15 LED Dye Oe ee ‘TECHNICAL NOTES CC NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTIOS, ai . No. 139, INFLUENCE OF RIBS ON STRENGTH OF SPARS. By L, Ballenstedt. From Technische Berichte, Volume III, No.4, May, 1923,NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS, TECHNICAL NOTE NO, 139, INFLUENCE OF RIBS ON STRENGTH OF SPARS.* By L, Ballenstedt. In calculating the strength of airplane wing spars, the as— sumption is usual that the ribs are connected to the spars by flexible joints, This assumption is not accurate, as the ribs are attached very firmly to the spars by means of brackets, nails and glue, This method of attachment is so rigid, with reasonably good workmanship, that it is justifiable to assume that the ribs are rigidly attached to the spars, The aim of the following investigation is to determine what effect this type of joint has on the strength of the spars. The investigation was suggested by the striking fact that the practi- cal loading tests generally gave greater strength and smaller de- flection than strength calculations based on the assumption of tibs attached by flexible joints. The difference was particularly noticeable, with heavily offset loading and arises from the fact that the more heavily loaded spar transmits a portion of its load through the ribs to the ‘more lightly loaded spar. Fig. 1 shows the framework of the wing in perspective. It consists of two spars with nine ribs, and rests on points A - B- © -D, A statically determinate system is produced, when all the ribs are out through with the exception of the rib A-C (hatched in Fig. 1). Two simple spars A-B and C-D are thus obtained, * Prom Technische Berichte, Volume III, Wo. 4, pp. 100-107, (1918).-2- The Rib A —G 4s required in order to prevent the spars from turn- ing about their longitudiml axis. For synmetry, the central rib might be considered as part of the statically determinate system and the rib A-C oould then be cut, but this is not of advantage in the computation, since it makes the determination of the dis- placement 625, Sab .... ete. more complicated, At the points of section of the ribs, three unknowns generally appear: longitudinal force, shearing force and bending moment, and the system is, there— fore, 3% 8 = 24-fold statically indeterminate, In order not to complicate the investigation unnecessarily, the following assumptions may be made, viz: 1, The external forces act at right angles to the plane through the longitudinal axis of the spars, The longitudinal forces in the (straight) ribs will then be zero. 2, The moments of inertia and the areas of the two spar seo- tions are equal and the external forces act only on the spars, not on the ribs. The bending moments in the central portions of the ribs thus become zero, The strict proof of this is put in the Appendix in order not to interrupt the course of the analysis. Besides, the arrangement shows at once that the elastic lines of the ribs mist have a point of flexion at the center i, Fig. 11, since the angle of torsion A®, of corresponding cross-sections of the two spars must be equal with equal cross-section and without load on the ribs. The wing frame is now only eight-fold statically indeterminate.-~3- Let the shearing fozces acting at the center of the ribs be desig- nated by Xa, Xp, Xo, ete: With rigid suprorts, these tust satis- fy the elastic conditions LL Xa Sen +X fp + Xo fac + -++-XSn Sah = EPm Sma a Xa bap + %> Sep + Xo Spe + -e-Xh Sp = EPm Om 3. Xg bac + Xb Sbo + Ko Soo + ----Bh Soh = EPm One 8 Xe 6ah+ Xb Sth+ Xo Soh +....%h Ohh = EPm Son Caloulation of coefficients of the unknowns. With loads Xa =-1, Xp=-1, Xo =-1, eto., eto. Tibs are eubjected to bending, and the spare to bending and tor- sional stresses (Fig, 2). In general, let ~ My denote the bending moment resulting when Xp = -1 igen . * « ® s Xgeel hm " " torsional " . " Xpa-l a " ® ® " OG bios for any section of the ving framework, * Muller-Breslau: "Die neueren Methoden der Festigkeitslehre und der Statik der Baukonstruktionen" (Recent methods of the theory of the statical strength of framed structures), T.B.1913, p, 209.Further, let - I denote the equatorial moment of inertia of the epers, ro " " « s o# "ribs, Ip 7 " polar moment of inertia of the spars, E « *" modulus of elasticity, Gu ' « " shearing, vand we get ~ Sag “BB deaf ae axa f a az,* where the fizst two integrals are taken over both spars and the last one over all the ribs. The section of the spar has, for the sake of simplicity, been assumed to be oiroular or amular, If this is not the case, it becomes necessary to introduce the ex- pression — L, ee § SFB oF, according to Saint Venant, x ty in place of Ip,.* On the assumption, which corresponds with actual conditions, that 2 1 = ets we obtain - EI bpq=J Mp Mg dx + Sf Tp Tq ax 4 6S Up Ug az. The evaluation of Ex I x 6 .follows at once from Figs, 3 to * Ibid p, 211 and 255. ** "Hutte" 22nd edition, Vol. I, pp, 570-1.-~5- 7, in conjunction with Table 1. The calculation of EX I* 6yq Will be exhibited here for easy comprehension, The vending and torsional moments produced in the spars under the conditions, Xp =-1, Xg=-1, are indicated in Figs. 4 and 6, Fig. 7 shows the bending moment in ‘the rib b or 4d, and in the end rib A -G, The distance between the ribs is taken as 6, and the dis*. tance between the spars at the same time as 2s. By reason of the load Xp, =-1, pressures arise in the spars of the magnitudes 8 ana +2 and the vending moments on the epars, for the parts from A and © as far as to the rib b, are, therefore: & My =tbx Pee or from rib/to rib da: =#(8 8.439 =2(iBg_2¢) Mp Cg as4(8-a) 8) Ce gt from rib-d to rib h: =i2 Mm =22 In the same manner, from Xq = -1 (Fig, 6) for the parte from A and C upto rib b, there arises the momen’ #4 Mas#4 From rib b to rib d: Mg = + 2 (a8 4 £) From rib @ to ribThus we obtain: eafSx $x ars f (BoB) loess ate The torsional moments of the spars arising from Xp = -1 ar For the parts from A and G to rib b: To=ts From rib b to rib bh: % and from Xa = -1 O (See Fig, 4). for parts from A and @ to rib di Tg=t6 From rib ad to rib bh ° Tq Hence - 6 ee a 5 ax = 48 93, one and finally from Xp) =~-1, there arises in the rib b and in the end rib AC the bending moment = +2 (compare Fig. 7). For the remaining ribs we find Mp = In the same manner, we obtain with Xg=-1 in the rib 4 and in the end rib AC: Mg= +z and in the remaining ribs, Mg = 0.We therefore, get - 8 6 yf Mp Mg de= 2 6 L222 dz = 46° The integral extends here only over the end rib because Mp X Mg = 0 for all the other ribs, Thus, we cbtain - E 1g = 228 0° + 18 ot 4 to? = 288 99 The other coefficients of the unknoms given in Table 1 have been determined in a similar manner, Determination of EPm * mq, In the case where the same load P acts at each node of a spar, we have in general: EPy 6mq=P 26 Since the loads ‘ma: P act at the same points of the spars as the shearing forces Xa, Xp, Xo, eto,, and as they only produce bending moments in the one spar, the values mq may be taken direct from Table 1, colum 2, EI Py Sma = Beye (49 + 81+ 954+ 94+ 81+ 584 esos + 31) s' ia? ® > E LT EP_ 8np (81 + 144 4 175 4 176 + 153 + rer + 113 + 59) 5° = 489 p 93, E I EP_ dmo = so (95 4 175 + 225 + 234 + 207 + 585 + 153 + 61) 5° ==35 Po,=6- ET 2P_ Sma = geyg (4+ 176 + 234 + 256 + 284+ 2 = 832 p gs +176 + 94) 6' ia P 88 E I EPy ye =E I EPy fy = S88 P 5°, EI EPp Ogg =E 1 EPy Opp = 299 P s® ET BPy Omg=E I 2Py one = S48 P 6, EI lq Sgn = 0 3.__Caloulation of the unknowns. We obtaint 1, 177Kg + 161Xp + 17EKo + 174Kg + 161Ke + 150Ky + + 111%g + 80%, = 245P, B, 16lka + SO4Kp + 287K + BBG + BEKe + 224Ke + + 171Xg + 118%) = 450P, 3 178Ka + B87Kp + 417Xo + S7EKg + B51Ke + BOK + + 225g + 144%, = 585P, 4, 174Xq + B8EXp + S7EXo.+ 480Kq + 410Ke + S5AKe + + 870Xg + 176Xn = 632P, 5, 161%, + 265K, + 351K, + 410Kg + 461K_ + 38M y + * + 303Kg + 208%, = S85P, ete,-93 8 BOKa, + 118K + 144Ko 4 17K + 20EKe + 240K e + + 22Kg + 358Kp = 0, Since, from eymetry, Xg=Xg, Xp = Xp, Xq = Xo, the first five equations are sufficient to determine the unimown, Equation 8 serves as a check, l. 288%, 3B, 352kq 3. 400Ka, 4, 446%e 5. 464Kq nr Since the + + + BOOKp + 336Xo + 528%p + S52XQ + 5B4Kkp + 768Kq + G40Ep + 788%— + 648Ep + B3AKQ + BX + Bie + Waka + BOX, 288Kg + 112%, 378Xq + 14a%p 480Kg + 176%y 410Xq + 208%, akg + yy shearing force in the uncut rib = 245P, = 450P, = 585P. W esaP, 4 58sP, o. ie equal to Xp, owing to the symmetry, it would have been possible to obtain equation 8 from the equations for moments in the longitudinal axis of @ spar. We have from the equations 1 to 5: These values put in - + + 1 0.544 P, 0,497 P, 0.315 P, o.1l7 P, 0.987 P, equation 8 give: