Strength of damaged ring and orthogonally stiffened shells—Part II: T-ring and orthogonally stiffened shells: Fid-Bau Portal

Strength of damaged ring and orthogonally stiffened shells—Part II: T-ring and orthogonally stiffened shells

Walker, A.C. / McCall, S. / Thorpe, T.W.

AbstractThis paper is the second of two parts describing the procedure of, and results from, a series of tests on ring and orthogonally stiffened thin-walled shells. The primary purpose of the work was to investigate the collapse behaviour of the shells subjected to simulated damage and then tested under a combination of external pressure and axial compressive loading.The test specimens consisted of two five-bay cylinders stiffened with plain ring stiffeners; two three-bay cylinders stiffened with T-ring stiffeners and two three-bay orthogonally stiffened cylinders, one with twenty stringers, and the other with forty.This Part II deals with the tests on the T-ring and orthogonally stiffened shells. It is concluded from the test results that the T-ring stiffeners were much more effective than the corresponding plain-rings with regard to limiting the deformations which would result from minor impacts and practical conditions of loading. It is generally recommended that plain rings should not be used in shells which form parts of structural components potentially liable to damage from a minor collision, etc. It is also recommended that further work be done, including analysis and testing, to determine the optimum design of T-ring stiffeners to limit the effects of damage in an effective manner.