The efficient, industrially used, linear elastic
preliminary design software VICONOPT is employed
to design a stiffened panel with a post-buckled
reserve of strength. The initial buckling mode is a
local skin mode in longitudinal compression with
allowance being made for the effects of an initial
overall imperfection. The resulting panel has been
analyzed using the non-linear FE package ABAQUS
and four laboratory specimens have been tested to
failure. The similarity of the experimental failure with
the VICONOPT and ABAQUS predictions suggests
that VICONOPT can give a satisfactory preliminary
design. While neither model matches completely the
boundary conditions found in a real aircraft
compression panel, it is suggested that the
VICONOPT model may be a better representation
than either the ABAQUS model or the experimental
tests
