Effect of stiffeners on nature of post-critical deformations of thin-walled composite aircraft structures: A combined numerical-experimental study

This paper presents results of numerical and experimental examination of thin-walled structures which model certain parts of aircraft structures subject to bending and torsion. The considered type of load and deformation corresponds to the state of such structures typical for in-flight conditions. A physical model of the analysed structure in several versions with and without stiffeners was made of composite materials. It was assumed that post-critical deformations of the structure are admissible within the limit loads. Results of non-linear numerical analyses carried out with the use of the finite element method applied to several variant structures with various types of stiffeners are compared with results of measurements taken on corresponding models.