Sensitivity analysis on the elastic buckling and ultimate strength of continuous stiffened aluminium plates under combined in-plane compression and lateral pressure

Abstract

a b s t r a c tIn this paper, the results of an investigation into the post-buckling behaviour of high-strength aluminium alloy stiffened plates subjected to combined axial compression load and different magnitudes of lateral pressure using non-linear finite element approach is presented. Both material and geometric non-linearities have been taken into account. The principal variables studied are the plate thickness, boundary conditions and the stiffener geometries beside the geometrical imperfection, the width of the welding heat-affected zone (HAZ) and welding residual stresses. The influence of these variables on the post-buckling behaviour and ultimate strength of such stiffened plates has been investigated in details.

Empirical formulations for estimation of ultimate strength of continuous stiffened aluminium plates under combined in-plane compression and lateral pressure

“…Details of simulation activities and also obtained results are given in Khedmati et al [28]. It was shown there that both the code and also adopted modelling scheme lead to accurate results in comparison with the test results obtained by Zha and Moan.…”

“…Recently, Paik [27] studied buckling collapse testing of friction stir welded aluminium stiffened plate structures. Most recently, Khedmati et al [28] made an extensive sensitivity analysis on buckling and ultimate strength of continuous stiffened aluminium plates under combined in-plane compression and different levels of lateral pressure.…”

“…Following the study made by Khedmati et al [28] on postbuckling behaviour and ultimate strength characteristics of stiffened aluminium plates under combined axial compressive and lateral pressure loads, a set of empirical formulations or equations are derived in this paper to estimate the ultimate strength of such stiffened plates under above-mentioned load combinations. The ultimate compressive strength data numerically obtained by the authors through their sensitivity analysis [28] are used for deriving the formulations, which are expressed as functions of two parameters, namely the plate slenderness ratio and the column (stiffener) slenderness ratio.…”

“…The ultimate compressive strength data numerically obtained by the authors through their sensitivity analysis [28] are used for deriving the formulations, which are expressed as functions of two parameters, namely the plate slenderness ratio and the column (stiffener) slenderness ratio. Regression analysis is used in order to derive the empirical formulations.…”

“…4) has been chosen for analysis of the ultimate strength of stiffened aluminium plates with symmetrical stiffeners of either flat-bar or T-bar crosssections [30]. Boundary conditions of the analysed stiffened plates, as explained in Khedmati et al [28], are as follows:…”