Loss of Stiffness in a Heated Wing: An Inequality

Abstract

The loss of torsional or flexural stiffness due to thermal stresses in a thin solid wing is now well known and has been considered by a number of authors, e.g. Dryden and Duberg, Vosteen and Fuller, Bisplinghoff, Hoff, Budiansky and Mayers, Argyris, and the present author. Exact analyses are available only for the “one-dimensional” case of a wing of infinite aspect ratio with arbitrary chordwise distribution of wing thickness and temperature. The loss of stiffness in a similar wing of finite aspect ratio is not as great and, in particular, the proportional reduction in flexural stiffness in a low aspect ratio wing will tend to be less than the proportional reduction in torsional stiffness.