Analyzing the Form-Finding of a Large-Span Transversely Stiffened Suspended Cable System: A Method Considering Construction Processes

The precise control of the shape of transversely stiffened suspended cable systems is crucial. However, existing form-finding methods primarily rely on iterative calculations that treat loads as fixed known conditions. These methods are inefficient and fail to accurately control shape results. In this study, we propose a form-finding method that analyzes the load response of models under different sag and stress levels, taking into account the construction process. To analyze the system, a structural finite element model was established in ANSYS, and geometric nonlinear analysis was conducted using the Newton-Raphson method. The form-finding analysis results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves precise control of shape, with a maximum shape error ranging from 0.33% to 0.98%. Furthermore, the relationships between loads and tension forces are influenced by the deformed shape of the structures, exhibiting significant geometric nonlinear characteristics. Meanwhile, the load response analysis reveals that the stress level of the self-equilibrium state in the transversely stiffened suspended cable system is primarily governed by strength criteria, while shape is predominantly controlled by stiffness criteria. Importantly, by simulating the initial tensioning process as an initial condition, this method solves for a counterweight that satisfies the requirements and achieves a self-equilibrium state with the desired shape. The shape of the self-equilibrium state is precisely controlled by simulating the construction process. Overall, this work presents a new method for analyzing the form-finding process of large-span transversely stiffened suspended cable system, considering the construction process which was often overlooked in previous studies.

Fatigue behavior of aluminum stiffened plate subjected to random vibration loading

Vibration tests were carried out on three types of stiffened aluminum plates with fully clamped boundaries under random base excitation. During the test, the response of the specimens was monitored using strain gauges. Based on the strain history, the accumulation of fatigue damage of the stiffened plates was estimated by means of the rainflow cycle counting technique and the Miner linear damage accumulation model in the time domain. Utilizing the change of natural frequencies, a nonlinear model was fitted for predicting the fatigue damage of plate and then the foregone failure criterion of 5% reduction in natural frequency is improved. The influence of section and spacing of the stiffeners on the vibration fatigue behavior of the aluminum plate was investigated. The results show that the fatigue life of aluminum plate increases with adding either T or L section riveted stiffeners. With the same cross-sectional area of stiffener, the T section stiffened plate shows longer fatigue life than L section stiffened plate. Meanwhile, the vibration fatigue life also shows great sensitivity to the spacing between the stiffeners.

Residual Strength of Stiffened LY12CZ Aluminum Alloy Panels with Widespread Fatigue Damage

Experimental and analytical investigations on the residual strength of the stiffened LY12CZ aluminum alloy panels with widespread fatigue damage （WFD） are conducted. Nine stiffened LY12CZ aluminum alloy panels with three different types of damage are tested for residual strength. Each specimen is pre-cracked at rivet holes by saw cuts and subjected to a monotonically increasing tensile load until failure is occurred and the failure load is recorded. The stress intensity factors at the tips of the lead crack and the adjacent WFD cracks of the stiffened aluminum alloy panels are calculated by compounding approach and finite element method （FEM） respectively. The residual strength of the stiffened panels with WFD is evaluated by the engineering method with plastic zone linkup criterion and the FEM with apparent fracture toughness criterion respectively. The predicted residual strength agrees well with the experiment results. It indicates that in engineering practice these methods can be used for residual strength evaluation with the acceptable accuracy. It can be seen from this research that WFD can significantly reduce the residual strength and the critical crack length of the stiffened panels with WFD. The effect of WFD crack length on residual strength is also studied.

Stiffened状态方程下γ-model方法跟踪二维多介质流动

在 Stiffened状态方程下 ,运用 Level-set方程跟踪界面运动变化 ,把界面捕捉的等效方程、Level-set函数和欧拉方程组耦合 ,求解包含比热比和材料参数的耦合形式的流体力学方程组。计算方法采用二阶精度 Wave-propagation算法 ,通过对气体 -液体两种流体的一维 Riemann问题、激波和气泡相互作用以及气液两种流体Richtmyer-Meshkov界面不稳定性问题进行数值模拟 ,抑制了不同介质界面两侧的非物理振荡。

Optimum design of hierarchical stiffened shells for low imperfection sensitivity

A concept of hierarchical stiffened shell is proposed in this study, aiming at reducing the imperfection sen- sitivity without adding additional weight. Hierarchical stiffened shell is composed of major stiffeners and minor stiff- eners, and the minor stiffeners are generally distributed between adjacent major stiffeners. For various types of geo- metric imperfections, e.g., eigenmode-shape imperfections, hierarchical stiffened shell shows significantly low imper- fection sensitivity compared to traditional stiffened shell. Furthermore, a surrogate-based optimization framework is proposed to search for the hierarchical optimum design. Then, two optimum designs based on two different opti- mization objectives （including the critical buckling load and the weighted sum of collapse loads of geometrically imperfect shells with small- and large-amplitude imperfections） are compared and discussed in detail. The illustrative example demonstrates the inherent superiority of hierarchical stiffened shells in resisting imperfections and the effectiveness of the proposed framework. Moreover, the decrease of imperfection sensitivity can finally be converted into a decrease of structural weight, which is particularly important in the development of large-diameter launch vehicles.

A study of the perforation of stiffened plates by rigid projectiles

In the present paper, a four-stage perforation model that accurately predicts the residual velocity is developed by adopting an energy method. The four stages are plug formation, dishing formation, petal formation and projectile exit. In addition, some important experimental results are presented and analyzed to validate the present perforation model. In the experiments, high speed camera system is used to record the perforation process. Observations on target damage and measurements of initial velocities and residual velocities with the aid of the system are presented. Numerical simulations are carried out for projectiles against single and layered plates adopted in the experiments. The perforation process is studied and the deformation and failure modes are obtained. The predictions of numerical simulations and analytical model are found in reasonably good agreement with those of experiments, and can be used to predict the ballistic limit and residual velocity of stiffened plates perforated by rigid projectiles.

Field testing of stiffened deep cement mixing piles under lateral cyclic loading

Construction of seaside and underground wall bracing often uses stiffened deep cement mixed columns （SDCM）. This research investigates methods used to improve the level of bearing capacity of these SDCM when subjected to cyclic lateral loading via various types of stiffer cores. Eight piles, two deep cement mixed piles and six stiffened deep cement mixing piles with three different types of cores, H shape cross section prestressed concrete, steel pipe, and H-beam steel, were embedded though soft clay into medium-hard clay on site in Thailand. Cyclic horizontal loading was gradually applied until pile failure and the hysteresis loops of lateral load vs. lateral deformation were recorded. The lateral carrying capacities of the SDCM piles with an H-beam steel core increased by 3-4 times that of the DCM piles. This field research clearly shows that using H-beam steel as a stiffer core for SDCM piles is the best method to improve its lateral carrying capacity, ductility and energy dissipation capacity.

Vibration and Acoustic Radiation from Orthogonally Stiffened Infinite Circular Cylindrical Shells in Water

Based on the motion differential equations of vibration and acoustic coupling system for thin elastic shells with ribs, by means of the Fourier integral transformation and the Fourier inverse transformation, as well as the stationary phase method, an analytic solution, which has satisfying computational effectiveness and precision, is derived for the solution to the vibration and acoustic radiation from a submerged stiffened infinite circular cylinder with both ring and axial ribs. It is easy to analyze the effect of stiffening supports in the acoustic radiation field by use of the formulas obtained by the presented method and corresponding numerical computation. It is shown that the axial-stiffeners can improve the mechanical and acoustical characteristics. Moreover, the present method can be used to study the acoustic radiation mechanism of the type of structure.

An Efficient Method for Local Buckling Analysis of Stiffened Panels

The local buckling of stiffened panels is one of possible failure modes and concerned by engineers in the preliminary design of lightweight structures. In practice,a simplified model,i.e.,a rectangular plate with elastically restrained along its unloaded edges,is established and the Ritz method is usually employed for solutions. To use the Ritz method,however,the loaded edges of the plate are usually assumed to be simply supported. An empirical correction factor has to be used to account for clamped loaded edges. Here,a simple and efficient method,called the quadrature element method(QEM),is presented for obtaining accurate buckling behavior of rectangular plates with any combinations of boundary conditions, including the elastically restrained conditions. Different from the conventional high order finite element method(FEM),non-uniformly distributed nodes are used,and thus the method can achieve an exponential rate of convergence. Formulations are worked out in detail. A computer program is developed. Improvement of solution accuracy can be easily achieved by changing the number of element nodes in the computer program. Several numerical examples are given. Results are compared with either existing solutions or finite element data for verifications. It is shown that high solution accuracy is achieved. In addition,the proposed method and developed computer program can allow quick analysis of local buckling of stiffened panels and thus is suitable for optimization routines in the preliminary design stage.

Formulation of Reduction Rate for Ultimate Compressive Strength of Stiffened Panel Induced by Opening

The main objective of this study is to numerically investigate the characteristics of ultimate compressive strength of stiffened panels with opening and also to fit the design-oriented formulae. For this purpose, three series of well executed experimental data on longitudinally stiffened steel plates with and without opening subjected to the uniform axial in-pane load which is carried out to study the buckling and post-buckling up to the final failure are chosen. Also, a nonlinear finite element method capable of efficiently analyzing the large elasto-plastic deflection behavior of stiffened panels is developed and used for simulation. The feasibility of the present simulation process is confirmed by a good agreement with the experimental results. More case studies are developed employing the simulation process to analyze the influence of various design variables on the reduction rate of ultimate strength of stiffened panel induced by opening. Based on the computed results, two design formulae are fitted and the accuracy of design formulae is studied. Furthermore, the viability of the design formulae for practical engineering is proved.

Strength Reliability Analysis of Stiffened Cylindrical Shells Considering Failure Correlation

The stiffened cylindrical shell is commonly used for the pressure hull of submersibles and the legs of offshore platforms. There are various failure modes because of uncertainty with the structural size and material properties, uncertainty of the calculation model and machining errors. Correlations among failure modes must be considered with the structural reliability of stiffened cylindrical shells. However, the traditional method cannot consider the correlations effectively. The aim of this study is to present a method of reliability analysis for stiffened cylindrical shells which considers the correlations among failure modes. Firstly, the joint failure probability calculation formula of two related failure modes is derived through use of the 2D joint probability density function. Secondly, the full probability formula of the tandem structural system is given with consideration to the correlations among failure modes. At last, the accuracy of the system reliability calculation is verified through use of the Monte Carlo simulation. Result of the analysis shows the failure probability of stiffened cylindrical shells can be gained through adding the failure probability of each mode.

Dynamic Response of Stiffened Plates with Holes Subjected to Shock Waves and Fragments

The power field of shock waves and fragments is analyzed and set up, and the damage modes of stiffened plates are put forward. According to the structural characters of the stiffened plates investigated and the properties of the shock waves and fragments, the experiments on the shock waves acting on the stiffened plates (penetrated and non-penetrated by fragments) are mainly conducted. The dynamic response rules of stiffened plates with holes under shock waves and fragments loading are obtained. The results show that the penetration of fragments into stiffened plates hardly affects their deformation produced by shock waves..

Buckling and large deflection behaviors of radially functionally graded ring-stiffened circular plates with various boundary conditions

The buckling and large deflection behaviors of axis-symmetric radially functionally graded （RFG） ring-stiffened circular plates are investigated by the dynamic relaxation （DR） method combined with the finite difference discretization technique. The material properties of the constituent components of the RFG plate are assumed to vary continuously according to the Mori-Tanalka distribution along the radial direction. The nonlinear governing equations are obtained in the incremental form based on the firstorder shear deformation plate theory （FSDT） and the von Karman relations for large deflection. In the buckling analysis, an external in-plane load is applied to the plate in- crementally so that, in each load-step, the incremental form of the governing equations can be solved by a numerical code prepared based on the DR method. After converging the DR code in the first increment, the latter load-step is added to the previous one, and the program is repeated again. The critical buckling load is determined from the compressive load-displacement curve obtained by solving the incremental form of the governing equations. Based on the present incremental form of formulation, a bending analysis can also be conducted if the whole load is applied simultaneously. Finally, a detailed parametric study is carried out to investigate the influences of various boundary conditions, grading indices, thickness-to-radius ratios, stiffener＇s positions and depths on the critical buckling load, and displacements and stresses resulted from the bending analysis. It is observed that the effect of the stiffener on the results is much greater in the functionally graded plate with higher material grading indices. The results also reveal that, by increasing the depth of the stiffer, the values of ascending the critical buckling load are approximately identical for both simply supported and clamped boundary conditions.

One-Dimensional Localization of Elastic Waves in Rib-Stiffened Plates

The 1 dimensional localization of elastic waves in disordered periodic multi span rib stiffened plates is investigated. The transfer matrix method is employed to obtain the transfer matrix of the system, and the method for calculating the Lyapunov exponents in continuous dynamic systems presented by Wolf is used to determine the localization factor. As examples, the numerical results of the localization factors are given for a disordered rib stiffened plate. The effects of the degree of disorder of span...

Postbuckling of Imperfect Stiffened Cylindrical Shells Under Combined External Liquid Pressure and Axial Compression

posthuckling analysis is presented for the stilTened cylindrical shell of finite length subjected to combined loading of external liquid pressure and axial compression. The formulations are based on a boundary layer theory of shell buckling, which includes the effects of nonlinear prebuckling deformations, nonlinear large deflections in the postbuckling range and initial geometrical imperfections of the shell. The 'smeared stifl'cner' approach is adopted for the stiffencrs. In the analysis a singular perturbation technique is used (o determine the interactive buckling loads and the postbuckling paths. Numerical examples cover the performance of perfect and imperfect, stringer and ring stiffened cylindrical shells. Typical results arc presented in the dimcnsionless graphical form.

B-Spline Wavelet on Interval Finite Element Method for Static and Vibration Analysis of Stiffened Flexible Thin Plate

A new wavelet finite element method(WFEM)is constructed in this paper and two elements for bending and free vibration problems of a stiffened plate are analyzed.By means of generalized potential energy function and virtual work principle,the formulations of the bending and free vibration problems of the stiffened plate are derived separately.Then,the scaling functions of the B-spline wavelet on the interval(BSWI)are introduced to discrete the solving field variables instead of conventional polynomial interpolation.Finally,the corresponding two problems can be resolved following the traditional finite element frame.There are some advantages of the constructed elements in structural analysis.Due to the excellent features of the wavelet,such as multi-scale and localization characteristics,and the excellent numerical approximation property of the BSWI,the precise and efficient analysis can be achieved.Besides,transformation matrix is used to translate the meaningless wavelet coefficients into physical space,thus the resolving process is simplified.In order to verify the superiority of the constructed method in stiffened plate analysis,several numerical examples are given in the end.

Reliability of the Ultimate Strength of Ship Stiffened Panel Subjected to Random Corrosion Degradation

Attentions have been increasingly paid to the influence of the corrosion on the ultimate strength of ship structures. In consideration of the random characteristics of the corrosion of ship structures, the method for the ultimate strength analysis of the ship stiffened panel structure subjected to random corrosion degradation is presented. According to the measured corrosion data of the bulk carriers, the distribution characteristics of the corrosion data for the stiffened panel on the midship deck are analyzed, and a random corrosion model is established. The ultimate strength of the corroded stiffened panel is calculated by lhe nonlinear finite element analysis. The statistical descriptions of the ultimate strength of the corroded stiffened panel are defined through the Monte Carlo simulations. A formula is proposed on the ultimate strength reduction of the stiffened panel as a function of the corrosion volume. The reliability analysis of the ultimate strength of the corroded deck stiffened panel is performed. It shows that both the corrosion data of the deck stiffened panel and the ultimate strength of the random corroded deck stiffened panel follow the log-normal distribution. The ultimate stress ratio of the stiffened panel is inversely proportional to the corrosion volume ratio.

Beam Approximation for Dynamic Analysis of Launch Vehicles Modelled as Stiffened Cylindrical Shells

A beam approximation method for dynamic analysis of launch vehicles modelled as stiffened cylindrical shells is proposed.Firstly,an initial beam model of the stiffened cylindrical shell is established based on the cross-sectional area equivalence principle that represents the shell skin and its longitudinal ribs as a beam with annular cross-section,and the circumferential ribs as lumped masses at the nodes of the beam elements.Then,a fine finite element model(FE model)of the stiffened cylindrical shell is constructed and a modal analysis is carried out.Finally,the initial beam model is improved through model updating against the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the fine FE model of the shell.To facilitate the comparison between the mode shapes of the fine FE model of the stiffened shell and the equivalent beam model,a weighted nodal displacement coupling relationship is introduced.To prevent the design parameters used in model updating from converging to incorrect values,a pre-model updating procedure is added before the proper model updating.The results of two examples demonstrate that the beam approximation method presented in this paper can build equivalent beam models of stiffened cylindrical shells which can reflect the global longitudinal,lateral and torsional vibration characteristics very well in terms of the natural frequencies.

Geometrically Nonlinear Random Responses of Stiffened Plates Under Acoustic Pressure

An algorithm integrating reduced order model(ROM),equivalent linearization(EL),and finite element method(FEM)is proposed to carry out geometrically nonlinear random vibration analysis of stiffened plates under acoustic pressure loading.Based on large deflection finite element formulation,the nonlinear equations of motion of stiffened plates are obtained.To reduce the computation,a reduced order model of the structures is established.Then the EL technique is incorporated into FE software NASTRAN by the direct matrix abstraction program(DMAP).For the stiffened plates,a finite element model of beam and plate assembly is established,in which the nodes of beam elements are shared with shell elements,and the offset and section properties of the beam are set.The presented method can capture the root-mean-square(RMS) of the stress responses of shell and beam elements of stiffened plates,and analyze the stress distribution of the stiffened surface and the unstiffened surface,respectively.Finally,the statistical dynamic response results obtained by linear and EL methods are compared.It is shown that the proposed method can be used to analyze the geometrically nonlinear random responses of stiffened plates.The geometric nonlinearity plays an important role in the vibration response of stiffened plates,particularly at high acoustic pressure loading.

Set-based parametric modeling, buckling and ultimate strength estimation of stiffened ship structures

There have been a great demand for a suitable and convenient method in the field of buckling analysis of stiffened ship structures, which is essential to structural safety assessment and is significantly time-consuming. Modeling, buckling behaviors and ultimate strength prediction of stiffened panels were investigated. The modeling specification including nonlinear finite element model and imperfections generation, and post-buckling analysis procedure of stiffened plates were demonstrated. And a software tool using set-based finite element method was developed and executed in the MSC. Marc environment. Different types of stiffen panels of marine structures have been employed to investigate the buckling behavior and assess the validity in the estimation of ultimate strength. A comparison between results of the generally accepted methods, experiments and the software tool developed was demonstrated. It is shown that the software tool can predict the ultimate capacity of stiffened panels with imperfections with a good accuracy.