ENAE 324 Aerospace Structures

Homework 2
Problems due Wed, Feb. 16th, 2011

Please Use Dr. Lee’s Sign Conventions (i.e. + = tension, − = compression)! Also, use the right hand rule and
the given axes.

Problem 1 Consider a Pegasus Vehicle after being dropped from its L-1011 carrier plane and immediately
after firing its rocket engine (assume vehicle is horizontal with no side-loads and negligible aerodynamic
drag loads). The vehicle is accelerating forward because of the thrust, and upward because of the lift
developed on the midspan wings (at L/2). The fuselage has a length L and a constant mass distribution, i.e.
m(x) = mo, with a discrete mass Mwing at L/2. Thrust T acting at the tail of the vehicle produces a horizontal
acceleration ah. Lift from the wings, Flift acts at body station L/2 and produces a vertical acceleration av.
Neglect the effect of the lift and weight that act at the tail of the rocket.

+z

+x

a) Sketch and label an appropriate Free Body Diagram of the full system that shows ALL of the forces
(including inertia forces) that contribute to the distributed internal structural loads.
b) Solve for ah and av in terms of T, lift Flift, mo , Mwing, and L.

c) Sketch and fully label a FBD for each “loading zone” to show all forces including the internal forces
acting at the imaginary cut.
d) Solve for P(x), Vz(x), and My(x) over the entire length of the structure as functions written in terms of
ah, av, mo ,Mwing, and L.
e) Provide a labeled graph of P(x), Vy(x), and Mz(x) vs x. In this step, you can substitute for the
following numerical values: T = 680 kN, Flift = 408 kN, mo = 1200 kg/m, Mwing = 1,500kg
and L= 18 m.
Problem 2 Boom on spinning spacecraft

A deployable magnetometer boom on a spinning spacecraft can be modeled as a tube of length L = 20 ft and
diameter D = 2 inches, with a constant weight per unit length m0 g = 0.04 lb/in and a tip weight at the end of
the boom, Mtip g = 0.5 lb. The nominal spin rate for the spacecraft is ω = 30 rpm.

a) Determine the axial force in the boom as a function of r, the radial distance from the spin axis.
b) If the boom is made of BeCu (Sy = 50 ksi) and has a constant wall thickness along its length,
determine this thickness, t, based on axial load only with a factor of safety of 2.0.
c) If the spin axis develops a slight wobble resulting in an angular acceleration of the z-axis of d2γ/dt2 =
14 rad/sec2, determine all internal loads at a position r along the boom.
- Draw FBD of full system with inertia loads due to wobble and due to spin
- Draw partial FBD at position r
- Solve for and plot P, V, and M diagrams (note P is what you calculated in part a above)
Hint: The linear acceleration of a particle of mass dm due to an angular acceleration d2γ/dt2 is simply
df = r d2γ/dt2 dm.
d) Under this additional loading condition (spin axis wobble), determine the necessary wall thickness of
the boom to maintain a factor of safety of 2.0 for bending stresses.

+z

d2γ/dt2
ω

+x, r
Problem 3 Wing Box Design with Trapezoidal Lift Distribution

In the wing box sizing example of Chapter 3 (starting on p.10), the lift distribution was assumed to be
elliptic. For this problem, assume instead that the lift distribution is trapezoidal or described by the
following function: p(x) = p1 + x (p2 – p1)/ (b/2) . Use all the material properties and strength requirements
given in Dr. Lee’s example, as well as a relief factor of 0.9.
a) Find values for p1 and p2, such that this lift distribution is equivalent to the elliptical model
distribution, i.e.:
- (Total Lift)trapezoidal = (Total Lift)elliptical = 3.0 x 105 N [ie, area under curve must be equal]
- (Total moment about root)trapezoidal = (Total moment about root)elliptical = - 6.0 x 105 Nm
b) Plot the trapezoidal lift distribution as a function of x.
c) Determine functions and plot V(x) and M(x) diagrams for trapezoidal lift distribution. [Don’t forget
relief factor RF.]
d) Determine skin thickness, tc, of the top and bottom surfaces of the wing box, based on the maximum
bending stress in each of the following sections of the wing:
- 0m < x < 2m
- 2m < x < 4m
- and 4m < x < tip.
e) Determine the skin thickness, tw, of the sides of the wing box, based on the maximum shear stress in
each of the 3 sections of wing as above.
f) Determine the mass per unit length, m(x), assuming you pick a constant thickness for each of the 3
sections. (Dr. Lee does not do this – he uses continually varying thicknesses along the full length of
the wing box). Calculate the total mass of the wing.

Note: You may want to use Matlab or COMSOL to plot the graphs for this problem.