Dynamic stiffness formulation and response analysis of stiffened shells

•We present a procedure for calculating the dynamic stiffness matrix of axisymmetric stiffened shell.•Harmonic analysis for three load cases are presented.•The numerical validation is achieved thanks to comparisons with FE results.

This work presents a dynamic analysis of a stiffened cylindrical shell using the Dynamic Stiffness Method, also known as the Continuous Element Method. This approach is based on the determination of the dynamic stiffness matrix of an unmeshed structure. A method for calculating the dynamic stiffness matrix of an axisymmetric shell stiffened with multiple stiffeners at arbitrary locations is given. Thus a stiffened cylindrical shell is subjected to free-free boundary conditions and three types of loads. A finite element model is used in order to validate the numerical results obtained from the method.