Buckling of Aircraft Panels with Integral Stiffners

[moonrat14]

Hello everyone!

Just a question I have,

Obviously the aircraft industry is now satrting to look into the use of intergrally stiffend panels instead of the traditional riveted assembly. This provides obviously cost and weight savings. Perfect!!

But what I am wondering is, what effect (negative, positive or negligible) does the introduction of integral stiffeners have on the buckling performance(particualry intial buckling under compressive loading)of the structure?


Thank you

 

[rb1957]

what are you comparing ? a conventional panel with an integrally stiffened panel sized for ...
1) the same area,
2) the same load,
3) the same stiffener pitch,
...

basically, you get the panel you design. will an integrally stiffened panel be lighter for the same load ? probably.

remember, however, you can't mix materials (like you would like a lower wing plank, conventionally 2024 skins and 7075 stringers), and the residual strength of an integrally stiffened panel is lower than a rivetted panel.

 

[SWComposites]

There are probably some small benefits relative to initial buckling loads for integrally stiffened panels, but it really depends a lot on the details of the designs and the particular load cases. Besides, initial buckling is not a large weight driver for typical panels.