ESDU 00030:2013

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.