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Because Balsa wood doesn’t have a defined yield point (yield strength), the modulus of elasticity is used to determine the point of fracture, 3.0 GPa.
Based on the Ansys results, there is concern near the corners of the spar cut out as the colours indicate a greater stress value than the modulus of elasticity, but the Solidworks results point in the opposite direction where no point goes over the limit.
Future steps → fillet the corners of the spar cut out and run the simulation on Ansys to see any changes
Possibly run the Solidworks simulation more closely or similar to Ansys to have obtain a better comparison. Ex: Fix the point instead of the whole spar, try applying force on node points instead of the surface
Author: Nathaniel Li Date:
Sims Feedback
This looks great, exactly what we were looking for!
Seems like our predictions were correct regarding the corners of the spars in both SW and Ansys sims → main focus for us will be to decrease this
Continue with Ansys sims and attempt SW sim if time permits
Next Steps
Changes to ribs:
Fillets on the spar corners → Adding a fillet in the ribs is ideal for force distribution but we also need to think about how the spar would fit into the new shape/lock in place
An idea I had would be to make a 3d print that fits onto the spar and then slides into the rib? not sure if this makes sense but in my head it seems like the spar needs to a rectangular cutout to slot into for good fit
Future sims:
Run the sim again with the same parameters to see changes
Simulate maximum AOA/lift scenario?
This is to see what the limits of our design would be
Will need to determine the lift force and angle it correctly so more work