Aerospace Structural Analysis

ABOUT THE COURSE: The objective of the course is to learn the principles of solid and structural mechanics that can be used to design and analyze aerospace structures. Aerospace structural analysis is a fundamental course dealing with analysis of thin walled aircraft structures required for design of aerospace vehicles. The course primarily discusses analysis of thin-walled aircraft structures under torsion, shear and bending loads from the concepts of theory of elasticity. It also discusses stability and buckling of aircraft structures.INTENDED AUDIENCE: Undergraduate/Post-Graduate Students and Professionals working in Aerospace IndustriesPREREQUISITES: Third year undergraduate students with prior knowledge of solid mechanics/strength of material can successfully do this courseINDUSTRY SUPPORT: Any aerospace industries like Airbus/Boeing/GE/L&T/Relevant DRDO/CSIR Labs.

Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction: Introduction to aircraft structures and their uniqueness. A brief history on evolution of aircraft structures Structural components of an aircraft and their functionalities. Recap of theory of elasticity.
Week 2:Torsion of thin-walled structures: Torsion of non-circular cross-section. St. Venant’s theory and Prandtl’s stress function.
Week 3:Torsion: Membrane analogy. Torsion of thin walled structures with single and multiple cells
Week 4:Bi-directional bending. Sectional properties of thin walled cross-sections. Bending of thin-walled structures
Week 5:Shear forces on thin walled structures. Analysis of single and multiple cells cross-section under shear load
Week 6:Shear center. Shear center of different thin-walled crosssection
Week 7:Skin-stringer idealization. Skin-stringer idealization of different structural components
Week 8:Buckling of columns. Introduction to buckling of plates