TOWARD THE OPTIMUM CONFIGURATION OF STIFFNERS AND PLATING IN SIMPLE BEAM STRUCTURES

Most of the available literature on structures and strength of materials in based on an analytical approach, in which a structure of a given type and size is analyzed to determine the stresses resulting from a given system of loads. From the design point of view, the problem should be approached in reverse. A. G. M. Michell, studying Clerk Maxwell's theorem for the least weight arrangement of filamentary trusses, arrived at the conclusion that in certain cases the least weight arrangement of the truss members or the stiffeners of an isotropic elastic continuum is obtained by following the principal strain trajectories. In this work, this theory was followed, together with another attempt through the optimization of the configurations of stiffeners and plating which consist of having the cross-section of the panel under consideration defined by means of the local stresses. As a consequence, the thickness of the plate and the dimensions of the stiffeners are changed gradually all over the plate. A computer program has been written through which the thickness and the dimensions of stiffeners at each point are obtained given the stresses. By applying this method, a reduction of about 40% in weight was obtained in a specific case. This may not yet be the least weight solution.

• Corporate Authors:

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Sea Grant Program, 77 Massachusetts Avenue
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02139
• Authors:
  • Pyrrait, L M
• Publication Date: 1973-9

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Hulls; Joints; Stiffened plates; Stiffness; Structural design; Vehicle design
• Uncontrolled Terms: Ship design
• Old TRIS Terms: Stiffened joints
• Subject Areas: Design; Marine Transportation; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00050822
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Report/Paper Numbers: MS Thesis
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 24 1974 12:00AM