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Flip to reveal answersFrame, shell and solid — what distinguishes them?
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All 4 Flashcards — Classifying structures
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Question
Frame, shell and solid — what distinguishes them?
Answer
What carries the load. A frame carries it along slender members meeting at joints; a shell through a thin curved surface; a solid through its bulk, mostly in compression.
Question
How can you tell a shell from a frame on a real product?
Answer
Ask what a hole would do. A frame loses one member, which bracing may cover. A shell loses most of its stiffness, because the surface was the structure.
Question
Why does a rectangular frame need a diagonal brace?
Answer
A four-bar rectangle folds into a parallelogram with no member changing length. A diagonal makes two triangles, and a triangle cannot change shape unless a member stretches or shortens.
Question
Why is a flat panel not a shell?
Answer
It carries load in bending, which is the weak way. Curvature, a fold or a rib converts bending into in-plane forces, which is what makes a shell stiff.
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Topic 3.2 hub
Structural systems
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