Structure having net-area-tension joint

A structure, comprising:

• a skin panel;
• a net-area-tension fastener pattern formed in the skin panel and configured to receive fasteners defining a net-area-tension joint for coupling a component attach fitting of a component to the skin panel, the net-area-tension fastener pattern including:
• two or more generally parallel rows of fastener holes, including a first row and a last row, each row oriented generally perpendicular to a primary load direction of a load that the component is capable of exerting on the skin panel via the net-area-tension joint, the first row located upstream of the last row relative to the primary load direction;
• each row having at least two fastener holes, the diameter of the fastener holes in the first row and the last row being respectively the smallest and the largest in the net-area-tension fastener pattern;
• and
• the fastener holes in each row being spaced apart at a spacing ratio of hole spacing to hole diameter, the spacing ratio of the first row being greater than the spacing ratio of the last row.

A method of manufacturing an aircraft structure of an aircraft, comprising:

• forming a net-area-tension fastener pattern in a skin panel, the net-area-tension fastener pattern configured to receive fasteners defining a net-area-tension joint coupling a component attach fitting of an aircraft component to the skin panel, the net-area-tension fastener pattern including:
• two or more generally parallel rows of fastener holes, including a first row and a last row, each row oriented generally perpendicular to a primary load direction of a load that the aircraft component is capable of exerting on the skin panel via the net-area-tension joint, the first row located upstream of the last row relative to the primary load direction;
• each row having at least two fastener holes, the diameter of the fastener holes in the first row and the last row being respectively the smallest and the largest in the net-area-tension fastener pattern, the diameter of the fastener holes in subsequent rows incrementally increasing in size along the primary load direction;
• and
• the fastener holes in each of the rows being spaced apart at a spacing ratio of hole spacing to hole diameter, the spacing ratio of the first row being greater than the spacing ratio of the last row.