Resistance to buckling of a stiffened panel under axial compression; Effect of imperfections resulting from welding process

Abstract

Abstract Stiffened panels are major components of modern engineering structures. In general, a stiffened panel is made from a skin shell and stiffeners, assembled using welding process. In this work, the influence of the heat affected zone and the imperfections resulting from this operation on the bucking strength are parametrically analyzed. The welding process affects the geometric properties as well as it induces material degradations, causing an instability risk of the stiffened panel. Here, the buckling of the stiffened panel is modeled and analyzed by means of the finite element method under Abaqus software. It was found that the HAZ has a drastic influence on the buckling strength of the panel. Optimization of welding process was achieved and enabled to fix the best conditions to meet for assembling considering buckling vulnerability induced by welding.