Mechanical response of a pressurized cylindrical shell with a hexagonal stringer grid

Abstract

In this work a new design for the geometrical configuration of the stringers in a pressurized cylindrical fuselage panel is proposed. This design seeks to improve the mechanical performance in terms natural frequencies, deformation, stress, strain, etc while keeping its mass less than or equal to the stringer design currently in use. A quasi-hexagonal tessellation design is used for the stringers. A finite element model was built for two fuselage panel sections one with quasi-hexagonal stinger configuration and the other with a conventional stringer configuration. The performance of both panels in terms of natural frequencies their response typical fuselage loading conditions was compared. Results indicate that the quasi-hexagonal string configuration maybe superior in some respects.