Aircraft Structures for Undergraduate Students

Course Outline

   Function of Structural Components
An aircraft is made from many different components. Each component has a specific
function but form an integral whole.

   Bending Of Beams With Non-Symmetrical Cross Section
Establishment of sign convention for an arbitrary beam section. The Effective Bending
Moment and the Effective Shear Forces are defined and derived. An example is given.

   Stress, Strain and Displacement Relationship for Open
      and Closed Single CellThin-Walled Beams
Concept of Shear Flow is introduced. The Shear Centre of an open beam section, twist and
warping of a closed beam section are explained through an example.

   Torsion of Thin Walled Beam Sections
The application of a torque on a closed or open section beam produces warping. This
section attempts to illustrate the characteristics of such a distribution by using an open
beam section.

   Structural Idealization
Idealization of a wing section is performed to calculate the stresses on the stringers and
shear on the skin.This can be done using nodes to represent the stringers. Spread sheet
examples are given.

   Multicell Beams
The wing section can be divided into multiple cells with applied torques. Method of
determining Rate of Twist and Shear Flow distribution is shown in an example.

   Tapered Beams
A real wing on an aircraft is often swept and tapered. This section shows the method of
determining the shear flow on an idealized tapered wing.