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 2: Governing equations and Post Buckling behavior of thin plate
Topic 3: Governing equations for laterally loaded plate

BEAM
For comparison we first consider a beam under transverse load q(z)

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

 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR LATERALLY LOADED
PLATE
BEAM

The governing equation for a beam under transverse loading.

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

 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR LATERALLY LOADED
PLATE
PLATE
With suitable assumptions, a similar governing equation can be deduced for the
bending of a plate under transverse load.
One of the simpler derivations follows from the Kirchhoff assumptions:

1. Deflections are small (less than the plate thickness)

2. The middle plane of the plate does not stretch during bending and remains a neutral
surface (similar to the neutral axis of a beam).
3. Normal to the middle plane remain straight, normal and in extensional (so that
transverse normal and shearing strains may be neglected). The equivalent of the
‘plane sections remain plane’ assumption in beam bending.
4. Transverse normal stresses are small compared with other normal stresses and may be
neglected.
© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)
 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR LATERALLY LOADED
PLATE
PLATE

In addition to the following equation, the twisting moments are related to plate deformation
by

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

 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR LATERALLY LOADED
PLATE
PLATE
For equilibrium can show that

Differentiating and combining the above equations

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

 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR LATERALLY LOADED
PLATE
PLATE

And for loading q(x,y),

Bi-harmonic equation

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

 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR LATERALLY LOADED
PLATE
Bi-harmonic equation - the governing equation for elastic plate bending analysis.
It is the plate equivalent of the beam equation.

The first and third terms represent bending of longitudinal and transverse strips, whilst the
middle term accounts for twisting action.
It can also be written using the bi-harmonic operator,

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

 GOVERNING EQUATION FOR LATERALLY LOADED
PLATE
The notation is built on repeated application of the Laplacian operator 2

Unfortunately the plate equation is much more difficult to solve than the corresponding beam
equation.

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

 IN-PLANE LOADING AND BUCKLING

INTERNAL ACTIONS

If forces are applied at the edges of a plate, possibly

in addition to lateral loading, the possibility of
buckling arises, with substantial changes in behavior.
The figure shows normal and shearing forces
applied to the plate edges. Their effect will be to cause
in-plane deformations and corresponding actions
(unless buckling occurs).

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

 IN-PLANE LOADING AND BUCKLING

INTERNAL ACTIONS
The internal actions shown are sometimes referred to as
membrane actions and consist of

 In-plane normal forces, Nx and Ny

Similar to axial force in a column. Expressed as force
per unit length of plate, kN/m.

 In-plane shearing forces, Nxy and Nyx

Also expressed as force/unit length, kN/m.
© Kalasalingam academy of research and education AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES – II (AER18R372)
 Topic 3: Governing equation for
laterally loaded plate

If forces are applied at the edges

of a plate, possibly in addition to
lateral loading, the possibility of
buckling arises, with substantial
changes in behavior.

In-plane loads cause stretching

and or contraction of mid surface.
Second Lesson Summary
Euler theory to find the critical
load – equations are followed. Governing equation and post buckling behavior of
thin plate

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