Aerospace & Aviation

An account of the approach used in design of a large sandwich construction nose cone is given. The areas in which analytical methods are needed are discussed and a theoretical procedure is proposed.

A discussion of the current methods used to design the Saturn type booster shell structures is presented covering bending and axial compression, with and without internal pressure. Problem areas encountered in the application of available shell stability data to these designs are delineated; as well as, suggested areas of future research for shell configurations anticipated in advanced designs.

Design relationships have been derived for the determination of elastic buckling strength levels for unpressurized monocoque truncated cones under axial compression. Theoretical implications have been considered in the establishment of a semi-empirical analysis leading to the development of probability based design expressions. Data from 170 tests by various investigators were statistically evaluated for the expected mean, 90%, and 99% probability strength levels. Dispersion of data was found to be slightly less than that of monocoque cylinders. Non-linear effects of radius to thickness ratio or strength deterioration with length to radius ratio were not discernible.

Investigations carried out at STL on three current problems involving instability of thin shells in applications to aerospace vehicles are discussed. The first concerns the experimental determination of the buckling behavior of longitudinally stiffened pressurized cylinders; the second, the analytic prediction and experimental confirmation of the buckling behavior of multi-layer cylinders and the third involves the behavior of cylinders under combined axial load and lateral pressure. In each case the background of the application is reviewed, followed by a short description of the work. It is indicated that the longitudinally stiffened cylinder shows considerable promise in taking maximum advantage of the strengthening effect of internal pressure, that the use of an external low modulus layer as an insulator can have a significant effect on the buckling capability of a shell, and that the assumption of a linear interaction for pressure and axial load is unnecessarily conservative.

Local pressure distribution on a blunt delta wing

Calculation of ephemerides of planets and comets from initial values

Noise measurements during captive and launch firings of a large rocket-powered vehicle

Angular motion detection by human pilots and application to space rendezvous control

Supersonic transports - aircraft and landing-gear factors and response to runway roughness

Adiabatic integral invariant in the geomagnetic field

Geomagnetically trapped radiation produced by a high altitude nuclear explosion

Experimental limits for the electron-proton charge difference and for the charge of the neutron

Atmospheric loss from earth and production of tritium and helium in solar flares

Heat transfer & water removal in cylinder drying - felted cylinders