An aircraft structural component, for example, a wing spar that has an I-beam shape having upper and lower spar caps coupled by a web therebetween and that provides structural support for an aircraft wing. The wing spar may be fabricated as a graphite composite that is thermally cured to have a certain stiffness. In one embodiment, the wing spar is fabricated so that the upper spar cap has a higher CTE than the web, which creates tension forces in the spar cap when the spar is thermally cured and then cooled. Therefore, when the wing spar is mounted to the wing and the aircraft is in flight, compression forces on the wing skin act to relieve the tension forces in the spar cap, which reduces the compression buckling load on the wing.
Pour en savoir plus : Enhanced wing efficiency via differential thermal coefficient of expansion spar caps