Abstract:
THE kinetic heating associated with supersonic flight produces temperature
gradients within the aircraft structure. These in their turn
are responsible for so-called 'thermal stresses' in the components.
The calculation of these effects falls into two stages. The first stage consists
in the application of the theory of heat transfer to obtain the history
of the temperature distribution in the structure. The second stage uses this
data to obtain distributions of stress within the structure, resulting from
these imposed temperature gradients and proceeds to assess their influence
on strength and stiffness. The present paper is concerned entirely with this
second stage of the problem and derives basic formulae for the analysis
of beam-like structures and components. The results can be applied to
wings, fuselages, etc., on the one hand, and to linear reinforcing members
like stringers and longerons on the other, in the same way as the usual
theories of bending and torsion are applied in the isothermal case.
The formulae obtained in this paper represent a generalization of the
so-called engineering theory of bending and of the Wagner-Kappus torsion
theory to include the effects of non-uniform temperature distribution.
Kinematically, allowance is made for overall longitudinal extension, for
curvature in two principal planes, for twist and for cross-sectional warping
of the kind occurring in Saint Venant's torsion theory. Relationships
between end load, bending moments and torques on the one hand and
the kinematic parameters on the other are obtained, in a manner modelled
on that of Ref. (1), by means of a 'Principle of Stationary Free Energy'
established by the present writer in Ref. (2). These results, when combined
with the well-known equilibrium equations for bending and torsion, constitute
a complete theory of the problem under consideration. Applications
to problems of stress analysis are indicated.
