Study on the thermal buckling and post-buckling of metallic sub-stiffening structure and its optimization

Thermal buckling and post-buckling behaviors of sub-stiffened panels were analyzed. The study was carried out by constructing an optimization processes of metallic sub-stiffened panel under the framework of Multidisciplinary software ModelCenter and Finite element software ABAQUS. The optimal design parameters of sub-stiffened panels for three different kinds of layout were acquired with Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. The optimal results showed that, compared to the conventional stiffened panel with equivalent mass designs, the critical thermal buckling temperatures of prismatic sub-stiffened panel, grid sub-stiffened panel and curvilinear sub-stiffened panel increased by 63.1, 57.1 and 70.5 %, respectively. The thermal post-buckling equilibrium paths of conventional stiffened panel and sub-stiffened panels were also compared by using Riks method. The results indicated that the introduction of sub-stiffening to the conventional stiffened panel can significantly improve the panel's thermal buckling load and thermal post-buckling behavior, which demonstrates that sub-stiffened structures have a promising application prospect in the field of structural engineering.