Hey guys!
After Bill made a post on the thread about the weight changes in composite wings I started to do a little thinking. Over the years I somehow managed to collect a couple of dozen airplane plans, most of which were given to me. Looking through them I became puzzled about some of the aluminum wings and the spars in the prints. Looking at past threads yielded no answers.
I don't know if I have a question as much as if maybe I'm a little confused. Looking at aluminum wing airplanes the spars have me even more confused. Before I get ahead of myself the first question I have is where does most of the strength on an aluminum spar come from? It seems to me strength lies mostly in the actual height of the spar. Therefore, if I had two identical wings say 4x10’ and both had the same airfoil but one was 3% thicker, would just having a taller spar and changing nothing else make it stronger? Mike
After Bill made a post on the thread about the weight changes in composite wings I started to do a little thinking. Over the years I somehow managed to collect a couple of dozen airplane plans, most of which were given to me. Looking through them I became puzzled about some of the aluminum wings and the spars in the prints. Looking at past threads yielded no answers.
I don't know if I have a question as much as if maybe I'm a little confused. Looking at aluminum wing airplanes the spars have me even more confused. Before I get ahead of myself the first question I have is where does most of the strength on an aluminum spar come from? It seems to me strength lies mostly in the actual height of the spar. Therefore, if I had two identical wings say 4x10’ and both had the same airfoil but one was 3% thicker, would just having a taller spar and changing nothing else make it stronger? Mike
