On Wed, Jun 3, 1998, brian whatcott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Take a sheet of paper and roll it into a tight tube.
>Support the two ends and pull down in the middle.
> It could fail by tearing at the middle of the lower surface, but it
>DOES fail by buckling at the middle of the upper surface.
> You need to beef up that upper surface. Adding stiffness is one route.
>Weak material of a given kind ( steel or aluminum or glass) tends to be
>as stiff as strong material of the same kind.
> So airplane designers puzzle us innocent bystanders sometimes, by
>beefing up a wing with weak material to add stiffness rather than
>strength....
>
>Brian Whatcott Altus OK
>
Ah sooo...very interesting. So the compressive loads on top of the wing
require an increase in stiffness which is achieved by adding more
material to the top surface. The loads on the bottom of the wing are in
tension and the carbon fiber is very strong in this direction so less
material is needed. I think I got it!
Thanks
Carlos R
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