0.482 + 1/2(.032)(20)

0 .8 0 " 2
+ 1/6(.125)(10) = 1.010 in
Figure 7-22 – Stringer geometry, Example 7-2

Chapter 7 Page 149

 Thin-wall beams

A7 = 0.458 + 1/2(.032)(50)
2
I yy  A z i i
2

= 1.258 in
A8 = 0.458 + 1/2(.032)(50)
I yz   A i y i zi
2
= 1.258 in 2 2
Izz = 0.955(-5.62) + 1.135(4.38)
The sum of the areas is: 2 2
+ 1.708(4.38) + 1.708(4.38)
2 2
Atotal= A1+ A2+ . . . + A8 = 10.22 in2 + 1.190(4.38) + 1.010(-5.62)
2 2
+ 1.258(-5.62) + 1.258(-5.62)
The final results are shown in Figure 7-24 4
= 252 in
Now find the centroid of the idealized skin-
stringer cross section: 2 2
Iyy = 0.955(35.4) + 1.135(35.4)
2 2
y + 1.708(15.4) + 1.708(-14.6)
1 .1 3 5 1 .7 0 8 1 .7 0 8 1 .1 9 0
2 3 4 5 2 2
z + 1.190(-34.6) + 1.010(-34.6)
10 "
5 .6 2 " 2 2
1 8 7 6 + 1.258(-14.6) + 1.258(15.4)
0 .9 5 5 1 .2 5 8 1 .2 5 8 1 .0 1 0 4
= 6,590 in
20" 30" 20"

3 4 .6 " Iyz = 0.955(-5.62)(35.4)

Figure 7-24- Skin-stringer model, Example 7-2 + 1.135(4.38)(35.4)
+ 1.708(4.38)(15.4) + 1.708(4.38)(-14.6)
+ 1.190(4.38)(-34.6) + 1.010(-5.62)(-34.6)
 Y i Ai 10( A2  A3  A4  A5 )
Y   + 1.258(-5.62)(-14.6) + 1.258(-5.62)(15.4)
 Ai A 4
= 2 in
10(1.135  1.708  1.708  1.190)
Y
10.22 The inclusion of Iyy, Izz, and Iyz for the
Y  5.62" stringers/spar caps about their centroidal
axes would have added 0.32 to Iyy, 1.53 to
Izz, and -0.11 to Iyz. This would affect the
 Z i Ai
Z total wing property by less than one per
 Ai cent; neglecting them is reasonable.
70( A1  A2 )  50( A3  A8 )  20( A4  A7 )
Z Now calculate the normal stress in each
Atotal
idealized stringer. The generalized flexure
formula for bending stresses is:
70(0.955  1.135)  50(1.708  1.258)  20(1.708  1.258)
Z
10.22  M z I yy  M y I yz 
x    y
Z  34.6"  ( I yy I zz  I yz 2 ) 
 
We want to compute the stresses in each  M y I zz  M z I yz 
 z
stringer and spar cap. To do this, we first  ( I yy I zz  I yz 2 ) 
find the cross section 2nd area moments and  
product of the idealized cross section:
Since Iyz  0 this reduces to
I zz  Ay
i i
2

Chapter 7 Page 150

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

 Mz   My  the material. The compressive stresses in

x     y   z the upper wing surface (stringers 2, 3, 4, and
 I zz  
 I yy  5) should be compared with the allowable
with compressive stress of the material and with
4 the allowable buckling stress.
Izz = 252 in
4
Iyy = 6,590 in 7.6 Homework problems
Mz = 8.59x105 lb-in Problem 7-1. Use the one-half and one-
My = 3.77x105 lb-in sixth rules to idealize the wing-box cross
section shown below as a skin-stringer
model; sketch the idealized model.
 859, 000   377, 000 
x    y   z Calculate the centroid location and
 252   6,590  centroidal 2nd area moments and product of
 x  3410 y  57 z psi the idealized cross section. The skin and
web thicknesses are both 0.10”.
The normal stresses in the eight individual
stringers are:

#1: x= -3,410(-5.62) + 57(35.4)

x = 21,200 = 21,200 psi (T)

#2: x= -3,410(4.38) + 57(35.4)

x = -12,900 = 12,900 psi (C)

#3: x = -3,410(4.38) + 57(15.4)

x = -14,000 = 14,000 psi (C)

#4: x = -3,410(4.38) + 57(-14.6)

x = -15,800 = 15,800 psi (C)

#5: x = -3,410(4.38) + 57(-34.6) Problem 7-1

x = -16,900 = 16,900 psi (C)
Problem 7-1 Partial answers are on the next
#6: x = -3,410(-5.62) + 57(-34.6) page.
5"
x = 17,200 = 17,200 psi (T)
1 2 3 4 5
#7: x = -3,410(-5.62) + 57(-14.6)
y
x = 18,300 = 18,300 psi (T)
z 10"

#8: x = -3,410(-5.62) + 57(15.4)

x = 20,000 = 20,000 psi (T) 6 7 8 9 10
2
A1 = 0.8542 in
The tensile stresses in the lower wing
surface (stringers 1, 6, 7 and 8) should be A5 = A1 = 0.8542 in2
compared with the allowable tensile stress of A6 = A1 = 0.8542 in2

Chapter 7 Page 151

Thin-wall beams

A8 = A3 = 1.5417 in2 A6 = A3 = 2.583 in2

A7 = A2 = 0.9375 in2
A9 = A4 = 0.9375 in2  Zi Ai 2  2.833(5)  2.583(15) 
Z 
A10 = A5 = 0.8542 in
2  Ai 19.5
105.82
4 4 
Iyz = 0 Iyy = 435 in Izz = 256 in 19.5
  5.43"
Problem 7-2. Use the one-half and one-
sixth rules to idealize the wing-box cross 4 4
Izz = 122 in Iyy = 730 in
section, shown below, as a skin-stringer
model; draw a sketch of the idealized model.
Calculate the centroid location and 7.7 Shear Flows in Thin Webs
centroidal 2nd area moments and product of In this section, we will show the effects of
the idealized cross section. The skin and resultant forces and moments due to shear
web thickness is a constant 0.10". flows present in thin webs. These webs may
have any arbitrary cross-sectional shape
from straight to curved. The web is assumed
to be ineffective in bending. The results do
not apply to cases where an open section is
twisted, since the shear flow concept is not
applicable in this case.

Shear stresses at a free surface must be

parallel to the surface. Further inside the
material, shear stress may be nonparallel;
however, in many cases it is accurate to
assume that the shear stress (and thus the
shear flow) is parallel to the surfaces for the
entire thickness, t, of the web.

Figure 7-25 shows a curved web

Problem 7-2 Answers representing a wing leading edge. The shear
stresses are parallel to the web direction at
5" 10" all points.

1 2 y 3

y z
5"
z
4 5 6
5 .4 3 "

Figure 7-25 – Wing leading edge section

A4 = A1 = 4.333 in2 showing shear flows
A5 = A2 = 2.833 in2

Chapter 7 Page 152

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

Consider the example shown in Figure 7-26. Note that the sum of these three areas is
The cross-section consists of two webs and zero. Substituting the appropriate values of
three stringer elements loaded with a 10,000 Q into the formula we find that:
lb. shear resultant. We want to find the
shear flows in the two webs. VQ1 10, 000
q1 2   (7)  648.15 lb / in.
I zz 108
The first step is to compute the moment of
inertia about the cross-sectional neutral axis. V  Q1  Q2  10, 000
q23   (7  3)
First set up a temporary coordinate at the I zz 108
bottom of the section and compute the
 925.93 lb / in.
position of the area centroid. This is found
0*2  8*1  12*1
to be y  or y  5 in. While these are the correct answers, we have
2 11 no clue about their direction. Let‟s try an
The moment of inertia Izz about the neutral alternative, better way of computing the
axis passing through the area centroid of the shear flows.
stringer areas is:
First of all, in Chapter 6 we cut a small
I zz  2*  5   1*3  1*7 horizontal section of length “a” from the
2 2 2

beam. We then computed the net forces on

I zz  108 in 4 the back face of the element. This small
FBD is shown in Figure 7-27. The net force
Our shear flow formula is on the upper stringer is computed from the
VQ 10, 000 relationship
t  q   Qi  92.59Qi . We
I zz 108
VaQ1 10, 000
need to find the values of Qi. P1   7a  648.1a .
I zz 108
There are only two places to cut the cross-
section, either between stringers 1 and 2 or And acts in the direction shown.
between stringer areas 2 and 3. The three
first moments of the three stringer areas are: From element static equilibrium
q1a  P1  648.1a or q1  648.1 lb / in.
Q1  7 *1  7 in.3 As indicated in Figure 7-27 this q1
longitudinal shear flow has a vertical
Q2  3*1  3 in.3 component on the front face.
Q3  5* 2  10 in.3

7-26 - Example problem

Chapter 7 Page 153

Thin-wall beams

Figure 7-27 – FBD of upper element of

stringer/web combination

We repeat the procedure, but this time cut a

small piece that contains the top two Figure 7-29 – Shear flow results
stringers, as indicated in Figure 7-28. This
cut exposes the shear flow q2 and includes This free body diagram shows the net forces
two stringer net forces. and the shear flows for an element of length
”a.” The element is in horizontal force
equilibrium and also is in moment
equilibrium with the shear forces on the
front and back face. Note that the equal and
opposite shear flows on the back face are not
shown.

We note that the resultant force in the upper

4
web is F1  0
q1dy  4q1  4*648.15 or
2593 lb. while the resultant force in the
lower web is 8*925.93 = 7407 lb. The sum
of the two resultants is 10,000 lb. This is the
total shear force applied to the cross-section.

When we are first beginning to develop a

design, the shear flow q is a more useful and
convenient parameter than the shear stress.
In some cases, the shear flow can be
Figure 7-28 – FBD of lower web/stringer obtained before the web thickness is
combination determined, in which case the web thickness
Summing forces in the horizontal direction can then be sized in accordance with
we have allowable shear stress.

P1 P2
q2    925.9 lb / in.
a a

The final results are shown in Figure 7-29.

Figure 7-30 – Curved web cross-section with

thickness, t, showing constant shear flow.

Chapter 7 Page 154

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

The aerospace thin-wall idealizations used

for design require that we compute the
resultant forces acting on a curved web in
which the shear flow is a constant.

Figure 7-30 shows a curved web cross-

section carrying a constant shear flow of
magnitude q. This shear flow in the web has
a force resultant or net effect.
Figure 7-31 – Example problem
To find this resultant, we integrate the
contributions of the shear flow over tiny Example: The rectangular open web section
web length elements, ds. shown in Figure 7-31 is found to carry a
constant shear flow of 100 lb/in. What are
dF  q * ds the resultant forces acting on the web for the

F  qds x-y coordinates shown?

Answer: xo = 5”; yo = 10”

The infinitesimal force dF has x and y
components shown in Figure 7-30 the x-y Fx = 100*5 = 500 lb.
axes are arbitrary. The projection of dF on
the x-axis is denoted as dFx while the Fy = 100*10 = 1000 lb.
projection on the y-axis is dFy. Similarly, the
line element ds has projections dx and dy, Example: Compute the resultant force acting
respectively. For this reason, definitions of on the web shown in Figure 7-32 due to the
dFx and dFy are: shear flows ql and q2.

dFx  q * dx

dFy  q * dy
The resultant force Fx due to the shear flow
q, is
 
Fx  qdx q dx qxo
and Figure 7-32-Example problem

 
Fy  qdy q dy qyo
The line of action of the resultant force is
parallel to a line joining the web ends, but is
The dimensions xo and yo are lengths shown not necessarily colinear with this line. The
in Figure 7-30. The distance xo is the direction or sense of the resultant is
projected line length on the x-axis, determined from the shear flow direction.
constructed by joining the ends of the web.
A similar interpretation is valid for yo. For the shear flows q1 and q2 we have the
Notice that xo and yo are independent of the two different lengths:
shape of the web. xo  5"
For the shear flow q1
yo  0

xo  0
For the shear flow q2
yo  4"

Chapter 7 Page 155

Thin-wall beams

This gives the following resultant forces The area A is the area formed by joining the
ends of the web to the point “o” with
Fx1  5q1 Fy1  0 straight lines, then
Fx 2  0 Fy 2  4q2
M o  2qA

The resultant moment of a constant shear This relationship is sometimes called

flow in a web must also be determined about Bredt‟s first formula and was first developed
some point. To do this, look at the shear by Rudolph Bredt in Germany in the later
flow in the curved web in Figure 7-33. In 1890‟s. This relationship is very important
this figure we show a small element of in thin-wall structural analysis; it shows that
length ds. We want to compute the resultant the resultant moment due to a shear flow q
moment about point “o.” depends upon the web shape and the
position of point “o.”

Example: Find the resultant moment of the

shear flow q shown in Figure 7-34 about
points a and b.

Figure 7-33 – Curved web shear flow resultant

moment

The moment of the infinitesimal force q*ds,

about a point in space in the plane of the
web, is the product of q*ds times the
perpendicular distance, the moment arm, r.

While this appears to be a very messy Figure 7-34-Shear flow resultant moments
problem of analytic geometry, it is very depend on the point we are summing moments
simple, since, from geometry, a triangle of about.
perpendicular height r and base ds is formed
by joining point o with the ends of the For point “a” we have Aa=5*10=50 in2.
element ds.
r * ds M a  2*100*50  10,000 in  lb.
The area of this triangle is dA  while (clockwise)
2
the moment of the elemental force q*ds
For point “b” we have Ab= ½ 5*10 =25 in2.
about point “o” is
M b  2*100* 25  5000 in  lb.
 q * ds  * r  qr * ds  2q * dA (clockwise)
The resultant moment of q taken point “o”is The direction of Ma and Mb are determined
found by integration. by inspection.

Mo    qr  ds    2q dA  2q dA Example: Find the resultant moment about

point o due to the torque,T, and the shear
flow in Figure 7-35.

Chapter 7 Page 156

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

Figure 7-35 – Closed cell section with constant The shear flow has no net resultant force and
shear flow is therefore the result of a force couple or
twisting moment. If point a lies outside the
Answer: This section is closed; the cell, some of the areas dA would be negative
perimeter is continuous. A torque causes no because qr*ds would be opposite in
net forces in stringers so the shear flow will direction or counter-clockwise for some
be constant around the perimeter, even if points on the web. The algebraic sum of all
there are stringers present (there are none these areas would still be A, the area
here). enclosed by the cell.

The area “A” swept out by integration Consider an additional example. A 100-
involves the total enclosed area of the web, inch-long, thin-walled hollow beam is fixed
50 square inches; it does not matter where to a wall. The cross section at the free end is
we choose to measure this moment. shown in the figure (all dimensions are
measured at the midline).
Aenclosed=50 in2.

Mo = 2*q*50=100q in-lb.

Notice that since the section is closed the

position of point “o” within the "cell" does
not affect the answer.

This resultant moment must be equal to the

torque, T, so that

T=2qA=100q
Two 600-lb forces produce a torsional
This means that
couple (torque). The left side (semi-circle)
of the cross section has thickness t = 0.05"
q=T/2A=T/100
while the right side (three straight members)
has thickness t = 0.1 in. We will calculate
To summarize, the application of a torque to the shear flow and shear stresses in both
a closed section creates a shear flow that is
sides (neglecting possible stress
constant around the perimeter. The concentrations).
relationship between the shear flow and the
resultant torque is
First of all, the torque T is:
T=2qAenclosed
T=600*25=15,000 in-lb.

Chapter 7 Page 157

Thin-wall beams

Problem 7-4 : Find the shear flows in the

The enclosed area is two webs of the thin-wall cross-section
shown to the right. Each stringer has area
equal to 0.5 square inches. Use resultant
1
Aenclosed  10*10   *52  139.27 in2 force and moment relations. (Answer qo =
2 539.41 lb/in.

The shear flow is

T 15, 000
q   53.85 lb / in
2 Aenclosed 2*139.27
Problem 7-4
The shear stress in the semi-circular section Problem 7-5: An idealized fuselage cross-
is section indicated in the figure is
q 53.85 symmetrical about both the y and z-axes.
   1077 psi
t 0.05 The skin thickness is not given but is
assumed to be so small that we can ignore
The shear stress in the rectangular section is: it in our computation of the moments of
inertia and Q. The so-called flange areas
area also so small that their moments of
q 53.85
   538.5 psi inertia about their own area centroids can
t 0.1 be neglected.

Observation: If a thin wall cross-section a) Compute both Izz and Iyy about the
carrying constant shear flow q is closed, the section centroidal axes. Data for the
shear flow q has a resultant twisting moment component areas is given in the table
T = 2qA about every point in the plane, below.
regardless of its position. The resultant
force is zero. Element Area z(ft.) y
(in2) (ft.)
7.7.1 –Homework problems A 1 0 4
Problem 7-3 – An unsymmetrical wing B&J 1.5 1,-1 3
cross-section has a shear resultant due to lift C&I 2 1.5,-1.5 1
of L=4500 lb. applied in the location D&H 2 1.5,-1.5 -1
indicated in the sketch. Compute the shear E&G 1.5 1,-1 -3
flow in the semi-circular leading edge F 1 0 -4
(radius = 3 inches).
b) A 1000 lb. downward shear force
resultant is applied along the y-axis
as the result of elevator and tail trim.
Compute the shear flows (and their
directions) in each of webs
connecting the flange elements.
Assume that the thin skin carries
only shear stress and no bending
stress. Also make use of the fact that
Problem 7-3
this section has two axes of

Chapter 7 Page 158

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

symmetry and that shear flows will

be symmetrical. Note that the cross-
sectional areas are given in square
inches but the cross-section
dimensions are given in feet.

Problem 7-7

7.8 Computation of the Shear Center for

Thin-wall Open Section Beams

Problem 7-5
Figure 7-36 - Open section resultant shear
Problem 7-6: The cross-section idealization force and shear flows produce the same result.
shown is symmetrical about a vertical axis.
The five upper stringers have areas equal to Our problem is to find the shear flows in the
0.4 in.2 The five bottom stringers have webs of the cross-section in Figure 7-36.
areas of 0.8 in.2 The four stringers have equal areas of 0.50
in2. The webs carry no bending stress, only
shear. We also wish to locate the shear
center for the cross-section. Note that this
cross-section will resist bending in two
directions, but has only one axis of
symmetry.

The horizontal neutral axis is found by

inspection. The moment of inertia Izz is
found to be

I zz  4(0.5)(52 )  50 in4
Problem 7-6

Problem7-7 - Find the y-z coordinates of The net forces on the right hand face of each
the shear center of the idealized open skin- stringer is:
stringer cross-section shown in the figure.
This y-z system origin is located mid-way VQi 10,000
Pi  a Qi a  200Q1a
between the top and bottom stringers and I zz 50
mid-way between the left and right hand
stringers, but the y-z system is not where P > 0 implies compression on the
centroidal. back face. The values of Qi are either 2.5

Chapter 7 Page 159

Thin-wall beams

in3. (for the two top elements) or -2.5 in3 (for shear force V must be exactly the same
the two bottom elements). This means that as the moment due to the shear flows.
for the top two elements This must be true because the two
representations (total resultant or shear
Pi  500a flow) are equivalent ways of
representing the same cross-sectional
For the bottom two elements stress system. We know the positions
and directions of the shear flows,
Pi  500a therefore we can compute their resultant
moment, MS about point o in Figure
7-37.
The negative sign indicates that the net
forces on the bottom face are tensile.
M S  (500 lb / in)(4 in.)(10 in.)
As before, the shear flow analysis proceeds
by cutting each web to isolate it and then M S  20,000 in  lb (clockwise)
using longitudinal static equilibrium to
determine the shear flows. These shear 2. We know that the resultant shear force,
flows are shown in Figure 7-37; their correct V=10,000 lb. must be acting through the
direction is important to the computations shear center. The distance “e” shown in
that follow. Figure 7-37 measures the distance from
the point 0 to the shear center. It is an
unknown. The clockwise moment,
about 0, due to shear force V=10,000 lb
is MV = 10,000e

Equating the two expressions:

MV = M S

gives 10,000 e = 20,000 so that

Figure 7-37 – Final results e = 2 inches

The shear flows in this cross-section have Thus the shear center is located somewhere
been calculated assuming that they were the along a line 2 in. to the left of point o.
result of a cross-sectional shear resultant that Remember these three points about shear
produces only bending stress, but not center computations.
torsion. By definition, the shear center is
that point where a shear force causes 1. The shear center is a point in space and,
bending deformation, but no torsional in general, two calculations must be
deformation or shear stress. The shear flows performed: 1) apply an arbitrary shear
we have calculated therefore assume that the force to a cross-section and compute the
shear force is applied at the shear center. shear flows; 2) place the shear force at a
reference point in space located a
To find the shear center location we use the distance “e” from that point. Equate the
following procedure: moment due to the shear force to the
moment due to the shear flows.
1. At an arbitrary point in space (of our 2. The magnitude of the shear force V does
choosing), the moment (measured in the not make any difference in the final
plane of the page) due to the resultant result. If we had chosen V = 20,000 lb.

Chapter 7 Page 160

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

the magnitude of MV would have  Find, e, the position of the shear center
doubled, but MS would also have with respect to the lower left stringer if
doubled, because the shear flows are b=2 inches.
linear functions of V and likewise would
have doubled.  Find the dimension b required if the
3. The shear center lies along an axis of shear center distance is e=0 so that the
symmetry. Some shear centers may be shear center is located at the center web.
found from inspection or a combination
of inspection and computation. Problem 7-10
A thin-wall open cross-section is
Problem 7-8: The open, symmetrical thin- constructed with 6 one-inch stringers and 5
wall idealized cross-section is loaded with a thin webs. An upward shear resultant of
shear force resultant at the shear center, as 1000 lb. is applied. Find the shear flows in
indicated. Find the shear flows and the each of the 5 webs. Why is the shear flow in
position of the shear center. Two the angled webs zero?
coordinates are required.

Problem 7-10

7.9 Thin-wall closed box beam analysis

It is unwise to load an open section at a
Problem 7-9 An open section thin-wall position other than the shear center because
beam cross-section with a horizontal axis of of its low torsional stiffness. The addition of
symmetry is shown below. This section is an additional web to close the cross-section
idealized to be a collection of 7 thin webs transforms the open section to a “box”-
and 8 concentrated stringer areas. Six of beam. Box beams not only resist bending
these areas have the same area, A, while the moments and shear force resultants, but also
other two have an area equal to 4A. The resist torsion; this is a very important feature
total area is 14A square inches. for successful aircraft structures.

Let‟s analyze an idealized “single cell” box

beam cross-section with six stringers and six
webs shown in Figure 7-38.

Figure 7-38 – Single cell beam cross-section

The nose section web is semi-circular. We

Problem 7-9
want to find the shear flows in all the box
beam webs due to a 10,000 lb. upward shear

Chapter 7 Page 161

Thin-wall beams

force with a line of action located 8 in. to the point. To compute the moment due to the
left of the right hand corner. shear flows we use the relationship

The area moment of inertia about the 5

horizontal neutral axis is MS   2q A

i 0
i i

I zz  4(0.5)(52 )  2(1.0)(52 )
The areas in this relationship refer to the
 100 in 4 area created by beginning with the reference
To begin the analysis, let's cut the webs on point, drawing a straight line to the
each side of the stringers as shown in Figure beginning of the web, tracing the web and
7-39. Call the shear flow in the leading edge then drawing a straight line to connect the
skin qo. end of the web to the reference point. Three
of these webs (webs 3, 4, 5) have zero areas
The net force on the back face of each associated with them.
stringer is
VQ 10,000
Pi  i a  Qi a  100Q1a
I zz 100

Figure 7-40 – Areas for resultant moment

computation

The three non-zero areas are shown in

Figure 7-39-Free body diagrams for beam Figure 7-40. In this case Ao = 278.5 in2; A1
stringer/web combinations = 100 in2; A2 = 100 in2. With these
numbers, the moment equivalence equation
After some manipulation, longitudinal force is obtained:
equilibrium gives the following five
equations:
M S  2qo Ao  2q1 A1  2q2 A2
q1  qo  250
M S  2qo (139.25)  2q1 (50)  2q2 (50)
q2  qo  500
q3  qo  1000 M S  qo (278.5)  (qo  250)(100)  (qo  500)(100)
q4  qo  500
q5  qo  250 The shear resultant is located 8 inches to the
left of point o so its moment is:
Although there are six FBD‟s in Figure 7-
MV = 10,000*8=80,000 on-lb.
39, only five of them give us independent
equations and qo remains unknown; we seem
Setting MS equal to MV we have:
to be out of equations. However, there is an
additional equation involving moment
478.5qo  155,000
equivalence of the shear flows to the
original applied shear resultant. qo  324 lb / in.

To compute torsional moments we choose Now, the shear flows in each web are
the lower right stringer as the reference calculated to be:

Chapter 7 Page 162

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

q1  324  250  74 lb / in. all 6 stringer areas

q2  324  500  176 lb / in. are equal to 1 in2
q3  324  1000  676 lb / in. 10" 10"
q4  324  500  176 lb / in.
q5  324  250  74 lb / in. 5" radius
8000 lb.
10"
Since we could not anticipate the directions 6"
of the unknown shear flows that we have
just found, we arbitrarily chose their
10" 10"
directions to be the same. Obviously, the
shear flows are not all in the same direction, Problem 7-11
as indicated by the minus signs above. The
minus sign indicates that the shear flow (a) If all the stringer areas are equal to 1
direction is opposite to that originally square inch, find the shear flows (magnitude
chosen. and direction) in each web element.
(b) If the shear stress in each web is not to
The final shear flows and their directions are exceed 150 psi, find the minimum thickness
shown in Figure 7-41. These shear flows of each web.
balance in the horizontal direction (the shear (c) If the structure is constructed of 7075
force has no resultant in this direction). The aluminum, compute the weight per unit
vertical resultant of the shear flows is length of this structure.
324*10+676*10= 10,000 lb.
7.10 Thin-wall beam deflection and twist
Shearing stress in thin wall structures also
creates additional deformation over and
above that computed from beam theory. To
illustrate this, consider a cantilever beam
with a tip load. The bending moment is
computed to be

Figure 7-41 – Final cross-sectional shear flow

M  x   P( L  x)
results
while the shear force is constant, V(x) = P.
If we were to move the resultant shear force
to the left an inch the shear flows would Castigliano‟s theorem is used to compute the
change. The five equations that are derived tip deflection where the load is applied. To
from the free body diagrams in Figure 6-59 apply this theorem, we need to know the
do not depend on the location of the shear strain energy in the beam. The beam
resultant; the moment equivalence equation bending strain energy is given by the general
does. expression:
L
1 M2
Problem 7-11: The closed thin-wall U  dx
2 0 EI
beam section idealization shown consists
of 6 equal area stringers and 6 shear web
elements. An upward force of 8000 lb. For our example, substituting in the
expression for the bending moment and
is applied as 6" from the right hand web.
restricting the problem to a case in which
EI=constant, the strain energy becomes:

Chapter 7 Page 163

Thin-wall beams

1 P 2  L3 
2 2
1 P2 1 P 1  P  Lh
0  L  x  dx 
L 1
U U    L  ds   
2
 
2 EI 2 EI  3  2 h  Gt 2  h  Gt

Castigliano‟s Theorem provides , the Castigliano‟s Theorem gives:

deflection at the end where the force P is
applied. U  P  hL P  L 
  shear   2    
P  h  Gt Gt  h 
U 2 P  L3  PL3
  bending   
P 2 EI  3  3EI so that
 total   bending   shear
This is the classic result found in strength of 1 PL3 P  L 
materials textbooks.    
3 EI Gt  h 
One of the assumptions of beam bending 1 PL3  3E  I  
 1  
theory is that “plane sections remain plane.” 3 EI  G  L2th  
If this is true then there is no cross-sectional
deformation due to the shear stresses, even
though they are non-zero. Thin-wall For the present example this can be further
sections are likely to have shear simplified.
deformation, even though we use beam
theory as the basis of the calculation of shear    h  
2

flow. How do we tell if the shear   2 A   

1 PL3  3E   2  
deformations are significant?  total  1
3 EI  G  L2th  
   
We can include the shear flexibility of the   
thin walls by first calculating the shear strain
energy in the beam. The formula for shear 1 PL3  3E  A  h  
 1   
strain energy per unit volume is: 3 EI  2G  L2  t  

1  
2
This simple example shows that the shear
Uo  flexibility introduced by a thin web can
2 G
substantially increase beam deflection. In
For a single web such as that shown in the this case we see that an important geometric
variable influencing this increase is the ratio
example configuration, the shear stress is
constant across the web and along the web. h/t.
The total shear strain energy is:
Thin-wall web shear is also important for
1  
2
the calculation of twisting deflection for
U   U o dxdydz   tLds
beam 2 G closed thin-wall beams. Let‟s compute a
useful relationship for thin-wall twist by
1  t  1 q
2 2

  Lds   Lds considering the following case.

2 Gt 2 Gt
First of all we have a shear force resultant
For this simple case, the web shear flow is q applied to the cross section so that it creates
=P/h and the strain energy is simply: a shear flow distribution in the closed
section. Then place an additional torsional
load, To, on the cross-section.

Chapter 7 Page 164

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

At any point on the cross-section, the shear The shear flows in the second integral are
flow will be qo +qi. The shear flow qo = proportional to the resultant shear force, V,
To/2A and the shear flow qi is the shear flow so the expression can be written as:
in the web due to the shear force resultant.  To 
The strain energy expression per unit length   qi 
 1 
     ds
2A
is:
 2 A  Gt
 qo  qi 
2
1
U'   ds  T  1
  o2  
 V   qi 
2 Gt ds    ds
2  4 A  Gt  2 A  Gt
 To 
  qi  where
1  2A  ds

2  Gt qi 
qi
V

Figure 7-43- Shear flow distribution due to a

unit shear force resultant applied at the left web
Figure 7-42
of the single cell box.
This integral is a contour integral because
we must travel all the way around the cross- When V = 0, we have a case of pure torque
section, including all of the webs, to and:
compute the total energy. Castigliano‟s  To  1
2  
   ds
d  4 A  Gt
Theorem gives us the twist rate  
dx
We usually express the relationship between
 To  1  twist rate and torque as To  GJ eff  so that
  qi   
U '
d  2A   2 A  ds
To
 
dx
  Gt 4 A2 4 A2
GJ eff  
ds s
 To


 qi   Gt  Gitii
 1   2A  ds
 
 2A  Gt
This formula is referred to as Bredt’s
or formula. It is particularly useful since it
 To  shows that the torsional stiffness of a wing
  qi 
 
     ds
1 2A section or fuselage section is proportional to
the square of the area enclosed within the
 2A  Gt
cell.
 T  1  1   qi 
  o2   ds    ds
 4 A  Gt  2 A  Gt Consider the fuselage cross-section shown
below. This section is constructed of two
different materials so that the underside of

Chapter 7 Page 165

Thin-wall beams

the fuselage can resist heat from an engine 4  AE 

2

exhaust. The section is subjected to a GJ eff  

ds
150,000 in-lb. torque from the empennage.  Gt
4  302  
2


 300 60 60 60 
    
 360 Gal 0.04 360 Gst 0.07 
or
GJ eff  3.05x1011 lb  in.2

Let‟s compute the twist rate of the structural

section with a 16,000 pound shear resultant
shown in the figure. The shear flows due to
this resultant are shown in the figure. To
compute the twist rate we use the twist rate
formula previously derived.

Figure 7-44 – Fuselage cross-section composed

of two different materials.

We will first find the shear flows and shear

stress in each section and then find the
effective torsional stiffness of the cross-
section.

The shear flow is computed as follows: Figure 7-45

T 150, 000 To compute the twist rate we use the twist

q   26.5 lb / in.
2 AE 2   302 
rate formula previously derived. The
contour integration is replaced by a
summation that begins with the front web
The shear stresses are different in each and then proceeds to the upper skin.
section since the thicknesses are different. 1 qi si

2 Aenclosed
 Gt
i i

q 26.5 1 1400*10 200* 40 200*10 200* 40 

 Al    663 lb / in. 
2* 400* 4 x106  0.081  0.040  0.032  0.040 
t 0.04

q 26.5 The third term, representing the contribution

 St    379 lb / in. of the rear web, is negative because the
t 0.07 shear flow is in a direction opposite to the
direction of the contour “travel.” The result
Finally, the effective torsional stiffness is: is:
  1.59 x104 rad / in.
(clock-wise)

7.11 – The shear center

We can use the same approach to find the
position where the 16,000 lb. load will cause
no rotation. Consider the cross-section in

Chapter 7 Page 166

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

Figure 7-45. The 16,000 lb. load has been

placed at an arbitrary distance e to the left of 4 panels
qi si qo q  1200
the lower right stringer. This creates 4 i 1 Gi ti
  o
G *0.081 G *0.040
unknown shear flows, as indicated in Figure
7-46. qo  1600 qo  1200
  0
G *0.032 G *0.040

This reduces to the expression for qo:

q0  1190 lb / in.
So that
q1  qo  1200  10 lb / in.
q2  qo  1600  410 lb / in.
q3  qo  1200  10 lb / in.
Figure 7-46

The free body diagrams of the four stringers Notice that the shear flows are negative,
produce the following equilibrium meaning that their directions are reversed
relationships for the shear flows. from our original assumptions. We‟ll leave
these in this form for now.
q1  qo  1200
Now we can solve for the position of the
q2  qo  1600 16,000 lb. shear resultant that creates these
q3  qo  1200 shear flows.
q0  qo
If the position e were specified then we
would simply use the moment equivalence
relationship to compute the 4th equation to
solve for the shear flows. Instead we will
use the twist rate equation:

 1  N panels qi si
   
 2 Aenclosed  i 1 Gi ti
Figure 7-47
Since we have assumed that the 16,000 lb.
load is applied at the shear center then we Summing moments due to the shear flows
should have no twist angle or twist rate. about the lower right stringer we have:
This means that
M S  2 *1190 * Ao  2 * (10) * A1
 1  N panels qi si  2 *1190 * 200  2 *10 * 200
    0  472,000 in  lb.
 2 Aenclosed  i 1 Gi ti
4 panels
qi si
or 
i 1 Gi ti
0 The 16,000 lb. shear resultant has a moment
given as:
MV  16000* e
Using the three relationships for the shear
flows we have: Equating the two expressions we have:

Chapter 7 Page 167

Thin-wall beams

How we get the material arranged to give us

MV  M q  16000 * e  472,000 this EI is another matter, but this is an
estimate of how large it should be. We
e  29.5 inches
know that the section is most likely not
symmetric and that the maximum bending
7.12 Estimating the EI and GJ for a wing moment is a little smaller than Wh/4 since
We have been given the locations of the spanwise center of pressure is probably a
stringer/spar cap areas and webs in all of our little inboard of the mid-span, but this
homework problems. How do people decide number is close.
what the cross-section looks like? The
answer to that question is a little more The required torsional stiffness is estimated
complicated than we would like, but some of from using the approximate relationship
the fundamentals are easy to explain.
GJ
max  We . In this case, the maximum
The allowable tensile stress at the wing root b
My twist angle is used as the design criteria.
is  allowable  if the wing material is The dimension e is the offset between the ¼
I chord and the elastic axis. Note that the
arranged symmetrically. M is the bending maximum twist angle is in radians.
moment, y is the distance from the neutral
axis to the top skin and I is the moment of This relationship gives us the following
inertia. We can use this expression to result:
estimate the moment of inertia required.
Web
First of all, we estimate that the bending GJ
Wb max
moment is M  where W is the aircraft
4
weight and b is the wing semi-span. The These two results give us a way of
wing supports half the aircraft weight. The estimating the ratio EI/GJ. This is:
h
dimension y is y  where h is the EI  max  W  E  h 
2    bc    
maximum depth of the wing section (the GJ  ebW  8   allowable   c 
wing thickness). With these
approximations, 7.13 Homework problems

Wbh
I and
8 allowable
 E  Wbh
EI   
  allowable  8
W  E  h 
  bc    
8   allowable   c 

This means that EI is a function of aircraft

 E 
weight, a materials index   , wing

 allowable 
7-12 The cross-section shown is
unsymmetrical, composed of three equal
planform area (bc) and wing thickness to areas, A, but has only three webs.
chord ratio (h/c). a) Find the torsional stiffness of the
cross-section when the shear

Chapter 7 Page 168

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

modulus, G, is the same for all three with correct directions and positive
webs. magnitudes.
b) Find the torsional stiffness of the
cross-section when the shear d) Compute the twist rate due to this 1000
modulus for the upper web is 1.5 lb. load.
times that of the other two webs.
7-14
c) Solve for the twist rate  when the Compute the shear flows when the 1000 lb.
1000 lb. shear resultant is applied 6 force is applied through the shear center.
inches to the left of the lower right
stringer and the shear modulus is the
same for all webs.

Problem 7-14
Problem 7-12
7-15
A 100-inch-long, thin-walled hollow beam
is fixed to a wall. The cross section at the
free end is shown in the figure (all
7-13
dimensions are measured at the midline).
Two 600-lb forces produce a torsional
couple (torque). The left side (semi-circle)
of the cross section has thickness t = 0.05"
and G = 12x106 psi, while the right side
(three straight members) has thickness t =
0.1" and G = 5 x 106 psi.

600 lb
Problem 7-13

a) Compute the shear flows in the webs of

10"
the single cell section shown if a 20,000 in-
lb. torque (clockwise) is applied. All
stringers have areas on 1 square inch. Show 600 lb
your answers on a diagram with the correct
5" 5" 10" 5"
directions and magnitudes. Problem 7-15

b) If all webs have the same thickness, t= Calculate the shear flows, and shear stresses
0.08 inches, and G=4x106 psi, compute the in both sides (neglecting possible stress
torsional stiffness. concentrations), and the angle of twist of the
free end.
c) Compute the shear flows if a 1000 lb. (Answers: q= 53.85 lb/in, left = 1,077 psi,
load is applied in the vertical direction 10 right = 538.5 psi,  = 1.666e-3 rad =
inches from the left of the lower right
0.0955)
stringer. Show your results on a diagram

Chapter 7 Page 169

Thin-wall beams

Show your answers on a diagram with the

7-16 correct directions and magnitudes.
The box beam shown is subjected to a
torque of 20,000 in-lb. The top and bottom 7-18
cover skins are made of Inconel X The symmetrical single cell, multiple
(G=11.9x106 psi. ) while the spar webs are stringer, idealized cross-section shown has a
6A1-4V Titanium (G=6.2x106 psi.) The shear resultant applied as shown.
four spar caps each have area 1 in2,
Calculate the following:

a) The shear stress in each of the four skin

segments.
b) The angle of twist per unit length (in
degrees per inch)
c) The torsional stiffness, GJeff.

Problem 7-18
a) Compute the shear flows in the webs.
All skin stiffeners shown have cross-
sectional area equal to 0.1 in.2 The skin
elements have thickness 0.40 inches
with G=3.9 x 106 psi. Consider using
Excel.
b) Compute the rotation angle if this
7-17 section is an end section of a cantilever
Find the shear flows (magnitude and that is 100 inches long.
direction) in all of the webs for the single
cell cross-section shown if the 6000 lb. 7-19 - A 30“ long tube with a rectangular,
vertical shear resultant is applied at the shear thin-wall cross-section is subjected to a
center. The section is made entirely of torque, T. The tube is constructed by gluing
aluminum with web thicknesses all equal. two U-shaped sections together as indicated.
All six stringer areas are 1 square inch. The If the tube is pulled longitudinally, shear
nose web is closed, but is not a semi-circle. stress in the joint develops.
The developed length of the nose web is 14
inches. Its area is shown on the diagram.

Problem 7-17

Chapter 7 Page 170

 Thin-wall beam bending and shear flow

7-21
A single cell thin-wall cross-section is
idealized as consisting of 3 webs with equal
thicknesses t=0.064 inches and 3 stringers
equal areas 0.50 in.2 Two shear resultants
are applied as shown. The enclosed cell
area is computed to be 128.54 in.2 The 3
unknown shear flows are labeled in the
figure below.

Problem 7-19 a) Solve for the three shear flows

created by the two resultant shear
In this case, the glue joint fails when the flows.
longitudinal shear stress is 3500 psi. When b) Solve for the twist per unit length if
only a torque is applied to the ends, as G=4x106 psi. in all three webs.
indicated by the lower figure, the glue joint c) Solve for the torsional stiffness,
also fails. GJeffective.

Find the value of the torque required to

cause the glue joint to fail. Data is as
follows: t = 0.05 inches; h =2 inches; c = 3
inches

7-20 Find the distance ex that locates the

position of the horizontal distance from the
upper left stringer to the shear center of this
open section. All 4 stringer areas are equal.
(Answer 17. 85 inches).

Answers: q1 = 2.64 lb/in. q2 = 0.972 lb/in,

q3 = -9.03 lb/in.
GJ effective  3.702 x108 lb  in2
Problem 7-20

Chapter 7 Page 171

Examples

Chapter 8 – Stability – under construction

Chapter 7 Page 172

 Structural stability

Chapter 8 Page 173

Stability

Chapter 8 Page 174

 Structural stability

Chapter 8 Page 175

Stability

Chapter 8 Page 176

 Structural stability

Chapter 8 Page 177

Stability

Chapter 8 Page 178

 Structural stability

A mechanism is idealized as a weightless, rigid device shaped like a “T.” It is acted upon by two
equal forces, P. These forces always remain horizontal, no matter how the T-section rotates.
Find the value of P that makes this T-section neutrally stable.

Chapter 8 Page 179