------

mmrNrcAL
Z??EEs
NATIONAL
M3V1!30RY
CCM?$3T!I!EE
FORAERONAUTICS.

. .

No. 5.

RELATIGN
GFRIBSPACIhG
N) STRESS
INWING
ELM!?E&

by ‘
A.F.“Zahm.

.-

Washington,
May,3920.

-.

— _- ——-- —
 1116.1-4

RELATIONOl?
RIBSPACING
TO STRESS
INwINGPLANES.
ByA.F. ZS2CU.
.

PREFACE
- Thechange
of spacing
between
ribsina wing
planem~ entail,
(1)change
ofairpressure,
bothindistribution
andsmount,
(2)change
offiberstress
inthefabric
andtheribs,
unless
tiney
besoaltered
indimensions
as tokeeptheirstresses
Theaerodynamic
constant. effect
juststated
should
be sttiied
inthewindtunnel,
orstillbetter
infull-scale
fliat,with
pressure
collectors
atmanypoints
onamediansectionof
thewing.
Thestress
relations
tothefabric
andtheribwillbeconsidered
insomedetail
here.

FIEERSTRESS
INFAERIC
ANDRIB.
STRJ3SS - Itcanbeshown--see
INFABRIC Appendix-that
thetensi~e
stress
t perunitwidthinthefabric
ofa wing-plane,
ata pointwheretheresultant on it isp, isapprox-
airpressure
imate
ly
t = pa2/8c,
a beingthedistance
between
theribs,and6 thedepthof bulgeof
thefabric
midwaybetween
ribsat thelocality
inqyestion.
Eence
keeping
constant
theairpressure
p, andtheshapeofbulge,
or
cja,thelineal
tension
t varies asa. Ifthenthefab-
directly
ricthickness as a, thefiberunitstress
bedirectly isthe
sameforallpractioal Andconversely
ribspacings. ifthefiber
unitstress
remain
constant,
withvarying
ribdistances,
the .
bulge shapemustremain assrming
constant, theinitial
tautness
thesms inallcases.
 -2- 1216.1-4

INRIB- Bywallknownrnechanics,
STRESS t-he
unitstress
ina simple
beam,witheither
a concentrated
ora uniform
load,is
of theform

inwhichW istheload,L thelength,

b thewidth,
d thedepth.
Ifthewingplaneanditsribsremain
gmmetrically
similar,
b
andL increase
directly
as d,andW asd2,sinceW varies
asthe
area.Thestress
therefore
takestheform
s= K .+ = Const.
.
- Considering
CONCLUSION therefore
thewingplanesim-
plyasa static
struoture,
d ignoring
thequestion
ofaerody-
namicefficiency,
itappears
thattheunitstress
intheribani
fabric
willremain
constant
forconstant
p iftheli~ardimensions
ofbothribandfabric
be increased
alike,
viz.,ifwingandfab-
ricremain
geometrically Sincethebulgeaswellas
similar.
thestructura2
dimensions
remains
geometrically
similar,
the
wholedistended
phne remains
so,andhenceshould
havethesame
pressure
distributioaan.i
efficiency.
Iftherefore
theBurgess
ruleofmaking
theribspacing
always
one-fifth
of thechordof
theplanebevalidforanyoneplane,itmustbevalidforall
others
thatare,mechanically
similar
instructure
andcovering.
.
STRESS
STRAIN
RELATIONS
INWINGP- FABRIC.
Todetermzne
whether
a givenfabricis eu$table
fora

4
givenribspacing
a stress-strain
diagram
ismadeforsamples
of
.*
thefabric.Therelation
isroughly
.
t =ke,
 “3- 1116,1-4

inwhich
k isa constant,
ande isthetruestrain,
thatisthe
ofa given length
stretch ofsample
divided
bytheunstretched
ler@h. Ifinthewingplane,
a be theribdistance,
r therad-
iusofthebulge,
thestretch
ofa iserc--less
chords a3/24 r2,
of smallcircular ercs. Dividing
bya wellkncwnpruperty this
bytheorigin&1
chordlength
a givesthestrain,
e= a2/24r2.
of r wemaywriteitsvalue,
Instead t/9,fromhydrostatics,
and
obtain
a stress-strain
relation
forthebulge
24et2= azpz.
This,foranyfixeda,p, isa “hyperbola
ine, t,animaybeplot-
tedonachartwiththelinear
relation
t = k e, asinplateI.*
Theirintersection
givestheactual
tension
generated
bytheair
pressure
p whenthep~ticular
fabric
represented
byt = ke
covers
theribspacing tension zero. Foranyini-
a withinitial
tialstrain
e.thehyperbola t= a2 P2, or tb
wouldbe24 (e-eo)
former
curveshifted
laterally
by anmounteo.

* Tech.Report,
Brit.Adv.Can.Aeron.
1912-13,
p. 232,
 -4- 1116.1-4

APPENDIX.

To PROVE
t = pa2/8c- Ifp, a,c,denote,
asbefore,
theunitresultant rib spacing,
airpressure, anddepth ofbulge;
andifr betheradius
ofcurvature
ofthebulging
fabric,
as-
sumedtobecircular,
asinthesketch;
thefollowing
relations
obviously
obtain:
.#----c \
t=pr, r
;~
P t1
a2=4c.(2r-c),
. ~2
pa2
. ● . t ~— 1 + 4;.
8C ( )
Thefirstof thesecomesfromequating
theup liftoftM airto
thedownpullof thetension; theseconi
fromequa.t
ingthesqusxe
of thechordtofou”timesthegroduct
ofthesegments
ofa normal
&ismeter.
Thederived
equation
showsthatifo/a= 1/20,t . pa2/
\ 8c,accurately
tooneperosnt.Intautfabrics
c/amayeqyal
3/2Q,orthereabouts,
underfullload.

I
 TENSION
11;
AIRPLANE
F@RIC

Depthof : Tension
t inPounds
perLineal Inch
Bulgec : forVarious
AirPressures,
p lbs.gersq.ft.
Inches:
:P=5 :P=8:P=~O:P=15:P= 2Q:P=25:P=50:P=l~
..
For~ibSpacing
a.=12;’ : : t s p/8c
0.1 : 6.25 : 10.0 :12.50: 18.75 :25.0 : 31.25 :62.50 : 125.0
o-~ : 3.12 : 5:0 : 6.25: 9.37 : i2.5 : 15.62:31.25 : 62.5
0.3 : 2.08 : 3.33:4.16: 6.25 : %.33: 10.4I: 20.83 : 41.66
“0.4 : 1.56 : 2.5 :3.12: 4.68 : 6.25: 7.81 :15.62 : 31.25
> 0.5 : 1.25 : 2.0 : 2.50: 3.75 : 5.00: 6.25 : 12-50 : 25.0
ForRibSpacing
a = 23” t= .1465
g/c
o*1 : 7.32 : 11.72:14.65::22.0 : 29.30”:
35.60: 73.25 : 146.5
0.2 : 3.66 : 5.86:7.32: 11.0 : 14.65: 18.30:36.62 : 73.25
0.3 : 2.44 : 3.91: 4.88: 7.33 : 9.76: 12.20:24.41 : 48.8
0.4 : 1.83 : 2.93:3.66: 5.5 : 7.32: 9.15 : 1~.31: 36.6
0.5 : 1.46 : 2.34:.2.93: 4.4 : 5.86: 7.32 : 14.65 : 29.3
ForRibSpacing
a = 14fl t = .1701
p/c
0.1 “ 8.50 : 13.61:17.01: 25.51 :34.02:42.52 :85.05 :170.1
0.2 ~ 4.25 : 6.80:8.50: 12.75: 17.01:21.26 : 42.52 : 85.0
0.3 : 2.83 : 4.53: 5.67: 8.50 : 11.34: 14.17 : 28.35 : 56.7
0.4 : 2.12 : 3.40: 4.25: 6.37 : 8.50: 10.63 :21.26 : 42.52
O*5 : 1.70 : : 3.40: 5.10 : 6,80: 8.50 : ~7.Cll: 34.0
2.’72
.
ForRibSpacing
a = 15” t = .1953
p/c

0.1 : 9.76 : 15.62:19.53: 29.29 : 39.06: 4g.82 : 97.65 : 195.3

0.2 : 4.88 : 7.81: 9.76: 14.64 : 19.53:24.41 : 48.82 : 97.6
0.3 : 3.25 : 5.20:6.51: 9.76 : 13.02: 16.27: 32.55 : 65.1
0.4 : 2.M : 3.90: 4.88: 7.32 : 9.76: 12.20 : 24.41 : 48.8
0.5 : 1.95 : 3.12: 3.90: 5.85 : 7.81: 9.76 : 19.53 : 39.0
I