The load carrying capacity of unstiffened thin-walled shell structures is highly sensitive to geometric imperfections. These imperfections are usually unknown during the preliminary design phase. The manufacturing process of these structures has a major influence on the geometric imperfections as well as on the manufacturing costs. The goal of this paper is to show the potential of a previously developed structural and economical design procedure and to analyse the cost and mass drivers of isotropic shell structures, considering their imperfection sensitivity. In order to do so, the available cost model is extended by a precise approach for calculating the material and scrap costs as well as by the assembly method TIG welding. Using an example structure, it is shown in detail how the used panel combination and the chosen assembly method have a significant impact on the structural mass and on the manufacturing costs. Additionally, it is shown that for a high manufacturing accuracy a high amount of panels is beneficial and vice versa. Furthermore, it is pointed out that it is possible to predict the buckling pattern based on the chosen panel combination.

未加筋的薄壁壳结构的承载能力对几何缺陷高度敏感。这些缺陷在初步设计阶段通常是未知的。这些结构的制造过程对几何缺陷以及制造成本有重大影响。本文的目的是展示先前开发的结构和经济设计程序的潜力，并考虑各向同性壳结构的缺陷敏感性，分析其成本和质量驱动因素。为此，通过一种精确的方法来扩展可用的成本模型，以计算材料和废料成本，以及采用TIG焊接的组装方法。使用示例结构，详细显示了所使用的面板组合和所选的组装方法如何对结构质量和制造成本产生重大影响。另外，表明对于高制造精度，大量的面板是有益的，反之亦然。此外，要指出的是，可以基于所选择的面板组合来预测屈曲图案。