Buckling Analysis of Stiffened Cross-Ply Laminated Conical Shells under Axial Compression Using Generalized Differential Quadrature Method

This study aims to determine the global buckling load of stiffened composite conical shells under axial compression. Stringers stiffen the conical shells in longitudinal and rings in circumferential directions. The boundary conditions are assumed to be simply supported at both ends. At first, the equilibrium equations are obtained using the first-order shear deformation theory and the principle of minimum potential energy. Effects of stiffeners (longitudinal and circumferential directions) are considered using the smearing technique. The resulting equations are solved using the generalized differential quadrature method to obtain the critical buckling load. The acquired results are compared with the finite element method results and other researcher’s results available in the literature, and good agreement is observed. The influence of the number of stiffeners and rings, length, radius, semi-vertex angle of the cone, and shear deformation on the shell’s buckling behavior is studied. Finally, the optimum number of stiffeners (longitudinal and circumferential directions) to achieve the maximum global buckling load in a cross-ply composite conical shell with various stacking sequences for a specific weight and overall geometry is investigated.