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• Aircraft is basically an assembly of stiffened shell structures
– Single cell closed section fuselage
– Multi cellular wings and tail surfaces
each subjected to bending, shear, torsional and axial loads.
• Other, smaller portions of the structure consist of thin-walled
channel like T, Z, top-hat or I-sections
• These channels are used to stiffen the thin skins of the cellular
components (i.e they provide support for internal loads from
floors, engine mountings, etc).
• Thin walled channels are known as open section beams
• The cellular components are termed closed section beams .
• Open section beams are often used to lower the weight of
aircraft
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Bending of Thin-Walled Beams
Sign conventions and notation
• Forces, moments and displacements are referred to an arbitrary
system of axes O xyz,of which Oz is parallel to the longitudinal axis of
the beam and Oxy are axes in the plane of the cross-section
• Symbols M, S, P, T and w to bending moment, shear force, axial or
direct load, torque and distributed load intensity, respectively, with
suffixes where appropriate to indicate sense or direction.
• Thus, Mx is a bending moment about the x axis, Sx is a shear force
in the x direction and so on.
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Signs of the bending moments Mx and My is that they are positive when they induce
tension in the positive xy quadrant of the beam cross-section.
Internal force system
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Resolution of bending moments
• A bending moment M applied in any longitudinal plane parallel to the z axis may
be resolved into components Mx and My by the normal rules of vectors.
Mx = M sin q
My = M cos q
for q <π/2 q > π/2
Mx and My positive q Mx positive and My negative
Terminology
• Sagging or Hogging shape of the beams caused by applied
loads
• The neutral plane
• Bending stiffness (orientation of the beam cross section)
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Compressed fibers
Concave Shape unchanged in length
Convex shape
fibers are stretched
• The direct stress therefore varies through the depth of the beam from compression in
the upper fibers to tension in the lower.
• Clearly the direct stress is zero for the fibers that do not change in length; we have called
the plane containing these fibers the neutral plane.
• The line of intersection of the neutral plane and any cross-section of the beam is termed
the neutral axis
Symmetrical Sections
• Symmetrical bending arises in beams which have either singly
or doubly symmetrical cross-sections
! #
= =
" $
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Unsymmetrical Sections
• Unsymmetrical bending arises in beams which have either
unsymmetrical cross-sections or inclined loading or both
Anticlastic bending
In the rectangular beam section shown in Fig. (a) the
direct stress distribution due to a Negative bending
moment applied in a vertical plane varies from
compression in the upper half of the beam to tension
in the lower half (Fig. (b)).
• However, due to the Poisson effect the compressive stress produces a lateral elongation
of the upper fibers of the beam section while the tensile stress produces a lateral
contraction of the lower. The section does not therefore remain rectangular but distorts
as shown in Fig. (c); the effect is known as anticlastic bending.
• Anticlastic bending is of interest in the analysis of thin-walled box beams in which the
cross-sections are maintained by stiffening ribs. The prevention of anticlastic distortion
induces local variations in stress distributions in the webs and covers of the box beam
and also in the stiffening ribs.
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Direct stress distribution due to
(un-symmetric) bending
• Consider a beam having the arbitrary cross-section shown in Fig. (a).
• The beam supports bending moments Mx and
My and bends about some axis in its cross-
section which is therefore an axis of zero stress
or a neutral axis (NA)
• Let us suppose that the origin of axes coincides
with the centroid C of the cross-section and that
the neutral axis is a distance p from C.
• The direct stress σ% on an element of area δA at
a point (x, y) and a distance ξ from the neutral
axis is σz = Eεz
• If the beam is bent to a radius of curvature ρ about the neutral
axis at this particular section then, since plane sections are
assumed to remain plane after bending, and by a comparison
with symmetrical bending theory
• Substituting for εz ,
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• The beam supports pure bending moments so that the resultant normal load on any section
must be zero
• Therefore, replacing σz in this equation from and cancelling the constant E/ρ gives
• i.e. the first moment of area of the cross-section
of the beam about the neutral axis is zero.
• It follows that the neutral axis passes through
the centroid of the cross-section as shown in Fig. i.e p = 0
• Below which is the result we obtained for the
case of symmetrical bending.
• Suppose that the inclination of the neutral axis to Cx is α (measured clockwise from Cx),
then
• The moment resultants of the internal direct stress distribution have the same sense as
the applied moments Mx and My. Therefore
• Substituting for σz and defining the second moments of area of the section about the
axes Cx, Cy as
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In the matrix form
Re arranged as
Alternatively as A
Position of the neutral axis
• The neutral axis always passes through the centroid of area of a beam’s cross-
section but its inclination α to the x axis depends on the form of the applied loading
and the geometrical properties of the beam’s cross-section
• At all points on the neutral axis the direct stress is zero
where xNA and yNA are the coordinates of any point on the neutral axis.
or B
when α is positive xNA and yNA are of opposite sign
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Calculation of section properties
Parallel axes theorem
• Consider the beam section
shown in and suppose that the
second moment of area, ! , " = ! + #$ %
about an axis through its
centroid C is known.
• The second moment of area,
" , about a parallel axis, NN, a
distance b from the centroidal
axis is then given by
Calculation of section properties
• The second moments of area, Theorem of perpendicular axes
!! and "" , of the section
about #! and #" are known. $ = !! + ""
• The second moment of area
about an axis through O
perpendicular to the plane of
the section (i.e. a polar second
moment of area) is then
