Investigation of the Effect of Stiffener Parameters on Post-buckling Strength of Stiffened Composite Panels Using FEA

Composite stiffened panels are widely used in numerous components of aircraft. Stiffeners can recover stability and stiffness efficiently with less gain in the structure’s weight when compared to increasing plate thickness. In this paper, finite element analysis of stiffened panels made of composite is carried out using ABAQUS. Damage analysis within the plies is performed by implementing progressive damage modelling based on Hashin’s criteria. The initiation and evolution of the adhesive layer damage are modelled using cohesive zone modelling. A convergence study is conducted to find the optimal mesh size. Next, a parametric study is carried out by varying stiffener sections such as T, I, and C. The failure load and the post-buckling stiffness of the structure are taken as performance examiners to evaluate the concert of each stiffener. In this work, optimization of the stiffened panel is carried out by using Rao-1 Algorithm. The optimal dimensions of the stiffener height, the distance between the stiffeners, the thickness of the stiffener, the height of the stiffener, and the thickness of the panel are estimated for the given specified panel size.