METAMODELING METHODOLOGY FOR POSTBUCKLING SIMULATION OF COMPOSITE STIFFENED STRUCTURES WITH PHYSICAL VALIDATION

K. Kalnins 1, R. Rikards 1, J. Auzins 1, C. Bisagni 2 and H. Abramovich 3

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Institute of Materials and Structures, Riga Technical University, Riga LV-1658, Latvia E-mail: kaspars.kalnins@sigmanet.lv 2 Department of Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy 3 Department of Aerospace Engineering, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

Keywords: Metamodeling, Postbuckling, Stiffened Structures, Composites, Physical Experiments, Material Degradation

Abstract The metamodeling methodology has been proposed for postbuckling simulation of stiffened composite structures that takes material degradation into account. Proposed methodology for elaboration of the fast simulation procedure for axially or torsionally loaded stiffened composite structures is based on response surface methodology (RSM) and design and analysis of computer experiments (DACE). Numerical analyses have been parametrically sampled by means of ANSYS/LS-DYNA probabilistic design toolbox extracting the load-shortening response curves. These response curves were approximated using piece-wise uniform metamodels identifying the skin and the stiffener buckling loads as well as recognising the buckling and postbuckling stiffnesses ratios. Different parametric and non parametric polynomial functions were used for metamodeling. Three stiffened panel designs together with two closed box structure metamodels have been trained and validated with the tests performed within the COCOMAT1 project. An investigation was performed to obtain the behaviour of stiffened composite shells in the presence of predetermined degradation, in regions between the outer skin and stiffeners. Preselected degradation scenarios have been elaborated based on industrial certification requirements and the worst case scenario approach. Parametric studies over a wide range of damage sizes and sites were carried out to study the effects of the material softening parameters on overall postbuckling behaviour. The resulting design procedure provides an effective optimal design tool for preliminary study of the composite stiffened structures with the material degradation restrains in addition to optimum weight design guidelines over the buckling/postbuckling load ratios.

1 Introduction The design philosophy for the composite structures loaded into the postbuckling regime and degradation consequences are not jet fully explored. The weight efficient design elaboration by modern finite element software tools is time consuming process to derive the overall behaviour perspective or optimal design guidelines for engineering practice. One can assume that great potential exist for future increase of effectiveness of stiffened composite structures by allowing of postbuckling of the skin to occur during the exploitation. However the consequences of material degradation as disbounding or delamination between the skin and stiffeners during the service load should be considered to introduce the new generation of design practise. Thus metamodeling methodology for stiffened laminated structures has been proposed by approximating the load shortening response curves based on sampling of training points by means of design and analysis of computer experiments. Initially2 metamodeling methodology has been elaborated only for axially compressed stiffened panels, however this approach has been further extended for stiffened box structures loaded under the torsional loading. Thus proposed methodology is capable of approximating the load shortening or torque versus rotation structural responses. Several preselected degradation scenarios have been elaborated3, in particular by softening of material elastic properties in regions where stiffeners have been attached to the skin. Robustness studies indicated the most vulnerable regions where the material degradation effect should be studied. From the validation procedure with experimental results has been concluded that metamodeling approach has sufficient accuracy to be used as preliminary design tool for stiffened composite structures.

2 Case Study A numerical study has been performed for three symmetrically distributed stiffener panel designs and one stiffened box structure as shown in Figure 1. All stiffened panels have been made out of carbon fibre reinforced plastic IM7/8552 and 985-GT6-135UD/985-GF3-5H-100 composite for the closed box design. Clamped upper and lower edges and simply supported longitudinal edges were taken as the first and the second panel boundary conditions (see Figure 1.) for the box and the third panel design no longitudinal edge boundary conditions have been used.

Fig. 1 Stiffened structures considered for the metamodeling study Geometrical variables are taken as design configurations representing domain of interest, where: L is the length of panel/box, R is the inner radius, b is the distance between the stiffeners, and h is the stiffener height (see Figure 1.). Additionally, two degradation parameters were included: the degradation region ratio D, which, multiplied by the panel length L, represents the skin stiffener junction debonding region length, and D% - the reduction of stiffness ratio of material elastic properties Ex, Ey, Ez, Gxy, Gxz, Gyz. The reduction of stiffness ratio parameters D% was investigated in the range of 0 to 0.75 with four discrete levels of interest. The reduction ratio D% equal to 0 means maintaining the material elastic properties constant; however, the reduction ratio of 0.75 means that the elastic properties are reduced to of their original values. Numerical boundaries of design variables are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Domain of interest

Name The Length Panel inner radius Stiffener spacing Stiffener height Degradation region ratio Degradation (stiffness reduction) ratio Degradation scenarios

Notation L R b h D D%

Lower bound 600 800 120 15 0.1 0 1

Upper bound 800 1200 200 25 1 0.75 6

Units mm mm mm mm

An extensive verification study4 have been performed to confirm that the material stiffness reduction approach was suitable for representing steady state degradation. Moreover, the applicability of such an approach in post buckling simulations required numerical and physical verification tests in order to evaluate the adequacy for design certification. Thus, considering the fact that structural degradation is associated with considerable uncertainties, parametric studies over a wide range of damage locations and configurations (configurations are given in Figure 2) have been carried out to study the effects of material softening parameters on the overall post buckling behaviour. In particular, the level of required material softening was compared to the design where stiffeners are partly removed, in order to estimate material degradation reliability. The softened skin stiffener junction and softened stiffener blade models were compared to partly removed stiffener designs and to the benchmark panel without initiated degradation. It was found that by softening the skin stiffener junction an efficient and reliable approach could be formulated to assess structural degradation. For metamodeling methodology only degradation scenarios with partly removed stiffeners have been elaborated, as those scenarios are more likely to be accepted by certification societies if structure has been occasionally damaged.

Fig. 2 Degradation scenarios elaborated for the design tool

Physical experiment results of three axially compressed panel designs and stiffened curved box under the compression and torsion loading have been verified with the numerical analyses by ANSYS/LS-DYNA and ABAQUS finite element code. Graphical comparison of the physical experiments and numerical analyses response curves are given in the Figure 3. The test specimens have been manufactured within the EU FP6 project: COCOMAT (www.cocomat.de) by industrial partners: Aeronnova for DLR D1 and D2 tests, Israel Aircraft Industries for Technion Cocomat 2&3 test and Agusta for Polimi torsion and axial compression test. Detailed geometrical configurations along with stacking orientation and composite material properties and testing set up are given in references5,6,7. It should be noted that pure torque test has been realised increasing the torque in the counter-clockwise direction and keeping a constant and equal to zero compression on the box during the entire test.

Fig. 3 Validation of ANSYS/LS-DYNA and ABAQUS numerical analyses versus physical tests 3 Metamodeling Tool A fast simulation tool has been developed based on metamodeling methodology for analysis of the composite stiffened structures with the material degradation subjected to the buckling and loaded into the postbuckling regime until the collapse. The metamodeling methodology could be described as follows: (a) selecting of sample points by design of computer experiments for training of the model, (b) choosing and fitting the model (global and local polynomials, kriging or radial basis functions) to represent the data and (c) solve the constrained optimization problem for deriving of optimal design guidelines. Main advantage of the metamodeling approach could be outlined as utilisation of both numerical and physical experiments for elaboration of the metamodel. A general lay-up of the fast simulation tool is given in Figure 4.

Fig. 4 Metamodeling tool developed by Riga Technical University Institute of Materials and Structures

Conclusions The resulting metamodeling procedure provides an effective optimal design tool for the preliminary study of composite stiffened structures under the axial and torsional loading. The method, based on metamodeling of the load shortening and torque rotation curves divided into three piecewise linear sections, can be elaborated in fast simulation practice for the safe and optimal design of curved stiffened structures. In validation procedure of developed metamodels with the numerical simulations and physical tests, the main response characteristics showed an approximation cross-validation prediction error lower than 10%. Acknowledgments This work is supported by the European Commission, Competitive and Sustainable Growth Programme, Contract No. AST3-CT-2003-502723, project COCOMAT. The information in this paper is provided as is and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at its sole risk and liability. References
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R. Degenhardt, R. Rolfes, R. Zimmermann, K. Rohwer, COCOMAT - Improved MATerial Exploitation at Safe Design of COmposite Airframe Structures by Accurate Simulation of COllapse, Composite Structures, Vol. 73 (2006) pp. 175-178. R. Rikards, H. Abramovich, K. Kalnins, J. Auzins, Surrogate Modeling in Design Optimization of Stiffened Composite Shells, Composite Structures, Vol. 73 (2006) pp. 244-251. K. Kalnins, J. Auzins, R. Rikards, Material degradation assessment for stiffened composite shells using metamodelling approach, Proc. of III European Conf. on Computational Mechanics Solids, Structures and CoupledPproblems in Engineering, ECCM-2006 C.A. Mota Soares et al. (eds), Portugal, (Springer, 2006) pp.231. Kalnins K, Auzins J, Rikards R, A fast simulation procedure for ribbed composite structures with material degradation. Mechanics of Composite Materials. Vol. 43, (2007) pp. 225-232. Orifici A.C., Thomson R.S., Gunnion A.J., Degenhardt R., Abramovic H., Bayandor J., Benchmark Finite Element Simulations of Postbuckling Composite Stiffened Panels, Proc. of 11th Australian Aerospace Int. Congress, 13-17 March 2005, (Melbourne, 2005). H. Abramovich, T. Weller, C. Bisagni, Buckling Behavior of Composite Laminated Stiffened Panels under Combined Shear and Axial Compression, 46th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics & Materials Conference, (Austin, 2005), AIAA 2005-1933. C. Bisagni, P. Cordisco, Testing of Stiffened Composite Cylindrical Shells in the Postbuckling Range until Failure, AIAA Journal, Vol. 42, No. 9, (2004) pp. 1806-1817.

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