Stress analysis of symmetric and anti-symmetric discretely stiffened laminated cantilever beams using displacement-potential field

The stress field of a laminated cantilever beam is analyzed under the influence of symmetric and anti-symmetric arrangements of discrete stiffeners at the opposing longitudinal surfaces. An efficient finite-difference computational scheme is developed, in which a new displacement potential is introduced to model the problem of laminated composites. Solutions of stresses at different plies of the laminated cantilever are obtained, some of which, especially those around the critical regions of stiffeners are presented. The effectiveness and accuracy of present approach is verified by comparing the results with the corresponding solutions of analytical as well as standard computational methods.