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Encyclopedia > Monocoque

Updated 584 days 15 hours 51 minutes ago.

Monocoque (French for "single shell") is a construction technique that uses the external skin of an object to support some or most of the load on the structure. This stands in contrast with using an internal framework (or truss) that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin. Monocoque construction was first widely used in aircraft, starting in the 1930s Truss bridge for a single track railway, converted to pedestrian use and pipeline support. ... Airbus A380 An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...


Structural skin is another term for the same concept.


Unibody is a related technique that is the predominant automobile construction technology today. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Contents


Aircraft

Early aircraft were built up from an internal frame, typically of wood or steel tubing, which was then covered (or skinned) with fabric to give it a smooth surface. The materials vary; some builders used sheet metal or plywood for the skin. In all of these designs the idea of load-bearing structure vs. skin remained. A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon content between 0. ... It has been suggested that Textile be merged into this article or section. ... Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. ... Model constructed from plywood. ...


In 1916 LFG introduced their Roland C.II, which used a fuselage made of "bent" plywood, forming both the external skinning as well as the main load bearing surface. This made the plane immensely strong in comparison with contemporary designs, although it was also quite heavy. Similar designs were also produced by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke, who had originally built the Roland under license. Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft, universally referred to as LFG, was a World War I German aircraft manufacturer. ... Model constructed from plywood. ... Pfalz Flugzeugwerke was a World War I German aircraft manufacturer, located at the Speyer airfield in Bavaria. ...


By the late 1920s the price of aluminium (specifically duralumin) started dropping considerably and many manufacturers started using it to replace the internal framing, and in some cases, the external skin. A classic example of such a design is the Ford Trimotor, which retained the old type structure with new materials. The structure of the plane consists of a trusswork of U-shaped aluminium beams, with a thin skin of aluminium riveted on top. The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ... The Ford Trimotor, nicknamed The Tin Goose, was a three engine civil transport aircraft first produced in 1926 by Henry Ford and continued until about 1933. ... A rivetted buffer beam on a steam locomotive A rivet is a mechanical fastener consisting of a smooth cylindrical shaft with heads on either end, the second one formed in position. ...


When these designs started appearing it was realized that the skin itself had significant structural properties of its own. With a sufficient thickness, one could do away with all of the internal structure. However this would be even heavier than the framing would have been. At thinner gauges the skin could easily provide the structure for tension and shear loads (metal resists being pulled apart quite well), and if it was bent into a curve or pipe, it became quite strong against bending loads as well. The only loading it could not handle on its own – at least for thin "skins" – was compression. Combining this sort of structural skin with a greatly reduced internal stiffening to provide strength against buckling in compression led to what is known as "semi-monocoque". It has been suggested that Gauge (engineering) be merged into this article or section. ... In engineering, buckling is a failure mode of a structural member characterised by a failure to react to the bending moment generated by a compressive load. ...


The result was a structure that was just as strong as ones made with older methods, but that weighed considerably less. For aircraft construction this is a very important consideration. As well, the monocoque structure has high torsional stiffness, important in reducing aeroelastic effects as aircraft speeds increased. At the beginning of World War II the technique was just starting to appear, and many aircraft still used mixed construction. By the end, all high-performance planes were monocoque or semi-monocoque, although many lower-performance general aviation aircraft (such as the Piper PA-20 Pacer and Taylorcraft still employed internal frame construction. Stiffness is the resistance of an elastic body to deflection by an applied force. ... Aeroelasticity is the science which studies the interaction among inertial, elastic, and aerodynamic forces. ... This article is becoming very long. ... General aviation (abbr. ... The New Piper Aircraft, Inc. ... The PA-20 Pacer was a four-place, high-wing light aircraft built by Piper in the post-World War II period. ... Taylorcraft L-2M at the National Museum of the United States Air Force Taylorcraft Aircraft is an airplane manufacturer based in Brownsville, Texas. ...


One disastrous result of monocoque aircraft design was the metal fatigue failures of the De Havilland Comet. Once the process of metal fatigue was understood, structural changes (like avoiding stress concentrations due to sharp corners) were incorporated to reduce this danger. Regular inspections are still needed, however, to detect early metal fatigue cracks. Metal Fatigue is a 1999 real-time strategy and mecha computer game developed by Zono, Inc and released by Psygnosis. ... The de Havilland Comet of Britain was the worlds first commercial jet airliner. ...


Composite aircraft have led to additional advances in monocoque construction. By laying up the materials in certain ways, the structure can have high strength in one direction and be flexible in another, making them ideal for wing structures. They can also be built to be very flexible over short distances while growing stiffer and stiffer as the flex is increased. Composite materials (or composites for short) are engineered materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties and which remain separate and distinct within the finished structure. ...


Automobiles

The first automotive application of the monocoque technique was 1923's Lancia Lambda. Chrysler and Citroën built the first mass-produced monocoque vehicles, both in 1934, with the innovative Chrysler Airflow and the Traction Avant, respectively. The popular Volkswagen Beetle also used a partly monocoque body (its frame required the body for support) in 1938. 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Lancia Lambda was an innovative automobile produced from 1922 through 1931. ... The Chrysler Corporation is a United States-based automobile manufacturer, since 1998 merged with Daimler_Benz into DaimlerChrysler. ... Citroën is a French automobile manufacturer, started in 1919 by André Citroën, today part of PSA Peugeot Citroën. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1934 Chrysler Airflow Chrysler advertising readily compared the the Airflow to the streamlined locomotive engines of the era Image from the 1936 Chrysler Imperial Airflow brochure showing how Airflow passengers rode inside of the cars advanced frame design, instead of on top of it as other cars of the era... The rear of a Citroën Traction Avant The Citroën Traction Avant was a automobile produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1934 to 1957. ... The Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle, Vocho, Bug or Käfer (German), is a compact car, produced by Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...


NSU (NSU Prinz) also built monocoque automobiles. Logo of the Company NSU, 1951 NSU Motorenwerke AG (normally just NSU) was a German manufacturer of cars and motorcycles and a predecessor to what is now Audi. ... The NSU prinz was produced in Germany by the NSU Motorenwerke AG. It was developed throughout its 1957-62 career, passing through mark 1,2 and 3 versions, all being progressively better. ...


In the post-war period the technique became more widely used. The Alec Issigonis Morris Minor of 1948 featured a monocoque body. The Ford Consul introduced an evolution called unit body or unibody. In this system, separate body panels are still used but are bolted to a monocoque body-shell. Spot welded unibody construction is now the dominant technique in automobiles, though some vehicles (particularly trucks) still use the older body-on-frame technique. Sir Alec Arnold Constantine Issigonis KBE FRS (November 18, 1906–October 2, 1988) was a designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the development of the Austin Mini in 1959. ... The revolutionary Morris Minor was launched at the Earls Court Motor Show on 20 September 1948, and attracted immediate attention. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Categories: Automobile stubs | Ford vehicles ... There are three kinds of fastener given the name bolt. ... A miller spot welder Media:Example. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The driver of this DAF tractor with an auto-transport semi-trailer prepares to offload Škoda Octavia cars in Cardiff, Wales For other meanings, see Truck (disambiguation). ... Body-on-frame is an automobile construction technology. ...


Some American automobiles, such as the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro and virtually all Chrysler Corporation automobiles from 1960 until the early 1980s, used a compromise design with a partial monocoque combined with a subframe carrying the front end and powertrain. The intention was to provide some of the rigidity and strength of a unibody while easing manufacture, although the results were mixed, in large part because the powertrain subframe contained the greatest single portion of the vehicle's overall mass, and thus movement of the subframe relative to the rest of the body could cause distortion and vibration. Subframes or partial subframes are still sometimes employed in otherwise monocoque construction, typically as a way of isolating the vibration and noise of powertrain or suspension components from the rest of the vehicle. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro was introduced in North America by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors at the start of the 1967 model year as competition for the Ford Mustang. ... The Chrysler Corporation was a United States-based automobile manufacturer that existed independently from 1925–1998. ... A subframe is a structural component of a vehicle, such as an automobile or an aircraft, that uses a discrete, separate structure within a larger body-on-frame or unit body to carry certain components, such as the engine, drivetrain, or suspension. ...


In automobiles, it is common to see true monocoque frames, where the structural members around the window and door frames are built by folding the skin material several times. In these situations the main concerns are spreading the load evenly, having no holes for corrosion to start, and reducing the overall workload. Compared to older techniques, in which a body is bolted to a frame, monocoque cars are less expensive and stronger. Corrosion is deterioration of intrinsic properties in a material due to reactions with its environment. ...


Monocoque design is so sophisticated that windshield and rear window glass now often make an important contribution to the designed structural strength of automobiles. Unfortunately, when a vehicle with a unibody design is involved in a serious accident, it may be more difficult to repair than a vehicle with a full frame.


Architecture

The term has also been used for architecture (building construction) by Future Systems of the United Kingdom. The NatWest Media Centre which they designed for Lords Cricket Ground in 1999 was designed as a monocoque structure (in aluminium), which was manufactured by Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, drawing on boatbuilding experience.


An igloo (and any uniform dome) is of full monocoque design, while a geodesic dome is a hybrid design, combining monocoque and frame elements. An adobe house typically uses a monocoque design for the walls and a frame for the roof. Igloo An igloo (Inuktitut iglu / ᐃᒡᓗ, house, plural: iglooit or igluit), translated sometimes as snowhouse, is a shelter constructed from blocks of snow, generally in the form of a dome. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... It has been suggested that Mudbrick be merged into this article or section. ...


Boats and ships

Small boats, like kayaks and canoes, are typically of monocoque construction, while large ships tend to have frames. Mid-sized ships and boats (including submarines) may be of either design, or a hybrid of the two. Inuit seal hunter in a kayak, armed with a harpoon. ... A canoe is a relatively small boat, typically human-powered, but also commonly sailed. ... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Gunter Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine Inside of the Argonaute, showing the typical obstructed, tiny space of a post-WWII diesel attack submarine. ...


See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
Monocoque concrete structures - Patent 6112489 (6046 words)
The monocoque concrete structure as defined in claim 7, wherein the transferring means comprises end pieces disposed on opposite sides of the foam and at least partially embedded in a respective one of the concrete shells and a cross piece extending across a width of the foam panels and connecting the end pieces.
The monocoque concrete structure as defined in claim 11, wherein the transferring means includes end pieces disposed on opposite sides of the foam and at least partially embedded in a respective one of the concrete shells and a cross piece extending across a width of the foam panels and connecting the end pieces.
The monocoque concrete structure as defined in claim 11, wherein the foam panels include adjacent foam panels spaced apart to define a gap and the gap is filled with concrete which extends across a thickness of the adjacent foam panels and has an integral connection with each of the concrete shells.
Spartanburg SC | GoUpstate.com | Spartanburg Herald-Journal (1842 words)
Monocoque (French for "single" (mono) and "shell" (coque)) is a construction technique that supports structural load using an object's external skin.
Monocoque design is so sophisticated that windshield and rear window glass now often make an important contribution to the designed structural strength of automobiles.
Monocoque designs are favored amongst high-performance cars and racing cars today for their overall structural integrity and the fact that one can design a monocoque out of lightweight materials such as carbon fiber and expect the resulting vehicle to be light, stiff, and stable at high speeds and in tight corners.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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