Research Paper

DEVELOPMENT OF SOFTWARE USING VISUAL BASIC FOR LEARNING AEROSPACE STRUCTURES THEORY
Farrukh Mazhar a, Abdul Munem Khan b, Irfan Aziz c and Omar Bashir
Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Aeronautical Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. b Department of Aerospace Engineering, College of Aeronautical Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. c Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan. d Department of Avionics Engineering, College of Aeronautical Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
a

Abstract Last Century had seen remarkable changes in the field of Science and Technology; particularly computers. Computer is no doubt the biggest ever invention of mankind. Advancements in the field of software industry has brought into many revolutionary changes in the field of computers. Today, the most developments are being done in the field of transformation of engineering concepts into software form. The requirement of simple and easy learnable software was always felt at the undergraduate level at CAE (NUST College of Aeronautical Engineering, Risalpur, Pakistan), for better understanding / application of the course contents in structures specialty. To meet these requirements, authors have developed FARST (Farrukhs Structural Tool) software that can be described as Computer-based Learning Tool. Students can use this tool to understand and analyze basic and medium level aircraft structures problems. The computer code is written in Visual Basic . This language is selected for its userfriendly environment and easy to use Graphical user interface (GUI).
Keywords: Structures, Software, Computer-based Learning Tool, Aircraft Structures

1. List of symbols A C E I M P T X Y Z * Area Constant Modulus of Elasticity Moment of Inertia Moment Force Temperature Displacement in X axis Displacement in Y axis Displacement in Z axis Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Stress Modulus Weighted Property

desired to have a software, which can introduce the basic concepts of Structures, and perform lengthy calculations in a much smaller time at undergraduate level. FARST can be briefly described as Computer-based Learning Tool, able to compute and analyze basic and medium level aircraft structures; covering the structural aspects of the course contents at CAE. FARST is written in Visual Basic . Visual Basic language is selected for its user-friendly environment and enhanced Graphical user interface (GUI) control. 2.1 Selection of Programming Language Initially, FARST codes were planed to be written in FORTRAN which, however, did not provide user friendly GUI. Also, the user had to provide several data files whose format was not always intuitive and their preparation was sometimes tedious. The novice user would find this task rather daunting and may have discouraged him from using the software altogether. Thus, the need for a user interface became

2. Introduction This is computer era. Integration of theoretical concepts into software is the need of today. Extensive mathematical calculations in engineering design / analysis have asked for an enormous requirement of engineering softwares to facilitate and reduce the workload. Same was the aim behind this paper. It has always been
th

10 National Aeronautical Conference

20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

101

Research Paper

apparent. Asking a software developer to add a GUI application in a commonly accepted form to avoid many of the above described difficulties. Hence, in FARST software development, Visual Basic found to be more helpful and dynamic as far as the simplicity and user friendly nature is concerned. Moreover, Visual Basic proved to be excellent in the development of GUI. In FARST all data is inputted and displayed through the GUI environment and plotted in two-dimensional graphical format, wherever required. 2.2 FARSTs Aim. FARST is developed, with the following aims in mind:(a) To develop a software to facilitate the computational facilities at CAE. (b) To cover the structural aspects of the course. Enable students to familiarize themselves with the modern computational facilities. (c) The software has to be as user-friendly as possible and should be able to cover all the aspects of modern computational software. (d) The software should be robust and multi-dimensional. It should have a wide spectrum of application and potential for subsequent development. (e) Gives flexibility to the user in terms of material, geometry, loads selection so that they can study as well as understand their impact on the results and ultimately assists them in subsequent design process in the longer run. 2.3 Application. FARST is capable to perform the following tasks:-. (a) It can analyze simplified or medium complex structures, used in aircraft constructions like skin panels, fuselage cells, wing sections and other similar structures. (b) It can analyze the affect of longitudinal stresses, compression forces, bending moments, and thermal loading on all such structures. (c) The calculations are performed by dividing the structure into longitudinal members, and nodes for simplicity. (b) Performs lengthy calculations on such structures in seconds with reliable results

and therefore helps in structural level understanding / diagnostics. (d) It also displays step-wise results as well as graphical representation of the results for ease of comprehension. 2.4 Sequence of Development of FARST Following sequence is followed during the course of FARST development; (a) Understanding of the Course material. (b) Learning of Visual Basic programming [4], [5] and [6]. (c) Integrating theoretical concepts in FARST in the form of code and GUI development [4], [5] and [6]. . 3. Theoretical Aspects of FARST FARST deals with application of the theory /analysis of bending / extensions of the beams and structures. The theory of elasticity results into partial differential equations and the solution to these equations exists only for a relatively few cases. Approximate solution can be found by the Rayleigh-Ritz or Finite Difference methods; but such computations are very lengthy and intricate. FARST is therefore, based upon concepts given in references [1] and [2], a brief introduction is given in the following paragraphs. 3.1. Stress Resultants. Assume that the force and moment resultants of the stress are acting upon the cross sections of the beam, as shown in the figure 1. The stresses on the differential area dA at point B with co-ordinates (x, y, z) are xx, xy, and xz. The resultant of these stresses on the cross section consists of a force and a moment, whose components are axial component P, and shear components Vy and Vz, and the moment components are tortional moment Mt, and bending moments My, and Mz, which are about axes their parallel axes. The outcome of all calculation comes out to be following equation (the detailed equations development may found out as given in reference [1]):E P * M z * I yy * M y * I yz * M y * I zz * M z * I yz * y z E1 A * I yy * I zz * ( I yz *)2 I yy * I zz * ( I yz *)2

xx

3.2. Modulus Weighted Section properties The coordinates of modulus -weighted centroid are given as:20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

10 National Aeronautical Conference

th

102

Research Paper

Which reduces to

yo * zo *
Also
n

1 A* 1 A*

y i 0 Ai *
i 1

z io Ai *
i 1

(g) The coordinate of centroid are (20.90in and 5.215in). (h) The values of the moment of inertia about different axes are ; 4 Ixx*= 4.247E+2 in , 4 Iyy*= 7.063E+3 in , 4 Ixy= -4.705E+2 in The equivalent thermal loads are P* = P + PT = 6.943E+5 lb. Mx*=Mx + MxT= 1.445E+6 in-lb My*=My + MyT= 1.146E+5 in-lb The constants are C1= 3.863E-3 C2= -2.622E-5 C3= -3.693E-4 The value of xx/E is given as xx/E = C1 +C2xI+C3yI - T The detailed results are given in table 1 and table 2. It may be highlighted that the results are verified to be accurate to almost double in accuracy as compared to manual calculations or calculations done by Excel spreadsheet; since the code is programmed using double precision (64 bits long) numerals. 5. Organization of FARST

I * yo yo
i 1
n

Ei ( I y y oi E1
Ei ( I z zoi E1
Ei ( I y zoi E1

z i Ai )
yi Ai )
z i yi Ai )
2

I * zo zo
i 1
n

I * yo z o
i 1

And

I yy *
I zz * I yz *

I yo yo * ( zo *)2 A *
I zo zo * ( y o *) 2 A * I yo zo * z o * y o * A

3.3 Buckling and Principal Force calculation The second part of FARST deals with the calculation of critical force of Buckling and calculation of stress resultants in principal and oblique planes from equations given in [1], [2] and [3]. 4. Solved Example The figure 2 is a simplified representation of the construction used in the aerodynamic surfaces of flight vehicles. The beam is subjected to the temperature and a bending 6 moment of 10 in-lb. The assumption is that the compression skin remains unbuckled. To simplify the calculation the structure is idealized into longitudinals that carry only axial stresses and webs that sustain only shear stresses. The skin and spar webs are divided into segments and lumps the area of each segment at its centroid (fig 3). A large number of segments are to obtain a good approximation of the moment of inertia with this method. The various inputs to the structure are: (a) The coefficient of thermal expansion is o 1.26E-5 F (b) The initial temperature of the structure o is 70 F (c) The external load is zero. (d) The moment about x-axis is 1E6 in-lb. (e) The moment about Y axis is zero. 2 (f) The net area A*= 1.797E+1 in .

5.1. Introduction FARST software consists of three major parts as: (a) Shell Stress Analysis (Core of the software) (b) Buckling Analysis (c) Principal Forces calculation 5.2. Splash Screen. The first screen of FARST is following splash screen. 5.3. Title page. It is the menu selection screen, giving three options to the user:(a) Main Menu (b) Tutorial (c) Exit 5.4. Main Menu. It gives following choices to the user based upon the type of analysis. (a) Shell Stress Analysis (b) Buckling Analysis (c) Principal Force

10 National Aeronautical Conference

th

20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

103

Research Paper

5.5. Input Form. It selects the no of nodes of the structure (limit is 20 nodes). 5.6. Data Input Forms. It enables the user to input coordinal data along with applied forces. 5.7. Result Form. It displays the final resultant stresses at each node. Step by step results of calculation along with the plot of structure can also be displayed using following options:(a) Detailed Analysis (b) Plot (c) Back 5.8. Detailed Analysis Form. It displays the step by step calculation results. 5.9. Buckling Analysis. It calculates the critical force of buckling to buckle a beam as per end conditions. 5.10. Principal Forces. It calculates the principal stresses and stresses in oblique plane. 6. Conclusion In this paper, the integrated software FARST (Farrukh Structural Tool) has been presented that enables the user to develop an understanding of medium advanced aircraft structures analysis. As over the period of time a dire need of a software was felt which can familiarize the students with the computational / analytical aspects of the course, since the equations involved are very complex and intricate and to solve a single problem number of classes would be required leaving behind the analytical aspects untouched. For practical utility of the conceptual approach of the course contents, it is deemed necessary that a GUI interface to be designed to enable the handling of

massive amounts of data inputs and graphical displays of output. In particular, the GUI presented for the FARST program, has been written in an object-oriented format using Microsoft Visual Basic Language. Microsoft Visual Basic was chosen since it is powerful and flexible and produces an interface with the familiar Windows look and feel. Although detailed code of FARST was not presented in this paper due to limited space, however, the software was tested for several problems and results obtained were also authenticated manually and using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, validating softwares double-precision accuracy; since code is programmed using double precision (64 bits long) numerals. Like all other software this effort is not the end and there is still a lot of room for future growth and development in FARST, in terms of its course contents coverage as well as applications. 7. References [1] Rivello, Robert M., Theory and Analysis of Flight Structure, McGraw-Hill, 1969. [2] Higdon, Archie, Mechanics Materials, John Willie & Sons, 1985. of

[3] Coultas, H. W., Theory of Structures, Pitman and Sons Ltd., 1963. [4] Michelle Moore, Learn Visual Basic Today, IDG Books, 1995.

[5] Cornell, Gary, Visual Basic for Windows Handbook, McGraw-Hill, 1993. [6] Petroutsos, Evangelos, Visual Basic 6, Computer Books, 1998, Mastering Sybex

10 National Aeronautical Conference

th

20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

104

Research Paper

Fig: 1 Stresses and Stress resultants on a beam cross section

Fig: 2 Actual Structure on the top and idealized structure at the bottom

Fig: 3 Idealization of a web

Node 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Ai in2 3 0.49 0.49 2.5 1.09 1.09 1.09 1.09 1.5 0.22 0.22 2 1.23 1.23 1.23 1.23

Xcood xi in 0 0 0 0 5.07 18.93 29.7 42.93 48 48 48 48 42.93 29.07 18.93 5.07

Ycood yi in 12 9.47 2.54 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.27 4.73 6 6.63 8.37 9.63 11.37

T F 300
0

E/E* 0.95 0.96 0.96 0.92 0.8 0.8 0.83 0.83 0.94 0.97 0.97 0.95 0.93 0.93 0.92 0.92

A* in2 2.85 0.47 0.47 2.3 0.872 0.872 0.905 0.905 1.41 0.213 0.213 1.9 1.144 1.144 1.132 1.132

Ax in3 0 0 0 0 4.4 17 27 39 68 10 10 91 49 33 21 5.7

Ay in3 34 4.5 1.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 1 11 7.6 9.6 11 13

Asqx in4 0 0 0 0 22.41 312.5 798 1667 3249 491.7 491.7 4378 2108 966.7 405.5 29.09

Asqy in5 410.4 42.186 3.0348 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.3442 4.7744 68.4 50.282 80.138 104.94 146.29

Axy in6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 48.5 547 326 278 206 65.2

X in -20.94 -20.94

Y in 6.78 4.25

Tt F 230
0

275 275 375 500 500 475 475 325 250 250 300 350 350 375 375

205 205 305 430 430 405 405 255 180 180 230 280 280 305 305

-20.94 -2.67 -20.94 -5.21 -15.87 -5.21 -2.011 -5.21 8.75 21.98 27.05 27.05 27.05 27.05 8.12 -2.01 -15.87 -5.21 -5.21 -5.21 -3.94 -0.48 0.78 3.15 4.41 6.15

21.98 1.418

Table 1 : Detailed Resultant (Part :A)

10 National Aeronautical Conference

th

20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

105

Research Paper

T 2.90E-03 2.58E-03 2.58E-03 3.84E-03 5.42E-03 5.42E-03 5.10E-03 5.10E-03 3.21E-03 2.27E-03 2.27E-03 2.90E-03 3.53E-03 3.53E-03 3.84E-03 3.84E-03

E T psi 2.89E+04 2.60E+04 2.60E+04 3.71E+04 4.55E+04 4.55E+04 4.45E+04 4.45E+04 3.17E+04 2.31E+04 2.31E+04 2.89E+04 3.45E+04 3.45E+04 3.71E+04 3.71E+04

E TA lb 86722.6 12757.9 12757.9 92808.4 49607.2 49607.2 48475.1 48475.1 47568.4 5081.90 5081.90 57815.1 42374.6 42374.6 45661.7 45661.7

E TAx in-lb -1816097.5 -267169.96 -267169.96 -1943542.9 -787337.99 -99782.085 424572.64 1065899.3 1287134 137509.09 137509.09 1564393.2 931756.99 344444.6 -91846.035 -724717.99

E TAy in-lb 588719.68 54330.182 -34082.44 -483668.1 -258526.3 -258526.3 -252626.8 -252626.8 -247901.4 -20030.16 -2446.765 45589.186 60109.866 133841.72 201758.04 281209.5

C2x 0.000525 0.000525 0.000525 0.000525 0.000398 5.04E-05 -0.00022 -0.00055 -0.00068 -0.00068 -0.00068 -0.00068 -0.00055 -0.0002 5.04E-05 0.000398

C3y -0.00239 -0.0015 0.000942 0.001838 0.001838 0.001838 0.001838 0.001838 0.001838 0.00139 0.00017 -0.00028 -0.0005 -0.00111 -0.00156 -0.00217

xx/E

xx

-9.926E-4 2.566E-4 2.815E-3 2.493E-3 7.855E-4 4.221E-4 4.712E-4 1.078E-4 1.865E-3 2.341E-3 1.063E-3 -3.563E-5 -7.653E-4 -1.044E-3 -1.559E-3 -1.838E-3

psi -9.926E+3 2.592E+3 2.844E+4 2.419E+4 6.598E+3 3.545E+3 4.099E+3 9.379E+2 1.846E+4 2.388E+4 1.085E+4 -3.563E+2 -7.500E+3 -1.024E+4 -1.512E+4 -1.783E+4

Table 2 : Detailed Resultant (Part :B)

Splash Screen

Main Menu

Shell Stress Analysis

Buckling Analysis

Normal and Shear Stresses

Node Selection

End Conditions

Principal stress

Oblique Plane Stresses Data Input Result

Coordinate Input

Data Input

Data Input

Result

Result

Result

Detailed Result

Plot Fig 4 : Block Diagram of FARST

10 National Aeronautical Conference

th

20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

106

Research Paper

Fig 5 : Splash Screen Fig 8 : Node input

Fig 6 : Title Page of FARST

Fig 9 : FARST Data input

Fig 7 : FARST Main Menu

Fig 10 : Result Window

10 National Aeronautical Conference

th

20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

107

Research Paper

Fig 11 : Detailed Structural Analysis

Fig 13 : Selecting End Conditions For Buckling Analysis

Fig 12 : Plot of Structure Fig 14 : Principal Stresses

10 National Aeronautical Conference

th

20-21 April, 2006 PAF Academy Risalpur

108