AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES ANALYSIS OF

AIRCRAFT
– II STRUCTURES

(AER18R372)
© Kalasalingam academy of research and education
 Syllabus
BUCKLING OF PLATES
Behavior of a rectangular plate under
Unit 4
compression, governing equation for plate BUCKLING OF PLATES
buckling, buckling analysis of sheets and
stiffened panel under compression, concept
of the effective sheet width, buckling due to Outcomes
shear and combined loading, crippling. On completion of this unit, Students can able to
estimate the buckling strength and load carrying
capacity of aircraft skin.
.

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

 Course Progress

Lesson 1. Plate Buckling

Lesson 2. Governing equations and Post Buckling

behavior of thin plate

Lesson 3. Effective width concept

Lesson 4. Buckling analysis of thin plate

Lesson 5. Tension field beams (Wagner’s beam)

Lesson 6. Wagner’s theorem - Experiment

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

 Lesson 1: Plate Buckling
Topic 2: Thin Plate – Internal force and Moment curvature relationship

Thin Plate – Internal Force system

The figure shows a rectangular plate, simply supported on

all edges

(i.e.) knife-edge supports resisting up and down movement

but allowing rotation perpendicular to the edge.

Loading may consist of point loads, W, line loads and

distributed loads, q(x,y), all acting perpendicular to the plate
surface.
© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)
 INTERNAL ACTIONS UNDER TRANSVERSE
LOADING
Considering the deflection of the two shaded (beam-like) strips

The element defined by their intersection will bend to different radii of curvature in the xz
and yz planes, and the four corners of the element will have different deflections.

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

 INTERNAL ACTIONS UNDER TRANSVERSE
LOADING
The resulting internal actions will consist of:

 Bending moments Mx and My

Similar to bending moments in a beam. They are measured as moments per unit length of
plate, kN-m/m.

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

 INTERNAL ACTIONS UNDER TRANSVERSE
LOADING
The resulting internal actions will consist of:

 Twisting moments Mxy and Myx

 These result from the fact that adjacent imaginary
strips deflect and therefore rotate by different
amounts
 Hence tending to cause relative rotation between the
side faces of the strips with the twisting moments
resisting this tendency. Also measured in kN-m/m.

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

 INTERNAL ACTIONS UNDER TRANSVERSE
LOADING

 Through-thickness shear force, Sx and Sy.

Similar to shear force in a beam, but generally small in magnitude.

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

 MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP:
SIMILARITY TO BEAMS

The moment curvature relationship for a beam is

Plate moments are related to plate curvatures in a similar way:

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

 MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP:
SIMILARITY TO BEAMS

Where, D - is the plate rigidity, a measure of the

flexural stiffness of the plate.

D is analagous to EI, the flexural stiffness of a

beam, and their similarity can be seen by
considering a plate strip of unit width.

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

 MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP:
SIMILARITY TO BEAMS

However, plate rigidity is NOT quite the same as a beam, as they differ by

[1/(1- 2)]

Since 0 <  < 0.5 for all materials, a plate will be stiffer than a simple
deduction based on beam theory would suggest. The difference results from the
effect of Poisson’s ratio and the two-dimensional nature of plates.

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

 MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP:
SIMILARITY TO BEAMS

Consider a beam of rectangular cross section subjected to

a sagging bending moment.

Over the upper half of the beam the longitudinal

compressive strain z will be accompanied by a transverse
strain -z causing expansion.

The reverse happens in the lower half, which contracts.

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

 MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP:
SIMILARITY TO BEAMS

At any point y in the cross section

Thus the section is bent in the transverse

direction into a circular arc with radius
R/.
© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)
 MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP:
SIMILARITY TO BEAMS

R/ is referred to as the anticlastic curvature.

Anticlastic simply means a surface curved in two

directions. Because the beam is relatively thin in the
x - direction it can easily deform into this transverse
curvature and no additional stresses result.

The phenomenon is readily demonstrated with a

rubber eraser.

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

 MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONSHIP:
SIMILARITY TO BEAMS
If a plate slice is subject to bending it will have the
same tendency as a beam to expand and contract
sideways, but will be constrained from doing so by the
adjacent plate material. Additional stresses result which
contribute to the moment resistance of the plate.

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

 Topic 2: Thin Plate – Internal
force and Moment curvature
relationship

Anticlastic simply means a

surface curved in two
directions. Because the beam is
relatively thin in the x -
direction it can easily deform
into this transverse curvature
and no additional stresses
result.
Plate Buckling

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

 References & External Resources

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
Rivello, R.M., Theory and Analysis of Flight Structures, McGraw Hill, 1993.
Bruhn. E.H., ‘Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicles Structures’, Tri-state off-set
company, USA, 1985

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

 Problems on Tesnion field Experiment on Wagner’s
beams (Wagner beam) Theorem ( Thin plate
buckling)
Tension field beams (Wagner
beam)

Problems on Buckling of
Buckling analysis of thin plate
stiffened plate
Effective area of thin plate element
Effective width concept – plate failure load

Post Buckling behavior of

thin plate
Governing equations
for laterally loaded
Introduction to Thin plate – Internal force
plate
plate and plate and moment curvature
buckling relationship
Buckling of a simply
supported plate under
compressive edge loading
Plate Buckling Buckling Analysis of thin plate
Tension field beams (Wagner beam)
Governing equstions and post
buckling behavior of thin plate
Tension Field Beams
Effective width conceptt

© Kalasalingam academy of research and education COURSE NAME

 Thank You!

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