The Stress Analysis of Simplified Structures: A Theoretical Investigation into a Structure in Which the Usual Conventional Ribs Have Been Replaced by Chordwise Stiffeners

THE first practical application of a simplified form of aircraft structure was made by the Republic Aircraft Corp. in their production of the Seabee. This machine dispensed with conventional ribs and used external chordwise corrugations instead. These were found to be perfectly satisfactory; they resisted the air loading and were stiff enough to prevent undue distortion of the cross‐section of the structure. For machines of higher speed, however, these corrugations, or ‘beads’ as they were called, would be objectionable and would have to be replaced by internal stiffeners fixed to the skin. This is the type of structure it is now proposed to analyse—a general view is shown in FIG. 1.