Equivalent single layer approach for predicting ultimate strength of stiffened panel under different load combinations

Abstract

The focus of this study is to demonstrate the applicability of equivalent single layer (ESL) approach for the ultimate strength assessment of stiffened panels under various loading types. In the ESL approach, the stiffened panel is replaced with a single plate, which has the equivalent stiffness of the original panel. Recent investigations have shown that removal of tertiary stiffening elements from the numerical model facilitates time-savings in pre-processing and FE analysis stage, but only limited range of loading types have been considered. Therefore, this paper investigates in more detail the effect of loading type on ESL accuracy. Panels were subjected to combinations of uniaxial (longitudinal and transverse), biaxial and shear load components. Moreover, ESL analysis are conducted both in Abaqus implicit (UGENS subroutine) and explicit (VUGENS subroutine) to provide comparison in terms of numerical efficiency and analysis accuracy between the two numerical schemes.