glider with locally buckled skin of the wings

This slide shows local buckles in the upper surface of the glider’s wings as the glider circles a mountain peak. The wings bend "upward" (toward the viewer), putting the upper surface in span-wise (axial) compression that increases from the wing tip to the fuselage.

For extra-light weight, the wings of the glider are designed to permit local buckling of the skin between the internal stiffeners (spars and ribs). The local postbuckling behavior is stable because the internal stiffening members are designed to accept the load shed by the locally postbuckled skin. (Photo by Connie Indrebo)

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