PREFACE TO STRUCTURES SERIES

The design engineer who is concerned with aircraft and aircraft equipment faces an ever-increasing demand for products with a performance that must be substantiated under stringent conditions of cost and environment. Assuming the basic skill of the designer, no other single factor can contribute more to the economic preparation of a satisfactory, competitive design than having to hand good reliable design data.

Data concerning aerospace structures are widely scattered and, when located, are of variable quality and relevance to industrial applications. The task of collecting and evaluating all the relevant data available on a particular aspect of aircraft structures is time consuming and therefore expensive. Even if such a task is performed it is often found that the customer will wish to view the design, not against some locally derived data, but against what can be demonstrated to be the best data that can be ascertained and that are vouched for by a significant cross-section of the engineering and scientific community concerned with both the derivation and application of data on structures. Accordingly, the Structures Series has been prepared to meet design requirements with regard to aircraft structures for both the designer and his customer and, by serving the needs of many, accomplishes the task at much lower cost and with a higher reliability than could the individual.

A qualified staff, with the assistance of many individuals and establishments throughout the world in research, industry and academia, collect and evaluate the existing data. The staff discard those data that are irrelevant or unreliable, correlating and distilling those that remain into an authoritative working tool for engineering application. Throughout, their work is guided and monitored by an expert group and ad hoc working parties.