Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185 www.elsevier.

com/locate/engstruct

A parametric study of the post-buckling behaviour of steel plates

Antonio F. Mateus
a

a, b

, Joel A. Witz

a,*

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, London WCIE 7JE, UK b Portuguese Naval Academy, Base Naval de Lisboa, 2800 Alfeite, Portugal

Received 19 July 1999; received in revised form 6 December 1999; accepted 31 December 1999

Abstract This paper investigates the sensitivity of the buckling and post-buckling behaviour of imperfect steel plates used in ship and related marine structures when subject to variations in their initial conditions. The different aspects analysed comprise of variation in aspect ratio, boundary conditions, initial out-of-plane imperfection and material elastic and plastic properties such as strain hardening. The analyses were carried out using the non-linear nite element program ABAQUS. The results obtained for the several plate models show that the three most relevant parameters affecting the buckling and post-buckling of uniaxially loaded plates are aspect ratio, unloaded edges boundary conditions and initial out-of-plane imperfection amplitude. 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Most oating marine structures such as ships, barges and offshore oating production units make extensive use of stiffened steel plate in their hull construction. Under normal operational conditions the plates between stiffeners experience signicant compressive loading. Therefore, the compressive strength of the steel plates is of primary concern to the designer who needs to consider the main parameters. These are the plates aspect ratio, initial imperfections, boundary conditions and material properties. Until recently, the available formulae for the design of unstiffened plates under compressive loading were based on experimental data. With the development of nite element analysis towards non-linear algorithms and the increase in computing capacity it has now become possible to compliment the existing experimental data set with numerical results. Veried numerical models offer a practical method for exploring parametric sensitivity. For a realistic assessment of the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of steel plates large deection theory must be used. The solution of this mathematical model for the post-buckling behaviour of plates is complicated and only a few particular approximate solutions have

been derived. Small deection theory for plates is well established, see for example [1], but unfortunately it is of limited practical value for the analysis of compressive strength of plates since the deections experienced by these plates are usually several times the plate thickness which is beyond the range of validity of this model. The large deection behaviour of steel plates is a highly nonlinear problem [2] whose solution relies on the use of numerical techniques such as non-linear nite element analysis. This paper presents and discusses the results of a parametric investigation into the structural collapse of unstiffened steel plates when subject to variations of aspect ratio, boundary conditions, initial out-of-plane imperfection and material strain hardening. This analysis was performed using ABAQUS 5.7, a general purpose non-linear nite element code developed by Hibbitt et al. [3]. The authors have extensively validated this technique for the collapse of unstiffened plates and they have applied it to investigate the buckling and post-buckling behaviour of plates affected by generalised corrosion. A review of the relevant research work on plate behaviour under compressive loading and the verication of the numerical model presented here is described elsewhere in the literature [4] and therefore it is not repeated here.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 020-7380-7178; Fax: +44 0207388-0180.

0141-0296/01/$ - see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 4 1 - 0 2 9 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 5 - 5

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

173

2. Compressive strength of plates When the applied uniaxial compressive load reaches a critical value the plate buckles with a signicant elastoplastic response. Beyond the critical load or stress, the deections of the plate can no longer be considered small when compared to its thickness and the membrane stresses at mid-thickness cannot be neglected. The membrane stresses are generated by the stretching of the plates middle surface due to the curvature of the plate, ensuring equilibrium of forces and satisfaction of displacement constraints in accordance with the boundary conditions. In some areas, the plate will have tensile membrane stresses due to the stretching as a result of plate curvature. These tensile membrane stresses will inhibit increases in plate deection caused by the inplane external compressive load and thus will have a stabilising effect on the buckled plate. All this is true as long as the unloaded edges of the plate are constrained to remain plane and prevented from pulling in. These boundary conditions are typical of those encountered with structural plating. If the applied load is continuously increased then the edges of the plate will yield thus dening the ultimate load at which failure will occur. The denition of yielding also depends on the criterion used but for the case of plate theory the most often used criterion is the maximum distortion energy (Von Mises) criterion. The plates maximum strength is dened as the maximum load carrying capacity of the plate and it may be identied as the peak point in the load-end shortening curve. With regard to the plates ultimate strength there are two denitions normally encountered which are based on the effective width and the ultimate stress concepts. The effective width concept is intimately related to the direct stress distribution across a buckled plate. It assumes that at failure the load is completely carried by two lateral strips of equal width where the direct stress is equal to yield and the rest of the plate remains unloaded. The effective width, be, is given by the sum of the widths of the load carrying strips and it may be determined from be Nu b btsYP (2.1) su sYP

sx(x,y) dy
0

bsYP

, at sMISES(x,0) sYP

(2.2)

where sMISES(x,0) is the Von Mises resultant edge stress, and sx(x,y) is a function representing the direct stress variation across the width of the plate. The ratio between ultimate load and critical load increases directly with plate slenderness. This means that slender plates are more suitable than thicker plates to work in the post-buckling regime. A common measure of plate slenderness is the slenderness ratio, b, given by b b t sYP E (2.3)

where E is the plate materials Youngs modulus. The modern foundations for the assessment of the compressive strength of plates starts with Faulkner [5] who derived an effective width model representing the average curve that tted the envelope of all the experimental data points considered. The model was specically dedicated to simply supported plates where a relatively large set of experimental data was available. The compressive strength equation proposed by Faulkner is be su a1 a2 , for b 1. b sYP b b2 (2.4)

The constants a1 and a2, depend on the plate boundary conditions: a1=2.0, a2=1.0 for simply supported plates and a1= 2.25, a2=1.25 for clamped plates. More recent work by Guedes Soares [6] concluded that there was a loss of plate strength directly related to the level of initial plate imperfection. However, it was argued that the loss of strength with the increase in initial imperfection was less noticeable for higher values of plate slenderness. The plate compressive strength model is then expressed as be su b sYP a1 a2 BR b b2 b d (2.5)

where Nu is the axial compressive force applied to the plate, sYP is the yield stress of the plate material, b is the plate width, and t is the plate thickness. The plates aspect ratio, a, is the ratio of its length to its width. The ultimate stress concept denes plate failure as the point at which the resultant stress at a point along the unloaded edges of the plate reaches the material yield stress. The ultimate stress is dened by the average direct stress supported by the plate at failure. In mathematical terms the ultimate plate compressive strength, su, may be expressed by

where Bb is the uncertainty quantication factor and Rd is the reduction factor due to initial plate deection. The presence of initial geometric imperfections in structural components subjected to compressive loading is of crucial importance when considering their structural behaviour. In essence, an initial distortion will have contributions from at least one of the elastic buckling modes implying that the structural behaviour under compressive loading will no longer reect a bifurcation problem. Thus, the structure behaves as if it is already slightly buckled and its compressive strength can no longer be treated in terms of an elastic critical load (or critical stress) but rather in terms of a maximum load dening

174

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

the collapse point and an ultimate load. The ultimate load denes the limit state for plate serviceability and it is usually signicantly lower than the elastic critical load. Imperfections are always present in structural plating, primarily as a result of distortions originating from welding and other production processes involved in the manufacture of grillages. These manufacturing processes tend to cause half-sinusoidal waveform plastic, large amplitude deformations of the plating which affect its compressive strength and hence the grillage interframe and overall compressive strength. As described by Smith et al. [7], in the case of square plates, the distortion induced by welding is dominated by an approximately sinusoidal half-wavelength equal or somewhat less than the plate dimension (length or width, depending on the direction of loading). Regression analysis of data gathered from surveys of ship and welded box girder bridge plating has shown that the most adequate model for the average maximum out-of-plane initial distortion amplitude, w0, is a function of b and is given by w0 0.1b2. t (2.6)

The related upper and lower bound imperfection models are respectively given by w0 0.3b2 t and w0 0.025b2. t (2.8) (2.7)

Another strength perturbation factor input by manufacturing processes is the residual stresses due to welding. These residual stresses are originated from the nonuniform inelastic deformations produced by the welding thermal cycle. The deformations generated by the welding thermal cycle may be geater than the elastic limit of the material. This results in local permanent deformations and residual stresses. The conditions to obtain residual deformations and their associated stresses are that the material must deform thermally, the applied temperature eld is non-uniform, and the material must reach the plastic domain as a result of the thermal stresses. These conditions are all fullled with the welding process of typical structural steel used in marine structures. In a welded joint the residual stresses appear due to the effect of contraction associated with the cooling of the deposited welding material, which is restrained from contraction by the adjacent base material or by the rigidity of the welded component. At the same time it sup-

plies heat to the base material which tries to expand thermally but is restrained by the geometry. Since the material yield stress is quite low at the high temperatures encountered with the welding process, this will result in an important variation of longitudinal residual stresses across the welded section. The area in the vicinity of the weld will be under tensile stress while the surrounding base material will be under compressive stresses which equilibrate the tensile stresses. A typical stress distribution is illustrated in Fig. 2. Among all the factors that affect the welding induced residual stresses, the most important are the welding procedure and its sequence, the material yield stress, the rigidity of the material, the cooling velocity, and the characteristics of the transformation of the material in the solid state. The existence of compressive residual stresses in the longitudinal direction, i.e. in the direction of the external compressive loading implies that the welded plate has lower resistance under compressive loading. This effect is usually accounted for by a simple reduction in the plate effective width for design purposes, and is well discussed by several authors such as Ellinas et al. [8] and Chalmers [9]. However, its numerical modelling using a non-linear nite element program is not immediate nor simple. Despite being an important parameter affecting plate compressive strength, it was not included within this research work, since the work was aimed at achieving an insight into the effects on the structural mechanics of plates by the variation of other parameters. The issue of residual stresses will be considered in a future work. Guedes Soares [6] argues that the inuence of aspect ratio, a, on the compressive strength of perfect plates is not very signicant. However, when an initial deformation representative of that encountered with ship plating is present, i.e. a rst mode distortion, the overall behaviour is substantially different. For plates of aspect ratio above 1.5 the effect of this initial distortion is to strengthen the plate while it degrades the strength in the case of square plates. This means that the effects of

Fig. 1. System axes denition and ABAQUS solution for the buckled shape of a square plate uniaxially loaded with the free edges restrained from pulling-in.

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

175

initial distortions are not always a case of downgrading plate strength and each case has to be assessed independently.

Table 1 Mechanical properties of the materials used in ABAQUS models Property Fully plastic Grade B Grade B 241 210 0.3 No 241 210 0.3 Yes API X52

3. Finite element modelling of plates Since this work is aimed at plating used in marine structures, the dimensions, slenderness ratio, aspect ratio, material properties, denition of boundary conditions and type of loading analysed had to be consistent with such applications. All the plates analysed have a width of 0.5 m, which is representative of a typical test plate. All the remaining parameters are scaled relative to this dimension in accordance with each case. It was decided to analyse unstiffened steel plates with slenderness ratio values in the range of 0.6 to 5.5, with the majority of the plates analysed having a slenderness ratio of between 1 and 3. Smith et al. [7] pointed out that the usual range of slenderness ratio encountered with ships and oating offshore structures is from 1 to 4. Fig. 3 illustrates the relevant geometric denitions involved. In order to assess the inuence of material properties, two types of steel were modelled in the plates analysed. These are Grade B and API X52 steels which represent respectively typical mild and higher strength steels used in marine structures. In view of enabling the assessment of the inuence of material strain hardening on the structural behaviour of the plate, a elastic-fully plastic (no strain hardening) variation of the Grade B steel was also modelled. Table 1 summarises the properties of each of these steels, and Fig. 4 illustrates their respective stress strain curves as implemented in the ABAQUS models. The shape of the stressstrain, curve for the Grade B steel requires further explanation. According to Stouffer and Dame [10] there are two types of response in carbon steel depending on the processing. In the case of coldrolled steel there is a signicant amount of strain harden-

Yield stress (MPa) (0.2% strain) Youngs modulus (GPa) Poisson ratio Strain hardening

358.5 210 0.3 Yes

Fig. 3. Denition of loading, midplane section, unloaded edges and displacements in ABAQUS models.

Fig. 2. Residual longitudinal stress variation with distance from weld axis.

ing due to the dislocation structure which develops at low temperature. On the contrary, hot-rolled steel has a sharp upper yield and lower yield stress. The latter is often used for design purposes since the upper yield is strain-rate sensitive. The sharp upper yield stress is followed by a plateau of continuous plastic ow with no strain hardening. At some higher value of strain, hardening begins and deformation occurs in a similar form to that of cold-rolled steel. This period of constant stress ow at the lower yield stress in hot-rolled steel is related to an interaction between the material and the design of the test specimen. The strain hardening effect starts as soon as the test specimen is covered with Luders bands, implying that the specimen behaviour is dependent on its test section length and the propagation speed of Luders bands. Therefore, the representativeness of such a plateau in plates is arguable, thus justifying the choice of the stressstrain curves shown in Fig. 4. A range of boundary conditions were considered from simply supported plates to fully clamped plates. In order to investigate the inuence of the unloaded edges rotational and in-plane displacement restraints on the compressive strength of plates, a series of square plates with all edges simply supported but with the unloaded edges free to pull in and a series with the unloaded edges rotationally restrained were also modelled. The effects of initial out-of-plane imperfection on plate strength were assessed by modelling the three different levels of imperfection that were presented earlier for each series of plates. The square plate nite element model implemented in

176

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

Fig. 4. Stressstrain curves for Grade B and API X52 steels as implemented in the ABAQUS plate models.

ABAQUS consisted of a mesh of 10 by 10 elements using a eight node quadratic plate element, named S8R5, enabling up to ve integration points through the thickness. Convergence of results from this mesh were checked against results for higher mesh densities such as the one illustrated in Fig. 1. The buckled shape shown in Fig. 5 represents a plate model analysed with ABAQUS. It refers to a plate with an aspect ratio of 4, with unloaded edges restrained from pulling-in. The series investigating the effects of aspect ratio variation had all plates simply supported with unloaded edges restrained from in-plane displacement. The material incorporated was Grade B steel and the initial imperfection out-of-plane amplitude was established in accordance with Smith et al.s [7] average model. The series investigating material property variation had all plates simply supported with unloaded edges restrained from in-plane displacement. Only square plates were modelled and their initial imperfection out-of-plane

amplitude was that given by Smith et al.s [7] average model. The two materials incorporated into the models were Grade B and API X52 steels. The plate series used to investigate the effects of initial out-of-plane imperfection variation had all plates simply supported with unloaded edges restrained from in-plane displacement. The material modelled was Grade B steel and only square plates were modelled. The initial imperfection out-of-plane amplitudes were that given by Smith et al.s [7] upper bound, average and lower bound models. The series used to investigate the effects of material strain hardening variation had all plates simply supported with unloaded edges restrained from in-plane displacement. Only square plates were modelled and the initial imperfection out-of-plane amplitude was established in accordance with Smith et al.s [7] average model. The two series of plates modelled compared the use of Grade B strain hardening steel and elastic-fully plastic Grade B steel (i.e. no strain hardening). The plate series used to investigate the effects of boundary conditions variation were composed only of square plates with the initial imperfection out-of-plane amplitude established in accordance with Smith et al.s [7] average model. The boundary condition: modelled included simply supported plates with unloaded edges free to pull in, simply supported plates with unloaded edges restrained from transverse in-plane displacement, simply supported plates with unloaded edges rotationally restrained and plates with all edges clamped.

4. Parametric results for plates 4.1. General assessment Fig. 6 shows the plates midplane membrane and bending stress variation through the complete load path (denoted t0 to tn) for a 6.9 mm thick (b=2.45) plate. Fig. 7 shows the same stresses for a 25 mm thick (b=0.677) plate. The membrane stress variation shows that in the initial loading stages the stress distribution is approximately uniform across the plate width and that the stress level increases uniformly as end shortening is increased. Beyond a certain value at which plate collapse occurs, i.e. it achieves its maximum load capacity, the stress distribution is no longer uniform and the higher stresses become concentrated along the unloaded edges with the middle of the plate almost unstressed. The relative level of this uniform membrane stress distribution threshold depends on the plate thickness. Beyond this threshold the plate starts to buckle and experiences a sudden drop in load carrying capacity in the middle strip while the lateral strips near the supporting edges suffer a sudden increase in membrane stress level, thus carrying the majority of the load. The more slender the plate is, the

Fig. 5. Buckled shape of a rectangular plate with an aspect ratio of 4 uniaxially loaded with the free edges restrained from pulling-in: ABAQUS solution.

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

177

Fig. 6. Midplane membrane and bending stress (s/sYP) contours at different load increments for Grade B square plate with unloaded edges restrained from pulling-in (6.9 mm thick, b=2.45).

Fig. 7. Midplane membrane and bending stress (s/sYP) contours at different load increments for Grade B square plate with unloaded edges restrained from pulling-in (25 mm thick, b=0.677).

more sudden and abrupt the membrane stress variation occurs and the wider the middle unstressed band is. With regard to the plate bending stress, it increases at the plate midplane with increasing end shortening (i.e. applied loading). This is consistent with the idea that curvature increases proportionally to end shortening from the onset of loading. This is also consistent with the fact that all the plates analysed had a rst mode outof-plane initial imperfection, i.e. they all had initial single curvature along the length. In some cases the bending stress reaches very high levels at the midplane due to the formation of a transverse kink parallel to the loading edge. This effect is well illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 8 presents the range of ultimate strengths for different slenderness ratios, b, obtained from the ABAQUS models and the available experimental data published by Nishino et al. [11], Moxham [12], Ueda [13] and Bradeld [14]. The large spread in ultimate strength values

for plates of the same slenderness is the result of the large parametric variation imposed on each test plate. Fig. 9 illustrates the comparison between ABAQUS solutions for the ultimate compressive strength of plates and three of the most used analytical models: Faulkner [5], Guedes Soares [6] and the elastic solution. It can be clearly seen that despite the previously mentioned spread in strength values for the same slenderness, the Faulkner and Guedes Soares models tend to form an narrower envelope which follows the envelope of values obtained from ABAQUS. In fact, the analytical models tend to represent the pivot of all ABAQUS solutions, which is not surprising since some of the cases analysed here were extreme and are very seldomly encountered in real structures. In a similar method to that applied by Faulkner [5], a regression analysis was performed for all ABAQUS data points in order to obtain a non-linear regression

178

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

1 N1i sU sYP

sU sU sYP i sYP sU sYP

, at b bi
MEAN

(4.3)
MEAN 2

LOWER BOUND

1 N1i

sU sU sYP i sYP

, at b bi
MEAN

Fig. 8. Comparison between ABAQUS results for ultimate compressive strength of steel square plates and experimental data.

Fig. 9. Comparison between ABAQUS curves for ultimate compressive strength of plates and analytical models.

where all values are determined within the slenderness range 0.677 bi 5.646 and N is the number of data points at a given slenderness ratio, bi. The resulting curves are presented in Fig. 10. Fig. 11 presents a comparison between the previously discussed analytical models and the average model derived here. Even though it has been shown not to be of great relevance, the elastic solution curve is also shown in order to provide a comparison against a fully theoretical model. It can be observed that for slenderness ratios up to approx. 2.25 all the previous models predict higher strength values. The discrepancy increases with the reduction in plate slenderness. This may reect the consequence that the set of experimental tests used in the derivation of the Faulkner [5] and Guedes Soares [6] models include very few results for thicker plates. For plates with slenderness ratios above 2.25 the derived model predicts higher strength than the Guedes Soares model. This is likely to reect the discrepancy induced by the reduction factor due to initial plate deection, Rd, and possibly the fact that these models were obtained from experimental data of simply supported plates of aspect ratios equal to or above 1, thus not including some of the extreme cases that are included here. Truncating the derived model to the range of slenderness ratios of between 1 and 3.5, the mathematical model to the average curve is given by sU sYP 0.2468 1.0335 0.1578. b2 b (4.4)

model for the ultimate compressive strength of plates. The methodology used was to dene a moving average curve for different plate slenderness ratios. The associated standard deviation was also evaluated at each slenderness ratio value. This resulted in three different nonlinear regression curves for ultimate strength, reecting the mean, lower and upper bound models. The last two were dened respectively by the average curve minus and plus one standard deviation. Each point of the mean, upper bound and lower bound curves are respectively expressed by sU sYP sU sYP 1 Ni
N

This equation has a correlation coefcient with the average non-linear regression analysis model of 0.9985 which is a clear measure of how close it ts the data model. The associated average error is 0.0, with a maximum absolute error of 2.23% with respect to the non-linear regression analysis model. 4.2. Maximum strength of uniaxially in-plane compressed plates Fig. 12 presents the load-end shortening curves for the Grade B steel square plates with unloaded edges restrained from transverse in-plane displacement. Initial plate stiffness (which is associated with the magnitude of the initial out-of-plane imperfection) increases with

MEAN

sU , at b bi sYP i sU sYP

(4.1)

(4.2)
MEAN

UPPER BOUND

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

179

Fig. 10. Comparison between ABAQUS ultimate compressive strength data and regression strength models.

Fig. 11.

Comparison between ABAQUS average repression curve for ultimate compressive strength of plates and analytical models.

reducing slenderness. While the thicker plates tend to show a more gradual loss of strength in the post-buckling region associated with plastic ow of the material, the more slender plates tend to have a more accentuated and sudden loss of strength after buckling (e/e0 from 0.4 to 0.8, where e is the end shortening strain and e0, is the end shortening yield strain). Beyond these values of end shortening there is an almost constant strength. This behaviour is related to the more sudden collapse mechanism that the slender plates have as a result of elastic effects. The magnitude of the remaining nearly constant fully plastic post-failure strength is inversely pro-

portional to plate slenderness. The value of end shortening at which this stable plastic ow region is reached is also inversely proportional to plate slenderness. However, for design purposes this behaviour is not relevant since it occurs well beyond plate failure. The inuence of the aspect ratio on the plate maximum strength is illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14. Guedes Soares [6] stated that for plates of aspect ratio above 1.5 the effect of the initial distortion is to strengthen the plate while it degrades the strength in the case of square plates. In the assessment of the results obtained one must consider two large groups of plates,

180

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

Fig. 12. Set of ABAQUS load shortening curves of Grade B square plates with unloaded edges restrained from pull in.

Fig. 14. Comparison between ABAQUS curves for maximum compressive strength of plates with aspect ratio from 1 to 4.

Fig. 13. Comparison between ABAQUS curves for maximum compressive strength of plates with aspect ratio from 0.5 to 1.

those with an aspect ratio less than one and those with an aspect ratio greater than one. It can be seen from Fig. 13 that the series of plates with a=0.5 represent the lower bound in plate maximum strength. This is not a surprising result because the short unloaded edge length offers very little restriction against out-of-plane displacement and hence collapse. The maximum strength increases directly with plate aspect ratio in the range of b 1.5. This is consistent with the fact that the more slender plates have their collapse mechanism dominated by elastic effects and thus are highly dependent on the length of the unloaded edges. For values of b 1.5, where plasticity inuences more signicantly the collapse mechanism, the plate

maximum strength tends to converge to similar values for plates of aspect ratio in the range of 0.75 to 1. Fig. 14 shows that plates with aspect ratios up to 1.5 show a direct increase in maximum strength with the increase in aspect ratio. This means that for aspect ratio values up to 1.5 the unloaded edges have a similar inuence to that of lower aspect ratio plates, i.e. the longer the unloaded edge, the higher the plate maximum compressive strength. Plates with aspect ratios of 2 and 4 exhibit similar relationships between maximum strength and slenderness ratio, with the plates of a=4 having higher strength. Plates with aspect ratios of 2 and 4 show a characteristic hump in the maximum strength versus slenderness curves, as illustrated in Fig. 14, for values of slenderness ratio below 1.5. This hump presents a minimum of strength at b=1.1 and a maximum at b=1.4. The plates with aspect ratios of 1.5 and 3 have approximately the same strength for values of slenderness ratio above 2. Overall, it is clear that beyond a=1.5, i.e. for the high aspect ratio range, the buckling mechanisms are substantially more complex. There is a complex interaction between initial imperfection, boundary condition restraints, and elastic and plastic collapse mechanisms which varies signicantly for each aspect ratio. This leads to the irregular and somewhat puzzling behaviour illustrated in Fig. 14. Further research is required to allow a better understanding of these interactions in plate collapse. The inuence of the boundary conditions on the plate maximum strength is shown in Fig. 15. It is possible to distinguish the two main boundary conditions affecting the collapse strength of plates which are unloaded edges transverse in-plane displacement and unloaded edges rotation about their own axis. The series of plates modelled with the unloaded edge

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

181

Fig. 15. Maximum strength of square steel plates with different boundary conditions.

rotation restraint present similar results to the clamped plate series showing that the restriction of the remaining degrees of freedom are not so important. However, with regard to the transverse in-plane displacement of the unloaded edges, its effects are substantially different from the previous case. For plates of slenderness ratio above 2 (b 2), the ultimate strength is lower than that for plates with the unloaded edges restrained. This discrepancy increases with plate slenderness. This conrms that for plates where the buckling and post-buckling behaviour is primarily dependent on elastic mechanisms the unloaded edges transverse in-plane displacement restraint boundary condition can increase the plate strength by as much as 25% (b=5.646). Fig. 16 illustrates the deformed shapes of 5 mm (b=3.387) and 25 mm b=0.667) thick plates. It can be clearly seen from Fig.

16 that the transverse in-plane displacement is quite signicant. This explains the maximum strength discrepancy between plates with and without such restriction. The transverse tensile stresses resulting from the inplane displacement restraint stabilise the plate axially in an area where the out-of-plane displacement is larger (i.e. at the midplane). This provides a geometric stiffness component preventing the increase in out-of-plane displacement and globally enhancing the plates maximum strength. For slenderness ratios below 3, the ultimate strength of the series of plates without transverse in-plane displacement restraint is slightly higher than that for square plates with the unloaded edges restrained. The maximum difference is 9% for b=1.23. This is due to the fact that the unloaded edges are free to pull in, enabling the plate to deform freely without a signicant biaxial stress state at the plate edge. Therefore failure will occur at higher values of applied load. The explanation for this is illustrated in Fig. 16. The transverse in-plane displacement for this plate is negative, i.e. the plates unloaded edges stretch outside the original form. This behaviour is opposite to that encountered with the more slender plates. Although this transverse in-plane expansion is signicantly smaller in order of magnitude to the transverse in-plane contraction encountered with the more slender plates as conrmed by the 4% loss of strength of an in-plane restrained plate when compared to the case illustrated, the phenomenon deserves further explanation. The restraint of the transverse in-plane stretching effect at the midplane will imply the appearance of a transverse compressive force which, as opposed to the stabilising tensile stresses encountered with the more slender plates, decreases the plates collapse strength. In fact, the resulting mechanism is equivalent to that of a plate under biaxial compression which enhances the outof-plane midplane displacement, hence reducing the plates geometric stiffness.

Fig. 16. Deformed shape for collapsed 5 mm (deformation magnied ve times) and 25 mm (deformation magnied 10 times) thick square plates with unloaded edges free to pull in.

182

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

The effect of initial out-of-plane imperfection amplitude variation on the maximum strength of a square plate is illustrated in Fig. 17. It can be seen that the plate collapse strength reduces with increasing out-of-plane imperfection. This is consistent with the fact that the larger the out-of-plane amplitude, the lower the plate geometric stiffness and the higher the bending moment formed as a consequence of the axial compression. This statement is valid for both square and low aspect ratio plates (1 a 1.5). Guedes Soares [6] identied the fact that for plates of aspect ratio above 1.5 the effect of this initial distortion is to strengthen the plate while it degrades the strength in the case of square plates. The main reason behind such behaviour is associated with the formation of patches of tensile (stabilising) stresses along the longer unloaded edges which enhance the plates compressive strength. The effect of material strain hardening variation on the maximum strength of a square plate was analysed. It was found that strain hardening is not a signicant factor in the maximum strength of square plates. In what concerns the effects of the grade of steel on the maximum strength of a square plate the main difference between the Grade B and API X52 steel plates is the relative magnitude of the ultimate plate strength. API X52 steel plates have higher compressive strength for values of plate slenderness below 2.5. This is due to the materials post-yield properties which provide these plates with more stiffness in the post-buckled region. The more slender plates, say greater than b=2.5, have their collapse dominated by predominantly elastic mechanisms and therefore the inuence of the material properties is very small. The comparative assessment of the load-end shortening curves for Grade B and API X52 steel square plates

showed that the variation in material properties (especially yield stress) inuenced signicantly both the initial plate stiffness and the magnitude of edge displacement at which buckling and failure occurred. This means that the range of edge displacements that API X52 plates can experience without failure is increased when compared with similar Grade B steel plates. These results are consistent with the expected performance of a higher yield strength material. 4.3. Ultimate strength of uniaxially in-plane compressed plates The load-end shortening curves for the Grade B steel rectangular plates with aspect ratios of 2 and 4 and with unloaded edges restrained from transverse in-plane displacement showed the following points. The increase in aspect ratio had a direct effect on the increase in ultimate strength. This is due to the increase in the length of the unloaded edges which were forced to remain plane and prevented from pulling in. The comparative assessment of the sets of load-end shortening curves for square plates and rectangular plates with an aspect ratio of 2 showed that the range of edge displacements that the rectangular plates can experience without failure is increased when compared with square plates but the rectangular plates have a lower initial stiffness. These results are consistent with the expected performance of a higher aspect ratio plate. As shown in Figs. 18 and 19, the ultimate strength of plates with an aspect ratio of 4 is lower than that for plates with an aspect ratio of 2. The range of edge displacements that these plates can experience without failure is approximately ve times higher than that for

Fig. 17. Maximum strength of square steel plates with different initial imperfection levels.

Fig. 18. Ultimate strength of steel plates of aspect ratio varying from 0.5 to 1.

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

183

Fig. 19. 1 to 4.

Ultimate strength of steel plates of aspect ratio varying from

square plates or rectangular plates with an aspect ratio of 2. From Fig. 18, which illustrates the ultimate strength vs slenderness ratio for plates of aspect ratio from 0.5 to 1, it can be observed that the series of plates with a=0.5 represent the lower bound in plate ultimate strength. Also the ultimate strength increases directly with plate aspect ratio in the range of b 1.5. This is consistent with the fact that the more slender plates have their collapse mechanism dominated by elastic effects and thus are highly dependent on the length of the unloaded edges. The earlier the plate collapses, the earlier it will reach yield along the unloaded edges since these edges will take most of the compressive load earlier. For values of b 1.5, where plasticity has a more signicant inuence on the collapse mechanism, the plate maximum strength tends to converge to similar values for plates of aspect ratio in the range of 0.75 to 1. This is consistent with the previously mentioned collapse behaviour. For plates of aspect ratio from 1 to 4, it is observed from Fig. 19 that plates with aspect ratios up to 1.5 show a direct increase in ultimate strength with the increase of aspect ratio. This means that for aspect ratio values up to 1.5 the unloaded edges have a similar inuence to that encountered with lower aspect ratio plates, i.e. in this aspect ratio range the plate ultimate compressive strength increases with increasing unloaded edge length. Plates with aspect ratios of 2 and 4 have different relationships between ultimate strength and the slenderness ratio. These plates show a characteristic hump in the ultimate strength vs slenderness plot, as illustrated in Fig. 19, for values of slenderness ratio below 1.5. This hump presents a minimum of strength at b=1.1 and a

maximum at b=1.4. Plates with an aspect ratio of 3 present a sudden drop in ultimate strength for b=l.5. Overall, it is clear that beyond a=1.5, i.e. for the high aspect ratio range, the post-buckling mechanisms, as for the buckling mechanisms, are more complex. This leads to the irregular behaviour illustrated in Fig. 19. Further research is required to allow a better understanding of these interactions in plate ultimate strength. The effects of boundary condition variation on the ultimate strength of a square plate are illustrated in Fig. 20. For plates with slenderness ratio greater than 2 the simply supported case represents the upper bound in ultimate strength. Descending in ultimate strength the order is as follows: plates with unloaded edges free to pull in, rotationally restrained plates and clamped plates. The explanation for this is that the in-plane displacement restriction is the most relevant strength enhancing boundary condition while the unloaded edges rotation restriction is the parameter which causes yield to occur earlier along the unloaded edges. As discussed previously, the in-plane displacement restriction generates transverse stresses in the midplane areas of the plate. They are tensile because of the transverse in-plane contraction for the more slender plates (say b 2), thus stabilising the plate and enhancing its maximum and ultimate strengths. For plates with slenderness ratio less than 2 the simply supported case represents the lower bound in ultimate strength. Ascending in ultimate strength the order is as follows: plates with unloaded edges free to pull in, rotationally restrained plates and clamped plates. This exactly the opposite order to that for plates with slenderness ratio greater than 2. For the more stocky plates (say b 2), as they have a tendency towards transverse inplane extension, any restraint generates transverse com-

Fig. 20. Ultimate strength of square steel plates with different boundary conditions.

184

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

pressive stresses. This leads to lower collapse and ultimate strengths. The rotational restraint acts as a strength enhancing parameter mainly because the thicker plates have high bending stiffness. This means that the boundary condition will force it to remain plane for larger values of end shortening than those for the case of more slender plates. The effects of initial imperfection level variation on the ultimate strength of a square plate are illustrated in Fig. 21. For the case of square and low aspect ratio plates (1 a 1.5) plate ultimate strength decreases with increasing out-of-plane imperfection. Globally, initial imperfection level is the parameter that most affects plate maximum and ultimate strength. The effect of material strain hardening variation on the ultimate strength of a square plate is illustrated in Fig. 22. It can be seen that there are no signicant discrepancies for plates of slenderness ratio values up to 2.5. Beyond this slenderness there is an abrupt loss of strength for the plates without strain hardening, which increases with slenderness and reaches an extreme value of 73.7% (b=5.646). The reason for such behaviour is related to the fact that for the slender plates the strain hardening effect acts as a deformation restraint thus postponing the ultimate strength of the plate to higher load values. The investigation on the effect of steel grade on the ultimate strength of a square plate showed that there are no differences or signicance between both cases except for the thicker plates where the collapse mechanisms are governed by elasto-plastic effects. However, the differences here are still relatively small.

Fig. 22. Ultimate strength of square steel plates with different plastic properties.

5. Conclusions This paper has shown that is possible to use a fully numerical solution in the form or non-linear nite element analysis to assess the inuence of varying parametrically the initial conditions on the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of plates. The ultimate strength solutions obtained in ABAQUS for plates lie within the envelope dened by the set of experimental data. The major discrepancies that were observed between the ABAQUS results and the experimental data reect the inuence of parametric variations which created some extreme cases that have yet to be experimentally tested. The comparison between some of the most common analytical models and the non-linear average model has shown that for slenderness ratios up to approx. 2.25 all the models considered predict higher strength values. This may be the consequence of the fact that the set of experimental tests used for the derivation of older models included very few cases of thicker plates. For plates with slenderness ratios above 2.25 the derived model predicts higher strength than the Guedes Soares model. This difference is likely to reect the Guedes Soares model assumptions concerning plate initial imperfection effects, i.e. the denition of the strength reduction factor due to initial plate deection may penalise excessively the strength of the slender plates. Additionally, the set of experimental data used to derive Faulkners model, from which Guedes Soares developed his, is very unlikely to include extreme cases such as those modelled and analysed here. From all the parameters varied, it can be concluded that aspect ratio has a signicant inuence both on plate maximum and ultimate strengths. Plates with aspect ratios up to 1.5 have their maximum and ultimate

Fig. 21. Ultimate strength of square steel plates with different initial imperfection levels.

A.F. Mateus, J.A. Witz / Engineering Structures 23 (2001) 172185

185

strengths governed by the length of the unloaded edges forced to remain plane by the boundary conditions. The solutions obtained for ABAQUS plate models of aspect ratios above 1.5 showed the dependence of plate compressive strength (maximum and ultimate) on the interaction between aspect ratio, type of initial imperfection and boundary conditions. Boundary conditions are inuential in determining plate collapse strength. It has been shown that the unloaded edges transverse in-plane displacement restraint is the most important boundary condition and that rotational restraint of the unloaded edges is not very signicant. The different transverse in-plane displacement mechanisms that square and low aspect ratio plates experience depending on their slenderness have been explained. It has been shown that the transverse in-plane restraint enhances the compressive strength of the slender plates while it degrades the strength of the thicker plates. The level of plate initial imperfection is another fundamental parameter in determining the compressive strength of a plate. It has been shown that for square and low aspect ratio plates the maximum and ultimate compressive strengths decrease with increases in the outof-plane amplitude of an approximately rst mode distortion. Further research is required to investigate the inuence of higher distortion modes on plate strength as well as the inuence of rst mode out-of-plane imperfection effects on higher aspect ratio plates. The material strain hardening effect on plate strength is shown to be negligible for maximum collapse strength. However, for plate ultimate strength it has been shown that a major loss of strength occurs for plates of slenderness ratio above 2.5. Variation in the steel grades considered is shown not to be signicant in determining a plates compressive load carrying capacity. Steel grade has more of an inuence on end shortening range before

collapse and failure. Higher strength steels can experience larger end shortenings. References
[1] Timoshenko SP, Woinowsky-Krieger S. Theory of plates and shells. 2nd ed. London: McGrawHill, 1959. [2] Vinson JR. The behavior of shells composed of isotropic and composite materials. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1993. [3] Hibbitt, Karlsson, Sorensen. ABAQUS Version 5.7, Set of user and reference manuals. Pawtucket, USA, 1997. [4] Mateus AF, Witz JA. On the buckling and post-buckling of corroded steel plates. Royal Institution of Naval Architects, Transactions Part C 1998;140. [5] Faulkner D. A review of effective plating for use in the analysis of stiffened plating in bending and compression. Journal of Ship Research 1975;19(1):117. [6] Guedes Soares C. Design equation for the compressive strength of unstiffened plate elements with initial imperfections. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 1988;9:287310. [7] Smith CS, Davidson PC, Chapman JC, Dowling PJ. Strength and stiffness of ships plating under in-plane compression and tension. Transactions RINA 1987;130:27793. [8] Ellinas CP, Supple WJ, Walker AC. Buckling of offshore structures. London: Gulf, 1984. [9] Chalmers DW. Design of ships structures. London: Department of Defence, HMSO, 1993. [10] Stouffer DC, Dame LT. Inelastic deformation of metals models, mechanical properties, and metallurgy. New York: Wiley, 1996. [11] Nishino F et al. Experimental investigation of the buckling of plates with residual stresses, test methods for compression members. Special Technical Publication 419, ASTM, Philadelphia, USA, 1967:1230. [12] Moxham KE. Buckling tests on individual welded steel plates in compression. University of Cambridge, Engineering Department, Report CUED/C-Struct/TR.3, 1971. [13] Ueda Y et al. Ultimate strength of square plates subjected to compression (2nd report) comprehensive study on effects of initial imperfections. Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Japan 1975;140:5209. [14] Bradeld CD. Test on plates loaded in in-plane compression. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 1980;1:2737.