The fatigue life of wooden gliders

Abstract

Failure by fatigue, whereby fracture occurs in a material after the application of a number of cycles of alternating or repeated stresses of a lower level than the maximum static failure stress, is now a well-known phenomenon.  However, little seems to have been published of its effects on wooden  structures.  The notes and calculations that follow show that under normal circumstances there seems to be little to worry about in  a correctly operated wooden  glider.....