Refined discrete method for calculating stiffened orthotropic shells

The author proposes a refined discrete method for taking into account stiffeners in the simulationof thin-walled shell structures. According to the method, it is necessary to add different reduction factors along different coordinate axes. For ribs directed perpendicular to the considered direction, a reduction factor is introduced equal to the ratio of the width of the ribs in this direction to the linear size of the shell in the considered direction. This method supplements the previously developed geometrically nonlinear mathematical model, which takes into account transverse shears and material orthotropy. The model is written as a functional of the total potential strain energy and can be used for different types of shells by specifying the Lame parameters and the radii of principal curvatures. The computational algorithm is based on the Ritz method and the method of continuation of the solution with respect to the best parameter. The software implementation was carried out in the Maple software package. The applicability of the refined discrete method is shown by the example of orthotropic shallow shells of double curvature, simply supported along the contour and under the action of an external uniformly distributed transverse load. Material parameters were selected for T-10/UPE22-27 and 0/90 Woven Roving E-Glass/Vinyl Ester fiberglass. A comparison was made of the values of critical buckling loads for different stiffening options (a grid of ribs from 0 to 12 ribs in each direction) and a comparison of the values with the conventional discrete method, which showed that with the conventional discrete method, the values of buckling loads are significantly overestimated, especially with an increase in the number stiffening ribs. Comparison of the results of the test problem with the results of experiments obtained by other authors showed good agreement between the refined discrete method.