Cohesive Zone Model Modification Techniques According to the Mesh Size in Finite Element Models of Stiffened Panels with Debonding

When catastrophic failure phenomena in aircraft structures, such as debonding, are numerically analyzed during their design process in the frame of “Damage Tolerance” philosophy, extreme requirements in terms of time and computational resources arise. Here, a decrease in these requirements is achieved by developing a numerical model that efficiently treats the debonding phenomena that occur due to the buckling behavior of composite stiffened panels under compressive loads. The Finite Element (FE) models developed in the ANSYS© software (Canonsburg, PA, USA) are calibrated and validated by using published experimental and numerical results of single-stringer compression specimens (SSCS). Different model features, such as the type of the element used (solid and solid shell) and Cohesive Zone Modeling (CZM) parameters are examined for their impact on the efficiency of the model regarding the accuracy versus computational cost. It is proved that a significant reduction in computational time is achieved, and the accuracy is not compromised when the proposed FE model is adopted. The outcome of the present work leads to guidelines for the development of FE models of stiffened panels, accurately predicting the buckling and post-buckling behavior leading to debonding phenomena, with minimized computational and time cost. The methodology is proved to be a tool for the generation of a universal parametric numerical model for the analysis of debonding phenomena of any stiffened panel configuration by modifying the corresponding geometric, material and damage properties.

Numerical Investigation on Guided Waves Dispersion and Scattering Phenomena in Stiffened Panels

The aim of this work is to propose a numerical methodology based on the finite element (FE) method to investigate the dispersive behavior of guided waves transmitted, converted, and reflected by reinforced aluminum and composite structures, highlighting their differences. The dispersion curves of such modes can help designers in improving the damage detection sensitivity of Lamb wave based structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. A preliminary phase has been carried out to assess the reliability of the modelling technique. The accuracy of the results has been demonstrated for aluminum and composite flat panels by comparing them against experimental tests and semi-analytical data, respectively. Since the good agreement, the FE method has been used to analyze the phenomena of dispersion, scattering, and mode conversion in aluminum and composite panels characterized by a structural discontinuity, as a stiffener. The research activity allowed emphasizing modes conversion at the stiffener, offering new observations with respect to state of the art. Converted modes propagate with a slightly slower speed than the incident ones. Reflected waves, instead, have been found to travel with the same velocity of the incident ones. Moreover, waves reflected in the composite stiffened plate appeared different from those that occurred in the aluminum one for the aspects herein discussed.

BUCKLING AND POST-BUCKLING OF ISOTROPIC AND COMPOSITE STIFFENED PANELS: A REVIEW ON OPTIMISATION (2000-2015)

Stiffened panels made out of isotropic or anisotropic materials are being extensively used as structural elements for aircraft, maritime, and other structures. In order to maintain stiffness and strength with light weight, new design techniques must be employed when utilising these materials. Their stability, ultimate strength and loading capacity are the key issues pertaining to these engineering structures which have attracted a number of investigators to undertake in- depth research, either in an academic or actual engineering context. This paper presents a review of the optimisation techniques applied to buckling and post-buckling of stiffened panels. Papers published in the period from 2000 to May 2015 have been taken into consideration. The topic is addressed by identifying the most significant objectives, targets and issues, as well as the optimisation formulations, optimisation algorithms and models available. Finally a critical discussion, giving some practical advice and pointing out and post-buckling of stiffened panels, is provided.

BUCKLING AND POST-BUCKLING OF ISOTROPIC AND COMPOSITE STIFFENED PANELS: A REVIEW ON ANALYSIS AND EXPERIMENT (2000-2012)

Stiffened panels made out of isotropic or anisotropic materials are being extensively used as structural elements for aircraft, maritime, and other structures. In order to maintain stiffness and strength with light weight, new design techniques must be employed when utilising these materials. Their stability, ultimate strength and loading capacity are the key issues pertaining to these engineering structures which have attracted a number of investigators to undertake in- depth research, either in an academic or actual engineering context. This paper provides an extensive review of the research which has been conducted in recent years (2000-2012) on the buckling and post-buckling response of isotropic and composite stiffened plate and shell structures related to analysis and experiment. The key objective of this review article is to collate the research performed in the area of buckling and post-buckling behaviour of stiffened structures, thereby giving a broad perspective of the state-of-the-art in this field.

NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF GEOMETRY AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS ON THE COLLAPSE BEHAVIOUR OF STOCKY STIFFENED PANELS

This study aims at studying different configurations of the stiffened panels in order to identify robust configurations that would not be much sensitive to the imprecision in boundary conditions that can exist in experimental set ups. A numerical study is conducted to analyze the influence of the stiffener’s geometry and boundary conditions on the ultimate strength of stiffened panels under uniaxial compression. The stiffened panels with different combinations of mechanical material properties and geometric configurations are considered. The four types of stiffened panels analysed are made of mild or high tensile steel and have bar, ‘L’ and ‘U’ stiffeners. To understand the effect of finite element modelling on the ultimate strength of the stiffened panels, four types of FE models are investigated in FE analysis including 3 bays, 1/2+1+1/2 bays, 1+1 bays and 1 bay with different boundary conditions.

A Contribution to Analytical Solutions for Buckling Analysis of Axially Compressed Rectangular Stiffened Panels

Analytical solution to the buckling problems of stiffened panels subjected to in-plane compressive loads is presented. The total potential energy functional of stiffened panel is obtained by the summation of that of a line continuum and stiffened panel derived from elastic principles of mechanics. Minimizing the resulting equation with respect to deflection coefficient and rearranging gives the expression for obtaining the buckling load of stiffened panel. Exact deflection functions were substituted directly in the new solution and various edge conditions were considered in this analysis. Obtained results were compared with analytical results of previous works. The method is computationally efficient for complex edge conditions and gives high numerical accuracy.

Investigation of the out-of-plane load-bearing capacity of T1100/5405 composite T-stiffened panels

With the continuous improvement of the mechanical properties of composite materials, the adhesive interface performance of composite T-stiffened panels has become a critical factor in determining the overall structural strength. However, little work has been reported on the mechanical properties of adhesive interfaces in composite T-stiffened panels under lateral bending and shear loading. Especially, there is no clear explanation on the damage evolution law of structural properties for the interface with defects, which greatly influenced the use of T-stiffened composite structures. In this paper, the mechanical properties of T1100/5405 composite T-stiffened laminates under lateral bending and shear loading are experimentally and numerically investigated. The load-bearing capacities for the panels with intact and defected adhesive interfaces are compared, the damage evolution law of typical T-stiffened structures is further explored. Based on the continuum damage model (CDM) and the cohesive zone model (CZM), the constitutive models of the adhesive layer and the composite material are established respectively. Good agreements between experimental and numerical profiles illustrate that damages mainly occur on the loading side and the corner of the L-type ribs under lateral bending conditions, while damages extend from both sides of the interface layer to the center under shear loading. When a prefabricated defect exists, damages extend from the defect location along the loading direction. At the same time, the analysis shows that the lay-up of the surface layer, the chamfer radius, and the width of T-type ribs have a great influence on the structural load-bearing capacity, but less on the damage evolution form.