Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures [Hardcover]

E. F. Bruhn (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 650 pages
• Publisher: Jacobs Pub; 2 edition (June 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961523409
• ISBN-13: 978-0961523404
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Aerospace Standard, May 11, 2000

By 

Michael Rodgers (Orange County, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures (Hardcover)

In my 16 years in the Aerospace Industry I have rarely come across a more quoted or well known text with the possible exception of Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain. Bruhn is the basis for most Aerospace company strength manuals. It is truly the Bible of flight vehicle analysis.

However, there is no index, only a cursory table of contents. A very good reference for a great deal of practical formulas but abrupt on theoretical explanation in most cases. Many example problems but again very abrupt on explanation. Could have better illustrations.

For all of the above reasons Bruhn gets high marks as a reference but as a text for learning it is lacking; even for someone with a background and education in basic stress analysis. It is still one of the most comprehensive and practical aircraft structural text around and still a must read for any flight vehicle structural engineer.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elmer Bruhn Rocks!, May 5, 2006

By 

Rusty Johnson "Mange Takk!" (Maquoketa, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures (Hardcover)

While many of the methods in the book have been overshadowed by Finite Element Analysis, they provide valuable insight into the fundamentals of aircraft design and an appreciation for the men and women that designed aircraft before John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry invented the electronic digital computer at Iowa State University.

Today you won't find many aircraft stress analysts using the Moment Distribution (Hardy Cross) Method, Slope Deflection Method, Method of Elastic Weights or the Methods of Dummy Unit-Loads, Area Moments, Virtual Work, Influence Coefficients ... but working on an example in this book is good, clean fun and frustration ... for the "geek" in all of us.

Some of the standard cliches apply to Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures. It is the analyst's "best friend" ... "a classic" ... "finer than frog hair split four ways" ... "the stress analyst's Bible" ... that "kicks [...] and takes names" ... and has "withstood the test of time".

If you like puzzles, you will love this book. It contains more aircraft stress analysis examples than you can solve in one lifetime. Many examples remind me of a combination of crossword puzzle, Jumble and Sodoku .... only more difficult ... and less fun. Examples range in difficulty from elementary ... to more painful than a root canal without Lidocaine done by your mother-in-law before electricity.

The problems are condensed. The book could easily be expanded to a five volume set. I would organize it differently ... but as Marge and Homer Simpson might say, "It's easy to criticize ... and FUN TOO!"

While there are many minor errors or "typos" in the book ... a few worth mentioning are:

Page B1.8 Ramberg Osgood Stress-Strain Curve - Add "3/7" before the parentheses to equation (3).

Page C1.9 Octahedral Shear Stress Theory - Top equation in right column ... portion in last parentheses should square each term within and not outside.

Page C7.15 Failure by Inter-Rivet Buckling - Equation C7.24 ... the tangent modulus is missing ... add E_t to the numerator.

Page C11.17 Average and Maximum Stress in Upright or Web Stiffener - Column 1, Section C11.20, fs ... .05 ( 1 - k ) should be 0.50 ( 1 - k ) and the area of the upright should be the effective area of the upright. See NACA TN 2661, page 19, equation (30a).

William F. McCombs of Dallas, Texas has written excellent supplements for Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures. Titles include ... "A Supplement to Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures" and "Engineering Column Analysis - The Analysis of Compression Members".

Dr. Bruhn has taught me more from beyond the grave than I learned cramming five years of college into nine. Many thanks to his family and publisher for keeping this book in print.

Mange Takk!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A structural engineers best friend, March 1, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures (Hardcover)

The work presented in this book has been used since it's inception by aircraft engineering professionals as the bible to be used for structural analysis - probably referenced as frequently as Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain.