Sailplane Wing spar and CF
 

For my 117" wingspan built up sailplane wing, can I simply epoxy CF tow to the top and bottom of each spar to increase the stiffness or do I have to do the whole composite spar thing?:eek:

RE: Sailplane Wing spar and CF
 

Without knowing what your spar looks like it is difficult to answer. This is what I do for the spars in my Pylon Racer wings.

I make a spar from 1/8" thick "Liteply" that is 1" deep. I epoxy carbon tow either side of the spar, not on the top or bottom. It is virtually impossible to break the spar bending it edgeways.

Ed S

RE: Sailplane Wing spar and CF
 

Yes you can, BUT the wing will still fail. If the limiting factor was the strength of the spars your wing will be stronger, but if the limiting factor was your shear web to spar bond it won't matter.

The reason they do the whole composite spar thing is the carbon makes the spar so much stronger that the spar-web bond fails, so they wrap the spar with tow to keep it from buckling outward, then the shear webs fail so they wrap the whole thing in biased glass or kevlar to take the shear stresses.

If you just want a stronger spar try:

Make your shear webs as wide as your spars.
Making the best possible fit between parts.
Make the best glue joints you can.
Add CF on the spars, twice as thick on the top as the bottom.
Put a few wraps of kevlar tow at each end of the spar to stop it from peeling off.
Put a few wraps of kevlar to at both ends of any wing tubes you use to keep them from buckling outward.

or

Just don't launch so hard, you use the super spar for 4 seconds a flight, but the weight is in the wing for the whole flight, light wings fly better.

RE: Sailplane Wing spar and CF
 

Ed S. and knowhereman,

Could you please post a picture about what you did and what you're doing?

I'd really appreciate that.