Stress Model of a Complete Airship Structure

The authors discuss considerations in designing stress models in general, and the construction, rigging, and testing of an airship model in particular. A new type of girder representation is described, having the unusual advantages of varying the axial, bending, and torsional characteristics independently, and of incorporating convenient and sensitive means for measuring the corresponding stresses. Tests on a separate braced-ring model are compared with theory, and appear to be in good agreement. Similar tests on a duplicate ring in the complete model show the influence of the surrounding structure.