Effect of hole reinforcement on buckling behaviour under combined loads for a beam structure

In this master's thesis, the effect of hole reinforcement on the buckling behaviour of thin-walled beams mostly used in aviation field is considered for combined loading conditions. The buckling analysis was carried out based on the geometric parameters. Firstly, the beams are designed with different parameters. The fuselage floor beam on the passenger aircraft was selected as the beam geometry and three basic geometric variables were considered for the parametric analyses. These are the aspect ratio of the web plate (a/b), the ratio of reinforcement height to web plate thickness (h/t) and the ratio of reinforcement width to hole diameter (w/d). Once again based on aircraft structures, aluminium 7075 series was chosen as beam material. The commercial finite element (FE) analysis program, ABAQUS was used in the buckling analyses that are carried out for the designed beams. Validation was carried out for the finite element model with the analytical hand calculations. The verification process includes comparison between analysis results obtained from the ABAQUS program and the test data in the international articles in the literature and the data obtained from different FE programs. Using the FE program, the curves of the critical buckling stress values of the designed structure depending on different design criteria under pure loads (pure compression, pure shear, pure bending) are sketched. With the aid of these curves, the ideal design was determined for the beam structure with the lighting hole depending on the critical buckling stress and the beam weight. For beams with ideal geometric parameters, analyses were then carried out under combined loads (compression, shear, bending) and critical buckling stress values were calculated. The loading rates were calculated based on the critical buckling stress values obtained under pure loads and loading scenarios under combined loading conditions. As a result, parametric interaction curves were obtained depending on compression, shear and bending loading rates. Interaction curves are designed for structures without holes, with holes and with reinforcement around the hole. After that these curves are interpreted and compared with each other to observe the effect of hole reinforcement. A numerical example is given in order to make it easier to comprehend interaction curve approach. With the help of the interaction curves obtained in this study, the engineers will able to observe graphically whether their designs will cause buckling at their desired load condition or not.