Stress fields at skin-stringer junctions in composite aircraft fuselages

This paper presents a semi-analytical analysis approach for the determination of stress fields in the vicinity of skin-stringer junctions in stiffened composite panels. The situation considered in this paper is representative for a typical stiffened panel in a modern composite aircraft fuselage. The analysis method employs a two-tier approach employing a global model based on CLPT on the one hand, and a local approach on the other hand in the form of a layerwise displacement formulation. This allows for the detailed computation of the stress concentrations in the vicinity of the skin-stringer junction. The layerwise formulation utilizes a discretization of the laminate layers into mathematical layers. The principle of the minimum of the total elastic potential yields the governing equations of the given problem, and an exponential approach leads to a quadratic eigenvalue problem that can be solved numerically. The analysis method shows excellent accuracy of the stress results in comparison with comparative finite element computations at a fraction of the computational time and effort that is required for numerical analyses. • Layerwise global–local analysis model for stresses at skin-stringer junctions in aircraft fuselages. • Accurate and yet very efficient determination of stress fields. • Interlaminar stresses at skin-stringer junctions arise that need to be carefully assessed in a justification process.