Many thanks to Stephen Ridgen. We rely on our users to let us know when they find an error in any of our spreadsheets, books or other material we make available on our website. Steve found an error, diagnosed the issue and let us know. AA-SM-291 has a critical error that prevented it solving properly. […]

One of our contacts found an error in our part 23 loads landing gear loads spreadsheet. You can find the corrected version (Revision B) here. The reference length a’, b’ and d’ were incorrectly calculated and the resulting loads nose landing gear loads were up to 5% lower than they should be. If you use […]

We have been working our way through the beam analysis methods of in the NASA-TM-73305. analysis manual. This last set of spreadsheets is for combined compression and flexure of simple beams and have been authored by my talented daughter who is an engineering student at Ryerson University in Toronto. I have checked than so any remaining mistakes are […]

We have been working out way through the beam analysis methods of in the NASA-TM-73305. analysis manual. This latest set of spreadsheets is for combined tension and flexure of simple beams and have been authored by my talented daughter who is an engineering student at Ryerson University in Toronto. I have checked than so any remaining mistakes are […]

Free Structures Analysis Spreadsheets Update: One of our stress engineers found an improvement to be made in the method for determining stress due to an interference fit bushing the difference between the material strengths for the lug and the bushing are now clear. We have also improved the layout and made it easier to use. Please update your […]

One of our users has found an error that under-predicts the peak stress ‘f’ in the disc washer. Revision C with the corrected expression for ‘f’ has been up loaded at the link below. Makes sure that you update your personal library with the latest version. AA-SM-042-001

We have uploaded our next set of free engineering spreadsheets. These are for three-member two-dimensional rigid frameworks. These spreadsheets are written by Sophia Abbott (my daughter) who is starting at Ryerson University in Toronto this year studying Mechanical Engineering (thankfully, she gets her talent and her looks from her mother). I have checked all of them […]

Many thanks to one of our diligent readers for finding the following error in our free textbook. On page 83 of our textbook, there is a method for the pull-through strength of a bolt in a composite laminate. This contains an error with regard to the definition of the parameter ‘D’. A corrected version of […]

This post is taken from our free textbook “Analysis and Design of Composite & Metallic Flight Vehicle Structures” and defines a method for calculating the stresses due to an interference fit bushing. The method in this section is referenced to (AFFDL-TR-69-42, 1986) Section 9.16. Note that several errors in the source material have been corrected. The […]

Excel as a Reporting Tool – Part 4, The First 3 Rules Excel as a Reporting Tool – Introduction – Part 1 here Excel as a Reporting Tool – The Basics – Part 2 here Excel as a Reporting Tool – Printing, Columns and Rules – Part 3 here In the previous post we outlined the […]

Excel as a Reporting Tool – Part 3, Printing, Columns and Rules Excel as a Reporting Tool – Introduction – Part 1 here Excel as a Reporting Tool – The Basics – Part 2 here Excel does not cope well with different printers and adapting page breaks and scaling from one printer to another. An […]

Excel as a Reporting Tool – Part 2 – The Basics – Part 1 here Choosing your Font Font selection is important. It is important to select a font that looks clear on the screen and when printed out. It is preferable to select a font that is part of the windows native font package […]

As we work towards the second edition of our textbook we are completing and uploading the accompanying spreadsheets. We have finally completed the simple beam analysis section of the book and the 33 spreadsheets that will accompany that chapter in the book are now written and uploaded (We will leave multi-span beams and curved beams […]

This is a companion post to the first beam analysis post here.  These methods again reference the excellent  NASA-TM-X-73305 Structures Manual and cover the rest of the cantilever conditions and start on the single span beams: AA-SM-026-009 Free Engineering Spreadsheets: Beam Analysis – Cantilever – Moment at Free End AA-SM-026-010 Free Engineering Spreadsheets: Beam Analysis – Cantilever – […]

We are happy to announce that our partner company XL-Viking has an improved website and also has a new free trial version that has enhanced functionality with no expiry. The free trial version now has the fully functioning menu with easy to use ways to add mathematic symbols and Greek letters as well as the subscript […]