MA3700 Aircraft Structures I

MA2001 Mechanics of Materials

Main Stress/Structural Analyses

Fuselage
Bending
Twisting
Internal Pressure
Axial
Other Analyses
Wing
Joints/Connections
Bending
Twisting
Stress Concentrations
Dr Chai Gin Boay
Office: N3-2C-88
Tel: 6790-5756 Fracture Mechanics
email: mgbchai@ntu.edu.sg
Fatigue
 MA3700 Aircraft Structures I
Learning Outcomes :

At the end of the course, a student should be:

1. Able to visualize the structural make-up of the aircraft and understand their
functions.
2. Able to visualize how external aerodynamic loads give rise to internal stresses
and deformations.
3. Able to extend the fundamental knowledge of mechanics learnt in Year 1 and
Year 2 of the course.
4. Understand how the basic concepts are applied to aircraft structures.
5. Appreciate method of solving practical aircraft stress/structural problems.

2
MA3700 Aircraft Structures I
Contents
Introduction to thin-walled structures
Open and closed section
Single cell and multi-cell section
Torsion of solids and thin-walled tubes – Shear Stresses
Bending of beams of arbitrary cross section – Bending and Shear
Stresses.
Stresses in the walls of thin-walled pressure vessels – Hoop and
Longitudinal Stresses.
Practical aircraft stress analysis – idealization, taper and multi-cell
Deflection and Buckling of Aircraft Structures

Textbook for this course:

Aircraft Structures for Engineering students, T. H. G. Megson

Other books that you may want to read:

Understanding Aircraft Structures, J. Cutler
Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures, E. F. Bruhn

3
MA3700 Aircraft Structures I
My Lectures
1 Reviews of Mechanics.
2 Torsion of Thin-Walled Structures.
3 Bending and Shearing Stresses in Beam Structures.
4 Thin-walled Fuselage Structures.
5 Practical Aircraft Stress Analysis.
6 Deflection and Buckling of Aircraft Structures.

Take home CA 20%.

LIFT

Sy
My
Mx
Mx
Sx
Sx
T
My 4
T Sy
1 Reviews of Mechanics
Safety considerations of aircraft structures.
External loads internal loads stresses and deformations.
Overview of stresses and deformation in aircraft.
Fundamentals of equilibrium.
Stress and strain.
Energy and work done. z
N My SQ
zs
A I xx I xx t

y
S
M
N

y
z M

5
 SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS
OF AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES

Stress Stiffness Stability Vibration

Analysis Analysis Analysis Analysis

• Normal/Bending stress • Buckling load and stress

• Torsional Shear stress • Modes of buckling
• Transverse Shear stress

• Bending deformation • Natural Frequencies

- bending and shear deflection • Modes of vibration
• Twisting deformation
- angle of twist and warping

6
 SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS OF STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS

Essential “Failure/Safety/Design For” checks required for an analysis or a design are:

Material Stress Limits – Design for Strength – yielding, fracture, joints failures.
• the working stresses or a combination of the working stresses are limited by the
allowable stresses of the material. Some common failure criteria are Max Normal Stress,
Tresca and von-Mises.

Deflections Limits – Design for Stiffness

• the deflections of the structure are limited by specified maximum deflections. This is
common in the design of the aircraft such that deflections are not significant enough
that they affect the aerodynamic performance of the lift surfaces.

Buckling Limits – Design for Stability

• A severe problem in thin-walled and in slender structure subjected to compression.
Global buckling can be catastrophic and local buckling can cause permanent
deformations.

Natural Frequencies and Modes – Design to avoid Resonance

• External vibration sources exciting the natural frequencies of a structure is to be
avoided. Determination of the natural modes of vibration is a very important initial step
in the design against resonance.
7
 External Forces Internal Forces Stresses, Strains
Structures subjected to external loads Known and unknown
external forces

Internal forces
>Normal force
>Bending moments SY
>Shear forces
>Twisting moment

SX
Stresses Strains
Material
>Normal stresses
properties
>Normal strains MX
>Shear stresses >Shear strains
N
MY T
Deformation
>Extension/Contraction Unknown internal forces
>Bending/Shear Deflection
at the cross-section
>Twisting/Warping

Stiffness
Failure
>Yielding/Fracture Strength
>Buckling Stability
>Vibration
Vibration 8
 Aircraft Structural Loads Internal Forces and Moments
distributed lift loads • Centroidal position
• Shear centre
• Twist centre
LIFT
fuselage ion
compress
wing
tension
centroidal
Sy Mx
My Sx

Mx T
My
Sx Sy

centroid
9
 Centroidal Position, Twist Centre and Shear Centre
y y
Sy T
My translations+rotation
x x
Mx
T
Sx

T rotation
Twist centre
y

y
y
Sx
x
Centroidal position x
> geometric centre of the section.
> position of cartesian axes. Sx Sy
> by default, internal forces/moments
Sy
act through this position. translations
translations+rotation Shear centre
10
 Stresses in Aircraft Structures
Normal and shear stresses are set up in aircraft structures as a result of
aerodynamic loads, structural weights and internal pressure.

Normal and shear stresses in fuselage due to bending. Shear stresses due to twisting.
Shear stresses due to twisting.

Normal and shear stresses in wing due to bending.

Normal stresses due to internal pressure.

TORQUE, MOMENTS, AXIAL and PRESSURE 11

Forces/Moments and Deformations

12
 In-Plane and Out-of-plane Deformations

Tensile / Compressive forces in-plane deformations (elongation and shortening)

Bending moments in-plane deformations (elongation and shortening)

out-of-plane deformations (deflections)

Torsion in-plane deformations (twisting)

out-of-plane deformations (warping)

w 13
 Introduction to thin-walled structures

1. A thin-walled section has a thickness much smaller than its other geometric dimensions.
2. A closed thin-walled section (sometimes referred to as a tube) is one which the locus of
point defining the centre of the walls is a closed curve. The area enclosed by a tube wall
is called a cell.
3. An open thin-walled section has no enclosed cells. Examples are channels, angles, I-
beams, and wide-flange sections.
4. Other thin-walled sections may consist of cells with protruding fins; a hybrid of open and
closed sections.

open section

multi-cell section
single cell,
closed section

hybrid section
14
 Sign Conventions
The following system will be adopted to define the axes.
x-axis: horizontal axis of the beam's cross section
y-axis: vertical axis of the beam's cross section
z-axis: along the longitudinal axis of the beam

Positive distributed forces and moments are indicated and they act at
y the centroid of the section.

Sy
y
O x My

x dA

Mx x
y
Sx y
x

z
Mz
Nz
15
 Internal Force/Moment to Stresses

Internal forces and moments give rise to normal and shear stresses.

Axial force = normal stress

Bending moments = normal stresses
y
y

zy
Sy
x
zx

o x My y
z
x
x dA

y
Mx
z
Sx
Shear force = shear stress

Mz z
Bending moments = shear stresses
Nz Twisting moments = shear stresses
16
 Stresses to Force and Moment Resultants

y x
y

z
Force Resultant Moment Resultant yz
Internal Forces Internal moments zx
xy

Nz z dA Mz zy x zx y dA x
z
zy

Sx zx dA Mx z y dA

Sy zy dA My z x dA take note of the subscripts

Positive Mx is anti-clockwise about the x-axis, whereas positive My is

clockwise about the y-axis. That is, a tensile force acts on the first
quadrant will produce positive Mx and My about the x and y axes,
respectively.

17
Uniform and Varying Stresses
dz Element Point
P

P dz dz

P
dz
z

P d
z dz dz

P
d d
z+dz
d dz
18
 Equations of equilibrium
In general, the directional stresses on opposite faces
# are not equal.
y
y
#
z yx Equilibrium of forces gives:
dy # #
xy
dx x yz
x yx zx
xz
0
dz x
#
zy
#
x
x y z
#
z # xz
xy zx y xy zy
# 0
# x
z y x z
x x dx yx
x y yz z yz xz
0
# zx # yx z y x
zx zx dz yx yx dy
z y
Equilibrium of moments yields:
Fx=0, xy yx

x dzdy zx dxdy yx dxdz

xz zx
# # #
x dzdy zx dxdy zx dxdz
yz zy

19
 Linear Strain-Displacement Relationships

Let u, v and w be the displacement in the x-, y- and z-direction.

Normal strains y z
z
u v w z

x y z
x y z
w w
2 2
z

Shear strains u v yz
xy
y x y w zy
y
u w
xz
z x
y
w v v
z
yz
y z z
z
20
 General Strain-Stress Relationships

The general strain-stress equations (generalized Hooke’s Law) takes into account
of the Poisson’s effect, using the principle of superposition :

1 xy
x x y z
E xy
G
1 xz
xz
y
E
y x z
G
1 yz
z z y x yz
E G

y x
x x y y x x
z z
x z

z
x y
z x

21
 General Stress-Strain Relationships

The transposition of the strain-stress equations to get the generalized stress-

strain equations :

E vE G
xy xy
x x x y z
1 v 1 v 1 2v
E vE
y y x y z xz G xz
1 v 1 v 1 2v
E vE
z z x y z yz G yz
1 v 1 v 1 2v

For the case of plane stress in which z=0 :

1
E x
E
x y
x x y
1 v2 1 xy G xy
E y
E
y x

y y x
1 v2 v
z x y
E
22
 Stress-Strain Relations and Deflections
Normal Stress Shear Stress
In-Plane Force Bending Pressure Vessel Bending Twisting
Px pr VQ Tr T
My H
A t It J 2 AO t
I
E pr G
E L
G
2t
y PL L r
1 K
L 2 GA TL
M X
E
X Y
PL GJ
EI x2 LX X
AE X

x
y
xy

Failure Criteria Principal stresses x

Max Shear stress
23
 Principal Stresses and Maximum Shear Stress 2

N R
z y 2
T max
2
zy

max

y
Y
zy

z y
R 2
p
T
x z
N Mx 2 y 1
2 p
y T
zy
2 Aot
pr N Mxy
z
z
zy Z
2t A I xx
zy
pr ave
2
y
t z y 1 2 R 2 z y 2
zy
ave 2
2 2
R 2 zy
1, 2 ave tan 2 p
z y 24
 Failure Theories of Traditional Materials

Maximum Normal-Stress Criterion

Limiting/ultimate stress
for brittle materials The factor of safety, n =
Allowable/Working/Design stress
UTS
principal
n

Maximum Shearing-Stress Criterion (Tresca)

for ductile materials

YIELD
1 3
n
YIELD
2 3
n
YIELD
1 2
n

Maximum Distortion-Energy Criterion (von-Mises)

for ductile materials
2
2 2 2 YIELD
1 2 1 3 2 3 2
n
25
 Computation of Sectional Properties (Solid section)
Second moment of area of a standard section, I xx y 2 dA
A

dA

b
d

d 2
I xx y 2 dA y 2bdy
d 2 A d 2
2 2
I xx y dA y bdy
A d 2
d 2 d
y2 2 cos dy
bd 3 d 2 2
12 2 d
2
d
sin d cos cos d
b2
2 2 2
2 2
I yy x dA x d dx d4 2
A b2
cos 2 sin 2 d
8 2
db 3
d4 d4
12 I xx and I yy
64 64

Polar second moment of area of a standard section, J I xx I yy or J r 2 dA 26

A
 Computation of Sectional Properties (Non-standard)

Parallel axes theorem for a non-standard section,

IN IC Ab 2

3
I xx IC Ab 2 i
i 1

2
bt 3f d t w d w3
I xx 2 bt f
12 2 12

N
Product of the second moment of area, I xy xy dA or I xy xy A i
A
i 1

A I xy 0
I xy 0
I xy 0

A
27
 Sectional Properties of thin section of thickness t
2
2
I xx y 2 dA 2 R sin tRd
t I xx y dA 0

2 R 3t sin 2 d
0
ds dA tds
dA tRd 1
d R 2 R 3t 1 cos 2 d
ds Rd
0 2
y
R 3t 1 cos 2 d
x 0
y
sin y R sin 1
R R 3t sin 2
2 0

3
I xx Rt

2
2
L/2 H
I 0 xx y dA I 0 xx y 2 dA s 2t ds
wall thickness, t ds L/2 L
s L/2
2
H/2 dA tds H s3
y t
o o
L 3 L/2
H/2 y s
2
d H /2 L/2 H L3
t
x x H L 12
y s
L
I xx I 0 xx Ad 2
28
 Implications of thin-walled approximation
Facilitates the computation of sectional properties.
Some stresses can be regarded as uniform through thickness.

A typical I-section
1
of thickness, t
b 0.95
t 0.9
d

Approximate/Accurate
N A 0.85
h 0.8
0.75
0.7
0.65
No approximation
0.6
bt 3 th 3 0.55
I NA 2 btd 2
12 12 0.5
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
th 3 t/b
With approximation I NA 2btd 2
12
th 2 h
b thin-walled structures
2 6

29
 Strain Energy and Work Done

In mechanics, Energy is the capacity to do work and Work is force times distance.

In solid deformable bodies, Force= A, and deformations are distances. The internal
work done is the product of these two quantities. This internal work is stored in an
elastic body as the elastic strain energy.

To illustrate the basic ideas of strain energy, the assumption of static load is used. No
dynamic or inertial effects due to motion. The load is applied slowly, so that it gradually
increases from zero to its maximum applied value.

External Work Done

L r

1
WE P
1 T 2
WE T
2
TORSION TENSION
30
 Elastic Normal Strain Energy

Consider an infinitesimal element subject to uniaxial stress,

X X

Normal strain, X=du/dx

dz
deformation, du= dy
X dx
du/2 dx du/2
average force=1/2 X dydz

The elemental work done or the elastic strain energy stored in the element is:

1
dU x dydz x dx
2
1
x x dxdydz
2
1 x2 1 2
dxdydz or E x dxdydz
2 E 2
31
 Elastic Shear Strain Energy

Consider an infinitesimal element subject to pure shear stress,

xy

deformation, du= dy
dy xy

y
average force = 1/2 xy dxdz dz
x dx

z
The elemental work done or the elastic strain energy
stored in the element is:
1 dy
dU xy dxdz dy
2
y
xy
1
xy dxdydz
2
1 2 1 2
xy dxdydz or G xy dxdydz x
2G 2
32
 3D stress
Strain Energy for Deformation Analysis
y

For an element under a general stress state, the strain energy is :

yz

1
dU x x y y z z xy xy xz xz yz yz dxdydz
2 xy

Considering the assumptions of plane stress, the strain energy is : z

x
1 zy
U x x y y xy xy dxdydz
2
Applying the generalised Hooke’s Law :
1 1 xy y
x x y y y x xy
E E G yx

2 2
1 2
x y 2 x y xy
U dxdydz
2 E E E G

From the conservation of energy : x

external work, WE internal work, U xy

2D stress 33
 Deformation of a Bar in Tension
E A
For a uniform bar in tension : P

x L

2 2
1 2
y 2 x y xy
The elastic strain energy in bar : U x
dxdydz
2 E E E G

P What is the state of stress in the bar ?

x L–x
x P The stress is uniform throughout the bar :
P
x
x x A

Thus the elastic strain energy in bar : 0 0 0

2 2
1 2
x y 2 x y xy 1 L
2
U dxdydz x
Adx
2 E E E G 2 0 E 34
 Deformation of a Bar in Tension
E A
For a uniform bar in tension : P

x L
P
2
The elastic strain energy in bar is : U
1 L
x P
Adx
2 0 E 1
WE P
2
P
And the stress in bar is uniaxial and uniform : x
A
2 2
A L A L P P2 L
The elastic strain energy in bar : U x
dx dx
2 0 E 2E 0 A 2 EA

1
The external work done on the bar, assuming linear elastic response : WE P
2
From the conservation of energy, external work, WE internal work, U

PL
EA 35
 Deformation of a Bar in Torsion
Radius, r
G T
T
For a uniform bar in torsion :
x L
0 0 0
2 2 2
1 2
y 2 x y xy 1 L xy
Strain energy in bar : U x
dxdydz dAdx
2 E E E G 2 0 A G

Tr
The shear stress in bar : xy
J
2
1 L xy 1 L T 2r 2 1 L T 2L
Strain energy in bar : U dAdx dAdx T dx 2

2 0 A G 2 0 A GJ 2 2GJ 0
2GJ
1
The work done on the bar, assuming linear elastic response : WE T
2
From the conservation of energy, external work, WE internal work, U

TL
the relative angle of twist
GJ 36