davidb
Well-Known Member
Say you have a wing made of wood ribs and wood spars with compression struts/wires [in the style of a J-3] that is designed to be covered with fabric. This wing is strut braced [not cantilever]. Is it feasable to simply cover this wing with thin plywood glued to the ribs and leading/trailing edge instead of doing a traditional fabric covering?
I'm concerned that something like that might alter the structural integrity of the wing in a bad way. I envision that the plywood would be trying to make the wing rigid but if the wing structure underneath the plywood wasn't designed and built for this rigid skin, wouldn't unwanted stresses develop that could work to break the bond between the ribs and skin or set up some other failure mode?
Would a comprehensive engineering analysis be warrented to do such a thing? The goal is not to make the plane stronger or faster but rather to avoid fabric work. All of the wing structure is wood so the plan is to epoxy the plywood to the structure.
I'm concerned that something like that might alter the structural integrity of the wing in a bad way. I envision that the plywood would be trying to make the wing rigid but if the wing structure underneath the plywood wasn't designed and built for this rigid skin, wouldn't unwanted stresses develop that could work to break the bond between the ribs and skin or set up some other failure mode?
Would a comprehensive engineering analysis be warrented to do such a thing? The goal is not to make the plane stronger or faster but rather to avoid fabric work. All of the wing structure is wood so the plan is to epoxy the plywood to the structure.
