Salva, Joao Manuel Correia2015-09-092015-09-092015-09-09http://hdl.handle.net/10539/18603A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, University of the W i twatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg 1979.A comparison of 4 different materials for immediate app l i cation to aircraft primary structures was made on the basis of load-to-buckle/cost/mass. The materials tested were: Al-2024 T3 (Alclad) , glass fibre cloth, carbon fibre and asbestos fibre (Noramite) composites. A m a t h e matical formulation of the problem was used which was found to give very satisfactory res ults. This method made use of beam vibration modes and the Rayleigh-Ritz energy formulation and it was found that even with onl\ 4 modes of vibration, the results agreed very well with the computer analysis. A working equation lor the design of composite panels in shear is also given.enThesis