A Mixed Layerwise-Differential Quadrature Method for 3-D Vibration and Buckling Analyses of Orthogonally Stiffened Composite Conical Shell

A layerwise-differential quadrature method (LW-DQM) is developed for the vibration analysis of a stiffened laminated conical shell. The circumferential stiffeners (rings) and meridional stiffeners (stringers) are treated as discrete elements. The motion equations are derived by applying the Hamilton’s principle. In order to accurately account for the thickness effects and the displacement field of stiffeners, the layerwise theory is used to discretize the equations of motion and the related boundary conditions through the thickness. Then, the equations of motion as well as the boundary condition equations are transformed into a set of algebraic equations applying the DQM in the meridional direction. The advantage of the proposed model is its applicability to thin and thick unstiffened and stiffened shells with arbitrary boundary conditions. In addition, the axial load and external pressure is applied to the shell as a ratio of the global buckling load and pressure. This study demonstrates the accuracy, stability, and the fast rate of convergence of the present method, for the buckling and vibration analyses of stiffened conical shells. The presented results are compared with those of other shell theories and a special case where the angle of conical shell approaches zero, i.e. a cylindrical shell, and excellent agreements are achieved.