Buckling Analysis and Optimization of Thin-walled Stiffened Cylindrical Shell

To improve the load-bearing capacity of buckling for thin-walled stiffened cylindrical shell,the buckling analysis of thin-walled stiffened cylindrical shell under axial compression is carried out.On conditions that the cylindrical shell has the same volume and the section sizes of stiffeners are fixed,the parameterized finite element model is set up to analyze the influence of the number of stiffeners on buckling mode and buckling load.The optimization model of thin-walled stiffened cylindrical shell,which has a constant volume,is developed and solved by genetic algorithms.The objective function of the optimization model is the maximum load-bearing capacity and the design variables include the number of vertical stiffeners,the skin thickness and the section sizes of stiffeners.The structural parameterized analysis process is set up by ANSYS APDL and the automatic re-analysis of the structure is realized.Results reveal that the number of stiffeners has great influence on buckling mode and buckling load.When the stiffeners are sparse,the buckling load of stiffened cylindrical shell is less than that of no-stiffener cylindrical shell with the same volume.When the stiffeners are overcrowded,the buckling load has a downward trend.The buckling load of thin-walled stiffened cylindrical shell is significantly improved because the reasonable number and section sizes of stiffeners are found by using the optimization method.