Modifications of a simple I-beam and its effects on the stress state

Abstract

The motivation for this work is a desire for a deeper understanding of the structural failures in a composite glider wing, which has been tested in the laboratories of the Institute of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology. To understand the causes of the encountered failures, one has to consider the effects of all the stages in the design, manufacturing and testing of the wing. This paper focuses only on the design stage. The presented facts were obtained from a finite element analysis. The geometry used for the analysis is that of the tested specimens. This allows validating the results by the comparison of the deformation and strains measured during the laboratory tests. The analysis starts with a simple I-beam loaded by three-point-bending. In the next step a cantilever is added. Several more modifications follow, changing the I-beam to the wing. The case evaluation considers the interaction between normal (material direction 1) and inter-laminar shear stresses in the upper flange. The goal of this paper is to quantify the effect of each design change in the wing structure and loading on the stress plane σ1-τ31.