Bending of the composite lattice cylindrical shell with the midspan rigid disk loaded by transverse inertia forces

Bending deformation of a composite lattice cylindrical shell with the rigid disk attached at the midspan is studied in this paper. The shell with the disk is subjected to a transverse inertia load. The problem is solved using a continuum model of the lattice structure and equations of the semi-membrane theory of orthotropic cylindrical shells. The shells with two variants of the end supports are analysed. Analytical formulas providing the tools for fast and accurate calculations of the transverse disk displacement are derived. Based on these solutions, a parametric study of the effects of the shell length, angle of orientation of helical ribs of the lattice structure and their number on the disk displacement is performed. The results of calculations have been successfully verified using a finite-element analysis. The analytical formulas proposed in this work can be efficiently employed by design engineers to perform analyses of composite lattice cylindrical shells in aerospace applications.