AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES ANALYSIS OF

AIRCRAFT
– II STRUCTURES

(AER18R372)
© Kalasalingam academy of research and education
 Syllabus
SHEAR FLOW IN OPEN SECTIONS
Unit 2
Definition and expression for shear flow due
SHEAR FLOW IN OPEN
to bending, shear flow in thin-walled Open SECTIONS
sections with and without stiffening
elements, torsion of thin-walled Open
sections, the shear center of symmetric and Outcomes
unsymmetrical open sections, structural On completion of this unit, Students can able to
idealization analyze the thin walled open section beams supporting
shear loads, bending loads and torsional loads.

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Course Progress

Lesson 1. shear flow due to bending

Lesson 2. shear flow in thin-walled Open sections -

without stiffening elements
Lesson 3. shear flow in thin-walled Open sections - with
stiffening elements

Lesson 4. Torsion of thin-walled Open sections

Lesson 5. shear center of symmetric and unsymmetrical

open sections

Lesson 6. Structural idealization

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Lesson 3: Shear flow in thin-walled Open sections - with stiffening elements
Topic 5: Expression for shear flow in thin-walled Open sections - with stiffening elements

Function of Aircraft Structures

Stiffener or Stringers
Resist bending and axial loads along with the
skin
Divide the skin into small panels and thereby
increase its buckling and failing stresses
Act with the skin in resisting axial loads
caused by pressurization.

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Beams with Constant Shear Flow Webs – Assumptions:

Calculations of centroid, symmetry, moments of area and moments of inertia are based
totally on the areas and distribution of beam stiffeners.

A web does not change the shear flow between two adjacent stiffeners and as such
would be in the state of constant shear flow.

The stiffeners carry the entire bending-induced normal stresses, while the web(s) carry
the entire shear flow and corresponding shear stresses.

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Analysis:

Let's begin with a simplest thin-walled stiffened beam as

shown in figure here.

This means a beam with two stiffeners and a web. Such a

beam can only support a transverse force that is parallel to
a straight line drawn through the centroid of two stiffeners.

In these three beams, the value of shear flow would be

equal although the webs have different shapes.

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Analysis:

The reason the shear flows are equal is that the

distance between two adjacent stiffeners is
shown to be 'd' in all cases, and the applied force
is shown to be equal to 'R' in all cases. The shear
flow along the web can be determined by the
following relationship.

R = q*d

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Important Features of Two-Stiffener, Single-Web
Beams:

Shear flow between two adjacent stiffeners is constant.

The magnitude of the resultant shear force is only a function of the straight line
between the two adjacent stiffeners, and is absolutely independent of the web
shape.

The direction of the resultant shear force is parallel to the straight line connecting
the adjacent stiffeners.
© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)
 Important Features of Two-Stiffener, Single-Web
Beams:

The location of the resultant shear force is a function of the enclosed area
(between the web, the stringers at each end and the arbitrary point 'O'), and the
straight distance between the adjacent stiffeners. This is the only quantity that
depends on the shape of the web connecting the stiffeners.

The line of action of the resultant force passes through the shear center of the
section.

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Representation of skins and stringer and associated
loads and shear flows at the joint :

The stringer only carries axial load

 The skin carries only shear flow
�The shear flow at the “end” of the
skin (where it is “cut”) must be the same
as at the edge (the cross-section cut).
This is due to equilibrium (σxy = σyx)
Source: Paul A. Lagace, Ph.D. Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics and
Engineering Systems, MIT, 2001 (https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-
astronautics/16-20-structural-mechanics-fall-2002/lecture-notes/unit15.pdf)

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Representation of shear flowing (left) into and (right)
out of joint :

If shear flows “into”

joint, its contributions is
in the negative x-
direction
If shear flows “out of”
joint, its contribution is in Source: Paul A. Lagace, Ph.D. Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics and
Engineering Systems, MIT, 2001 (https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-
the positive x-direction astronautics/16-20-structural-mechanics-fall-2002/lecture-notes/unit15.pdf)

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Expression of shear flow with the stiffeners:

Stiffener load, P= Aσxx

Considering the stiffeners with a uniform cross section,

Joint equilibrium, qout – qin = -A(dσxx/dx)

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Expression of shear flow with the stiffeners:

Consider a simple symmetric section, where,

Ixy = 0 and Moment Mz=0

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Expression of shear flow with the stiffeners:

We know that,

Shear resultant

Moment of area about ‘y’

 Substitute the above expressions into the joint equilibrium equation,

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Topic 5: Expression for shear
flow in thin-walled Open
sections - with stiffening
elements
The stringer (Stiffeners) only
carries axial load .
 The skin carries only shear
flow.
�The shear flow at the
“end” of the skin (where it is
“cut”) must be the same as at
the edge (the cross-section cut). Third Lesson Summary
This is due to equilibrium (σxy =
σyx). shear flow in thin-walled Open sections - with
stiffening elements

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 References

Click to edit Master text styles ◦ Fourth level

T. H. G. level
◦ Second Megson, Aircraft Structures for Engineering
◦ Fifth level Students (Aerospace
◦ Third level
Engineering) 6th Edition, Kindle Edition
Paul A. Lagace, Ph.D. Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Engineering
Systems, MIT, 2001 (https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-20-
structural-mechanics-fall-2002/lecture-notes/unit15.pdf)

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Problems on

Roadmap Problems on shear center of

symmetric open sections
unsymmetrical open
Definition and
Problems on shear center of expression for
Structural
Structural idealization
of thin walled open
section
sections idealization
Problems on torsion of thin-
walled Open sections
Expression for torsion of
thin-walled Open sections
Problems on Expression for shear
flow in thin-walled Open sections
- with stiffening elements Expression for
shear flow in thin- Problems on Expression for
walled Open shear flow in thin-walled
sections - with Open sections - without
stiffening elements
stiffening elements
Definition and Expression for shear flow in thin-
expression for Problems on walled Open sections - without
shear flow due to shear flow due stiffening elements Lesson 1
bending to bending
Lesson 2

Lesson 3
Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson
6

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)

 Thank You!

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)