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Aiken, William S , Jr

Publications and source records attributed to Aiken, William S , Jr.

Calibration of strain-gage installations in aircraft structures for the measurement of flight loads

A general method has been developed for calibrating strain-gage installations in aircraft structures, which permits the measurement in flight of the shear or lift, the bending moment, and the torque or pitching moment on the principal lifting or control surfaces. Although the stress in structural members may not be a simple function of the three loads of interest, a straightforward procedure is given for numerically combining the outputs of several bridges in such a way that the loads may be obtained. Extensions of the basic procedure by means of electrical combination of the strain-gage bridges are described which permit compromises between strain-gage installation time, availability of recording instruments, and data reduction time. The basic principles of strain-gage calibration procedures are illustrated by reference to the data for two aircraft structures of typical construction, one a straight and the other a swept horizontal stabilizer.

Skopinski, T H↗

Standard nomenclature for airspeeds with tables and charts for use in calculation of airspeed

Symbols and definition of various airspeed terms that have been adopted as standard by the NACA subcommittee on aircraft structural design are presented. The equations, charts, and tables required in the evaluation of true airspeed, calibrated airspeed, equivalent airspeed, impact and dynamic pressures, and Mach and Reynolds numbers have been compiled. Tables of the standard atmosphere to an altitude of 65,000 feet and a tentative extension to an altitude of 100,000 feet are given along with the basic equations and constants on which both the standard atmosphere and the tentative extension are based.

Aiken, William S , Jr↗

Charts for the Determination of Wing Torsional Stiffness Required for Specified Rolling Characteristics or Aileron Reversal Speed

A series of charts are presented by which the wing torsional stiffness required to meet a given standard of rolling effectiveness may be quickly determined. The charts may also be used to obtain quickly the aileron reversal speed and the variation of the loss in rolling effectiveness with airspeed. The charts apply to linearly tapered wings and elliptical wings of tubular-shell construction having various aspect ratios with aileron span and location of ailerons as variables. In the derivation of the charts, induced lift effects have been taken into account and the form of the wing-torsional-stiffness curve has been assumed.

Pearson, Henry A↗