Sizing of Compression Stiffened Panel using Structural Index Concept

Different steps of design process in aerospace structures, interaction of design parameters in the complete design process and the necessity of the preliminary prediction of structural geometrydictate the presence of a general parametric design method for preliminary sizing of different structural components. The design method of structural index concept is a simultaneous design and analysis process that can provide complete details of panel geometry by having the structural index and material properties of a stiffened panel. In this paper, the design and analysis process of compressed stiffened panel is described by structural index concept with general configuration and the results are extracted with two different approaches. Then the results are modified to confirm the common iterative methods. Finally, the results are compared with the results of current methods. In addition to its application as a design method, structural index concept also can be used to determine optimal region of design space and choose initial design points which required for numerical optimization methods based on analytical or F.E.M methods.