ICSV17, Cairo, Egypt, 18-22 July 2010 1

VIBRATION OF PANELS WITH ANGLED STIFFENERS: A

NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE SMEARING TECHNIQUE
Yu Luan,
Bang & Olufsen, DK-7600, Struer, Denmark
Acoustic Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Den-
mark, Building 352, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, and Acoustic Department,
e-mail: yl@elektro.dtu.dk
Mogens Ohlrich and Finn Jacobsen
Acoustic Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Den-
mark, Building 352, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Vibration of thin rectangular plates stiffened with cross-stiffeners can be modeled by using
equivalent plates that are either homogeneous isotropic or orthotropic. In the literature this
method is referred to as a smearing technique and modeling mid-frequency vibration of
such an equivalent smeared plate numerically, say, with the finite element method is far more
economical in terms of computer resources than modeling the complete stiffened plate in
every detail. However, in developing the smeared properties the stiffeners are assumed to be
parallel to the edges of the plate. If the stiffeners are not parallel to the edge but have angles
to the edge, then the accuracy of the smearing technique can be expected to deteriorate, but
how much is not established. This paper examines the smearing technique for cross-stiffened
panels for which the cross-stiffeners are neither perpendicular to one another nor parallel to
the edges of the panel. The deviations between the true natural frequencies of the stiffened
panels as obtained by using detailed finite element analyses and those determined from the
smearing technique are compared.
1. INTRODUCTION
Stiffeners are efficient for enhancing the stiffness of a plate or shell structure without adding
unnecessary amounts of mass as a simple increase of plate thickness would do. However, the in-
creased complexity of plates with added stiffeners normally requires much longer computing time
for finding the structural acoustic properties of a stiffened structure in a design process. To reduce
the computational effort, a coarse but efficient method is to smear the stiffeners to the base plate or
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International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV17), Cairo, Egypt, 18-22 July 2010


2
shell. This technique of smeared stiffened plates with an effective torsional rigidity was developed
forty years ago by Lampert [1], and summarized by Szilard in 2004 [2]. The accuracy of this tech-
nique for cross-stiffened rectangular flat plates has recently been improved [3]. The proposed tech-
nique is useful for making a fast estimate, although its application is limited to the lower number of
vibrational modes.
Nowadays, engineers usually draw a new design structure with a three-dimensional program
and later simulate its dynamic properties with an FEM program. The drawing process and the FEM
calculations may take days or even weeks for a relatively simple structure. Furthermore, it is often
necessary to make modifications to the structure and for that new FEM calculations are required.
All this can be very time-consuming. Thus, there is a need for a coarse but fast method for estimat-
ing the natural frequencies at the beginning of the design phase before detailed drawings have been
made.
The smearing technique has been developed for cross-stiffened rectangular plates under the
assumption that the stiffeners are parallel to the edges of the base plate. However, in practice it is
often found expedient to use stiffeners that are not parallel to the edges of the base plate. For this
type of panels the angle between stiffeners and corresponding plate edges may vary arbitrarily from
zero to 45 degrees with respect to each of the main axes of the plate. The influence of such angled
stiffeners on the prediction accuracy of the smearing technique which assumes edge-parallel stiffen-
ers is not established. The purposes of the present paper are therefore to examine this problem and
to disclose the practical limitations for using the smearing technique on such plates, for example, in
predicting the natural frequencies. To this end two types of plates with angled cross-stiffeners are
considered and their true natural frequencies are calculated by using detailed finite element analy-
ses. These results are then compared to the values predicted by the simple smearing technique for
similar plates but with parallel cross-stiffeners.
2. SMEARED STIFFENED PLATE
It has long been recognized that the lower modes of vibration of stiffened plates may be esti-
mated by smearing the mass and stiffening effects of the stiffeners over the surface of the base
plate. The results presented in this section are based on existing theory [2], [3].
In the following, the natural frequencies of a thin rectangular plate with cross-stiffeners are
presented. It is assumed that the plate is simply supported along all four edges. The geometrical
parameters of the plate are shown in Fig. 1; the length of the plate is a in the x direction and b in the
y direction, and its thickness is h. The stiffeners in the x direction have the width w
sx
, height h
sx
, and
spacing b
s
, and in the y direction the corresponding values are w
sy
, h
sy
, and a
s
.

Figure 1. Geometrical parameters of a cross-stiffened flat rectangular plate.
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International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV17), Cairo, Egypt, 18-22 July 2010


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The governing equation of motion for the flexural displacement w(x,y,t) of an equivalent
smeared plate of the stiffened plate has been derived by Szilard [2],

4 4 4 2
4 2 2 4 2
( , , ) ( , , ) ( , , ) ( , , )
2
x y e
w x y t w x y t w x y t w x y t
D H D h p
x x y y t

c c c c
+ + + =
c c c c c
, (1)
where D
x
and D
y
are the equivalent bending stiffness per unit width in the x and y directions, H is
the effective torsional rigidity, is the mass density of the material, h
e
is the thickness of the
equivalent smeared plate, and p is the external forcing. The development of the improved D
x
and D
y

can be found in Ref. [3], but for ease of reference some details are given in the Appendix. It is now
assumed that the stiffeners in the x and y directions are of identical dimensions. With the stiffeners
smeared and spread on top of the plate, the thickness of the equivalent smeared plate becomes

2
1 1
s s
e s s
s s s s
h w
h h h w
a b a b
| |
= + +
|
\ .
. (2)
For a thin cross-stiffened rectangular plate with all edges simply supported, the natural fre-
quencies of the corresponding smeared plate are [2, 3]


4 2 2 4
, , "
1 1
( ) 2 ( ) ( ) ( )
2
mn flat stiff x y
m m n n
f D H D
a a b b
t t t t
t
= + + , (3)
where
"
= h
e
is the smeared average mass per unit area, and the integers m and n are the mode
numbers corresponding to the x and y directions.
3. COMPARISON BETWEEN SMEARED AND REAL PANELS
This section presents the natural frequencies of plates with two types of angled stiffeners. The
natural frequencies are calculated by using a FEM program, ANSYS, in which all the details of the
angled stiffeners are taken into account. These results are compared with a single set of predicted
values based on the smearing technique, Eq. (3), which presumes that the cross-stiffeners of the
plate model are parallel to its edges. The results of the two methods are compared by calculating
how much the predicted natural frequencies deviate from the exact FEM results.
The first panel model or original prototype- is similar to the one shown in Fig. 1, but some-
what larger and with 6x5 stiffeners. The four edges of the plate are assumed to be simply supported,
and its stiffeners are parallel to the plate edges. The dimensions of this cross-stiffened plate are a =
516 mm, b = 430 mm, h = 6 mm, a
s
= 86 mm, b
s
= 86 mm, h
sx
= h
sy
= 9 mm, and w
sx
= w
sy
= 6 mm.
The material properties are E = 3x10
9
N/m
2
, = 0.33, and = 1360 kg/m
3
. Note that all natural fre-
quencies predicted by the smearing technique are for this original model. The angled cases that fol-
low are all based on this panel model with only the direction of stiffeners being changed.
3.1 The y-stiffeners at different angles
First considered is a plate where the stiffeners in the y direction are angled relative to the cor-
responding plate edges. The angle between the y-stiffeners and y-axis is denoted as shown in Fig.
2. In the ANSYS-calculations the values of the angle are taken to be 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30
degrees, whereas the natural frequencies predicted by the smearing technique are solely for the an-
gle =0, that is, the original prototype with cross-stiffeners parallel to the x and y directions. The
corresponding results for the natural frequencies are denoted f
ANSYS
and f
Estimated
, respectively. The
deviations in natural frequencies are calculated in percentage as 100(f
Estimated
- f
ANSYS
) / f
ANSYS
and
the results for each mode are plotted in Fig. 3. The calculated deviations for the original prototype
with =0 is the red curve marked original design in the figure. It is seen that this is the curve with
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International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV17), Cairo, Egypt, 18-22 July 2010


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the smallest deviations for most of the modes examined. So, the smearing technique is generally
found to work best for plates with parallel stiffeners. From the other results it is obvious that the
bigger the angle , the larger the deviation, and especially the natural frequencies of mode (1,2),
(1,3) and (1,4) are seen to have larger deviations than other modes. The reason for this is illustrated
in Fig. 4 which shows the actual model pattern of mode (1,4) determined with ANSYS. It is seen
that the actual stiffening by the angled y-stiffeners is weaker in the y directions than in the original
design with stiffeners parallel to plate edges. Therefore, f
Estimated
is higher than f
ANSYS
for this mode.
Figure 2. A sketch for the plate with angled y-stiffeners.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
Frequency [Hz]
D
e
v
i
a
t
i
o
n
[
%
]


Original design
y-stiffeners 5degrees toy axis
y-stiffeners 10degrees toy axis
y-stiffeners 15degrees toy axis
y-stiffeners 20degrees toy axis
y-stiffeners 25degrees toy axis
y-stiffeners 30degrees toy axis

Figure 3. Deviations of predicted natural frequencies for models with different angled y-stiffeners. The cir-
cle marks show mode (1,2); diamond marks show mode (1,3); while triangle marks show mode (1,4).

Figure 4. Modal pattern for mode (1,4) of a plate with y-stiffeners angled 30 degrees to the y-axis. The
coordinate system is the same as in Fig. 2.
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International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV17), Cairo, Egypt, 18-22 July 2010


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The opposite is the case for modes controlled by the bending stiffness in the x-direction.
Thus, for the panels examined it is found that in practice the angle can take values up to 25
degrees, if the maximum deviations in predicted natural frequencies are allowed to be, say, 20%.
For a deviation limit of 10%, the angle can only be taken up to 15 degrees.
3.2 Both x and y stiffeners are angled
In this section, none of the stiffeners are parallel to the edges of the plate. To start with, the
square grid of stiffeners are angled at 45 degrees, and next examined for a number of other angles.
The angle between the stiffeners and the x axis is shown in Fig. 5. In this presentation the values
of are taken to be 45, 42.5, 40, 37.5, and 35 degrees.
Figure 5. A sketch of the plate with angled x- and y-stiffeners.
The results predicted by the smearing technique are again for the original design with cross-
stiffeners parallel to the x and y directions, whereas the natural frequencies of the plates with angled
stiffeners are obtained by detailed ANSYS analyses. Figure 6 shows the deviation curve for the
original design (as in section 3.1) and the deviation curve for the model with 45 degrees stiffeners.
These results show that the orientation of the stiffeners relative to the plate boundaries has a signifi-
cant influence on the resulting natural frequencies; the deviation in prediction is seen to be 18% for
mode (1,4). It is recalled that the edges of the stiffened plates are simply supported.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Frequency [Hz]
D
e
v
ia
t
io
n
[
%
]


Original design
stiffeners 45degrees tothex andy directions

Figure 6. Deviations of predicted natural frequencies for original design and model with 45 degrees stiffen-
ers. Circle marks show mode (1,2); diamond marks show mode (1,3); while triangle marks show mode (1,4).
The calculated deviations for each mode are plotted in Fig. 7 for the different angles of stif-
feners. As the angle becomes smaller, the stiffeners behave weaker for the stiffening in the y di-
rection (while the opposite is the case in the x direction). It can be seen in Fig. 8 that the stiffeners
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International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV17), Cairo, Egypt, 18-22 July 2010


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does not stiffen the plate very much in the y direction. Therefore, the smaller the angle , the larger
the deviations of the modes that bend the plate in the y direction, e.g., modes (1,2), (1,3), and (1,4).
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Frequency [Hz]
D
e
v
ia
t
io
n
[
%
]


Original design
stiffeners 45degrees tothex andy directions
stiffeners 42.5degrees tothex andy directions
stiffeners 40degrees tothex andy directions
stiffeners 37.5degrees tothex andy directions
stiffeners 35degrees tothex andy directions

Figure 7. Deviations of predicted natural frequencies for models with different angled stiffeners. The circle
marks show mode (1,2); diamond marks show mode (1,3); while triangle marks show mode (1,4).


Figure 8. Modal pattern for mode (1,4) of a plate with x- and y-stiffeners angled at 35 degrees to the x-
axis. The coordinate system is the same as in Figure 4.
Again, if the deviations are allowed to be 20%, the angle can only be about 42.5 to 45 degrees. For
requiring less than 10% deviation, only the original design can be accepted. This means that the smearing
technique does not work for a tight accuracy with both the x- and y-stiffeners angled.
4. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The smearing technique for predicting the natural frequencies of cross-stiffened rectangular
plates has been examined for plates with angled stiffeners. Two series of FEM models have been
tested. In one series the y-stiffeners are angled relative to the corresponding plate edge; in the
other series both the x- and y-stiffeners are angled. With a changing of angles from small to large,
the limit of using smearing technique for cross-stiffened rectangular plate with angled stiffeners is
found. The natural frequencies of the original design as predicted by the smearing technique are
compared to exact FEM simulation results for both parallel and angled stiffeners. Deviations in
percentage clearly show the limitations. According to the acquirement of a task, a designer can find
how to choose the angle of stiffeners for a required accuracy. The results show that the smearing
technique works well on standard cross-stiffened rectangular plate with parallel stiffeners, and that
it also can be applied for cross-stiffened plates with angled stiffeners within a small range of angles.
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International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV17), Cairo, Egypt, 18-22 July 2010


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APPENDIX: A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SMEARING TECHNIQUE
FOR CROSS-STIFFENED THIN RECTANGULAR PLATE (REFS. 2, 3)
The bending stiffness D
y
can be calculated as the product of Youngs modulus of the material,
E, and the area moment of inertia in the y direction, I
y
, which is
y p sy sx
I I I I = + + , (A1)
where the area moment of inertia of the plate with respect to the neutral axis of the system is
3
2
2
( )
12(1 ) 2
p y
h h
I d h
v
= +

, (A2)
in which is the Poissons ratio, and d
y
denotes the distance between the plates bottom surface and
the neutral axis of the stiffened plate in the y direction. The area moment of inertia of the stiffeners
with respect to the same neutral axis is
3
2
1
[ ( ) ( )]
12 2
sy
sy
sy
sy sy y sy sy
s
w h
h
I h h d w h
a

= + + , (A3)
and, in the x direction,
3
2
( )
12 2
ex ex
sx ex y
h h
h h d I + + = , (A4)
in which h
ex
=w
sx
h
sx
/b
s
is the thickness of the added upper layer on the plate resulting from the
smeared x stiffener. The neutral axis d
y
is given by
y
N
d
D
= , (A5)
with the numerator

2
}
}
{ ,
1
{ , ( )
2 2 2 2
sy sx sy
ex
s s s sx sx s sy sy sx sy sx sy
h Min h h
h
N h a b a w h h b w h h w w Min h h h
| |
| |
|
|
|
\ .
\ .
= + + + + +
and the denominator
{ , }
sx sy s s s sx sx s sy sy sx sy
Min h h D ha b a w h b w h w w = + + .
Note that Fig. 1 in the main body of the paper indicates the other geometrical parameters.
Furthermore, the bending stiffness in the x-direction, D
x
, is obtained in a similar manner.
REFERENCES
[1] P. Lampert, Postcracking stiffness of Reinforced concrete beams in torsion and bending, in R. Szilard, P. Zia,
and G. Fisher (eds.), Analysis of Structural Systems for Torsion, ACI SP-35 American Concrete Institute, Detroit,
Michigan, 1973.
[2] R. Szilard, Theories and Applications of Plate Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2004.
[3] Y. Luan and M. Ohlrich, An improvement of the smeared theory for stiffened plates, Proceedings of Noise and
Vibration Emerging Methods 2009, Oxford, England, 2009.
[4] M. S. Troitsky, Stiffened Plates, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1976.