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Composite stringer grids
On 19 Nov 2003 01:33:42 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:
If your stringer is relying on the wood core for strength, it's poorly built.
The wood core, foam core, Cheez Whiz core or whatever has served its purpose
when it has functioned as a form for the layers of glass and resin that follow.
A well engineered stringer can be completely hollow, just like a box beam, and
have more than sufficient strength.
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No argument from me on any of that but I'd suggest that if you are
just using wood in the stringer to form the fiberglass, then you are
adding unnecessary weight and wasting perfectly good wood. I suppose
you could argue that using wood might be desirable as a rigid building
form, with no reason to remove it later.
Wood is actually an excellent structural material of course, as long
as it is the right type of wood, and properly encapsulated. The
theory of building cored structures is that the skins carry the load
similar to the parallel surfaces of an I-beam, and the core material
acts as the "web" of the beam to add stiffness. This creates a much
stiffer (less flexible) structure, at a much lower weight. The catch
is that the core material must retain its integrity over time and not
separate from the skins.
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