Design, fabrication and finite element analysis of hat-stiffened panel under uni-axial compression

摘要

In conventional aircraft application, it is common practice to design stiffened metallic plate and shell structures to buckle below design ultimate limit. Post-buckled design allows buckling before design limit is reached and the buckled structure can carry design ultimate load. Usually, the post-buckled design also results in significant weight savings when compared to buckling-resistant design. In the present study, the aim was to explore technologies for manufacturing integral composite structures to evaluate the manufacturing concepts by determining the structural behavior of hat-stiffened composite panels under compression loading. The experimental results of hat-stiffened panels for initial buckling and post-buckled response under compression loading were compared with numerical results obtained using linear and non-linear finite element analysis.