Stability analysis of weight optimum waffle cylindrical shells -A new approach

In this article, an analytical procedure is presented for prediction of linear buckling load of a waffle cylinder stiffened by an array of equilateral triangles. The grid stiffened shell is subjected to axial loading condition. The shell has simply supported boundary conditions at its two edges. The equivalent stiffness of the stiffener and skin is computed by superimposing between the stiffness contributions of the stiffeners and skin with a new method. Total stiffness matrix of the shell is composed of stiffness matrix of skin and grids with special volume fractions. In this analysis, using energy method, equilibrium equations of the grid stiffened shell are extracted based on the thin shell theory of Flugge. The Navier solution is applied to solve the problem. A 3-D finite element model was also built in ANSYS software to show the accuracy and validity of the present solution. The results show that the present new approach has high accuracy and precision. The effect of various geometrical parameters on the critical buckling load is investigated. Due to the stability and accuracy, the present method can be used by many designers and engineers to improve their design quality.