Displacement potential approach to the solution of stiffened orthotropic composite panels under uniaxial tensile load

Abstract The current paper presents an analytical method for the analysis of elastic field in a stiffened unidirectional orthotropic composite panel under uniaxial tensile load in the direction of fibres. The mixed boundary value elasticity problem is formulated in terms of a single potential function ψ, expressed in terms of the displacement components. This function satisfies one of the differential equations of equilibrium automatically. Therefore, the mixed boundary value problem is reduced to the solution of a single differential equation of equilibrium along with the associated boundary conditions. The analytical solution is obtained in the form of an infinite series. Some numerical results of different stress and displacement components at different sections of the panel are presented in the form of graphs. The reliability and soundness of the method are verified by comparing the results with finite-difference and finite-element solutions of the problem. Good agreement of the results establishes the superiority of the present analytical method based on the displacement potential function.