Bending of composite stiffened hypar shell roofs under point load

The present paper applies a combination of an eight noded shell element with a three noded beam element, both curved and isoparametric to solve a bending problem of a composite stiffened hypar shell subjected to a concentrated load. Benchmark problems are solved to validate the suitability of the approach and a wide spectrum of stiffened hypar shell problems are solved by varying the lamination and curvature of simply supported and clamped shell surfaces. Different positions of stiffeners, both in plan and section, are considered together with variation of stiffener depth. Both static deflections and force/moment resultants are examined thoroughly. The performances of the different shell options are studied by arranging them rankwise and through a typical relative performance matrix, which will enable a designer to make a rational choice between a number of options.