Energy Finite Element Analysis of the NASA Aluminum Testbed Cylinder

An energy finite element analysis (EFEA) formulation is developed for predicting high frequency vibration response of cylindrical shells with periodically axial and circumferential stiffeners. In this method, the structure is modeled using EFEA method. The power transfer coefficients, employed in the joint matrices of the EFEA formulation at the location of the periodic stiffeners are computed based on Periodic Structure (PS) theory. Results from the new simulation method are compared to experimental data for the vibration response of a periodically circumferentially and axially stiffened cylinder (NASA aluminum testbed cylinder). The observed good correlation indicates that the new EFEA formulation captures properly the periodic characteristics for both the axial stringers and ring stiffeners.