Boat Building Forum

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Re: Torsional Strength
By:Mark Kanzler
Date: 10/27/1998, 7:54 am
In Response To: Wing Wobble (Tom Scheibe)

Okay, heres a very general solution.

Tubes are extremely strong in torsion. If you take a solid rod and apply torsion along its axis, it will twist. Now take the same weight of the same material, and make it into a tube. (the ratio of the diameter to wall thickness should be large). Now, it will take hundreds (maybe thousands?) of times as much torque to twist it the same amount as the previous rod.

now, cut a super thin slot along the length of the tube (.00001" wide, all the way through). Now, it will only take one hundredth (or less) of the torque that a "complete" tube did.

Try to make your wing a tube with an airfoil shape, even if one side is concave. I'll try to post a picture showing a X-sect cut when I get some time.

> So... It twists. Lengthwise, it is stiff enough to resist bending when I
> exert maximum effort holding the tip and throat. (A bit softer today, but
> was a blocking tight end at San Jose State.) Trying to spread the blade at
> its widest produces no discernible effect. But... with one hand, I can
> easily twist the blade tip (prox 10+ degrees )

Messages In This Thread

Wing Wobble
Tom Scheibe -- 10/22/1998, 7:28 pm
Re: Torsional Strength
Mark Kanzler -- 10/27/1998, 7:54 am
Re: Wing Wobble
John Lange -- 10/22/1998, 8:48 pm