Weight optimization of helicoidal composite panels with curvilinear stiffeners considering stability constraints using a semi-analytical method

IF 5.7 1区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, CIVIL

Thin-Walled Structures Pub Date : 2025-03-06 DOI:10.1016/j.tws.2025.113142

Xin Lian , Haotian Wei , Weidong Zhang , Yuming Mao , Zhefeng Yu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

A semi-analytical method is proposed for optimizing the weight of helicoidal composite panels reinforced with curvilinear stiffeners. The need for optimization arises from the rising demand for lightweight yet structural safety designs in aerospace industries, and in these applications, conventional reinforcement approaches often lead to excessive weight or inadequate stress distribution. The plate and stiffeners are modeled using the first-order shear deformation theory, with displacement compatibility conditions ensuring their coupling. The robustness of the method is enhanced by employing Legendre polynomials as trial functions for the displacement field, while the Ritz method is employed to determine the pre-buckling and buckling responses of the structure. A comparison with FEA demonstrates the computational efficiency and accuracy of the approach, which is crucial to the entire optimization process. Aligning the stiffener paths with the out-of-plane displacement gradients of the panel provides better support in low-stiffness regions and improves stress distribution. Consequently, curvilinear stiffeners alleviate the stress concentrations, particularly along the panel edges and central regions, offering significant advantages for lightweight structural designs. The optimization reduces stiffener weight while maintaining the required buckling load capacity. Parametric analyses and case studies under uniaxial and biaxial compressive loads show that curvilinear stiffeners reduce the weight by >13.49 % compared to straight stiffeners.

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来源期刊

Thin-Walled Structures 工程技术-工程：土木

CiteScore

9.60

自引率

20.30%

发文量

801

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Thin-walled structures comprises an important and growing proportion of engineering construction with areas of application becoming increasingly diverse, ranging from aircraft, bridges, ships and oil rigs to storage vessels, industrial buildings and warehouses. Many factors, including cost and weight economy, new materials and processes and the growth of powerful methods of analysis have contributed to this growth, and led to the need for a journal which concentrates specifically on structures in which problems arise due to the thinness of the walls. This field includes cold– formed sections, plate and shell structures, reinforced plastics structures and aluminium structures, and is of importance in many branches of engineering. The primary criterion for consideration of papers in Thin–Walled Structures is that they must be concerned with thin–walled structures or the basic problems inherent in thin–walled structures. Provided this criterion is satisfied no restriction is placed on the type of construction, material or field of application. Papers on theory, experiment, design, etc., are published and it is expected that many papers will contain aspects of all three.