ASEN 3112 - Structures

9
Torsion Of Closed Thin Wall (CTW) Sections

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 1

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Recall the Classification of Thin Wall (TW) Cross Sections Under Torque
Closed Thin Wall (CTW) Sections at least one cell shear flow circuit can be established Single Cell: just one cell Multicell: more than one cell Open Thin Wall (OTW) Sections no cell shear flow circuit can be established

Hybrid Thin Wall (HTW) Sections contains both OTW and CTW components

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 2

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Sample CTW Cross Sections

tube

box

aircraft fuselage

space shuttle fuselage

car frame (unibody construction)

wing torque box

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 3

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Single-Cell CTW Section

(a) ds

t = t(s)
s

(b)

(c)

z
q ds

Shear flow

q= T 2AE

Enclosed area

AE

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 4

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Shear Stress Formula

Equilibrium of internal torque T with the assumed shear stress distribution (constant across wall thickness, directed along tangent to midline) gives
T = dT = q. h ds = q h ds = q 2 dA E = q. 2A E = 2 q A E

in which A is the enclosed area defined by the wall midline (which E should be confused with the cross section area or material area) Solving for q gives the shear flow and wall stress formula
q= T 2A E = T q = t 2t A E

Since q is constant along the contour, plainly the maximum shear stress occurs where the wall thickness t is minimum:
max = q tmin = T 2tmin A E

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 5

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Twist Angle Formula

It can be shown that the twist-angle rate is given by
q ' = d = dx 2G A E T ds = t 4G A2 E 4A2 T ds E in which J = = ds t GJ t

Here G is the shear modulus. Derivation of this formula requires the use of energy methods in mechanics, which is a graduate-level topic. If the wall thickness t is constant along the cell contour, the foregoing formula simplifies to
' = qp T d = = dx 2A E t GJ in which J= 4A2 t E p

where p =

ds is the midline perimeter length, or simply the perimeter.

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 6

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Multicell CTW Sections Are Not Treated in This Course

(a) y t

(b) A
q1 q2 1 q2

(c)
q1

A
q1 _ q2 q2 _ q3 q2

z
T C

q3

B D

C
q3

B D

Cell flows

Wall flows

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 7

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Worked Out Example Cross Sections

(a) (b) (c)

T
t t d d/2

T
Same d and t as in (a)

d d/2 t

t t

thin cut

t d

CTW section: rectangular tube

OTW section: slitted rectangular tube

Hybrid section: CTW + OTW (2)

All d's are midline dimensions

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 8

ASEN 3112 - Structures

Torqued Hybrid TW (HTW) "A" Section For Recitation

A

(a)
60

(b)
b1 t1
60

b1 t1

decomposition C B B b3 2
OTW

1
CTW

B60 t1 /2 b1 b2 t2 D

C C

OTW

t3 E D
b1 = 200 mm, b2 = b3 = 400 mm, t1 = t2 = t3 = 6 mm L = 2514 mm

G = 80 GPa (steel),

T = 604 103 mm-N,

ASEN 3112 Lecture 9 Slide 9