Stress analysis of ribbed flanges

Abstract

In this paper an attempt is made to study the role of stiffening ribs on the behaviour of flanges. Shell theory is resorted to in developing the ribbed shell equations. A shell element with stiffening ribs in the meridional direction is obtained by superposing the stress resultants of a grid shell with the stress resultants of a isotropic shell element. A case of unequal bolt loads is considered by expressing them as Fourier series in the circumferential direction. The effect of varying the rib parameters like rib height, number, etc. is studied. The finite-difference method of solution is adopted. The behaviour of a ribbed flange is found to be similar to that of a taper hub flange.