Finite element buckling analysis of stiffened plates

An isoparametric stiffened plate bending element for the buckling analysis of stiffened plates has been presented. In the present approach, the stiffener can be positioned anywhere within the plate element and need not necessarily be placed on the nodal lines. The element, being isoparametric quadratic, can readily accommodate curved boundaries, laminated materials and transverse shear deformation. The formulation is applicable to thin as well as thick plates. The buckling loads for various rectangular and skew stiffened plates with varying skew angles and stiffness parameters have been indicated. The results show good agreement with those published.     

Geometric nonlinear analysis of stiffened plates by the spline finite strip method

Geometric nonlinear analysis of stiffened plates is investigated by the spline finite strip method. von Karman’s nonlinear plate theory is adopted and the formulation is made in total Lagrangian coordinate system. The resulting nonlinear equations are solved by the Newton–Raphson iteration technique. To analyse plates having any arbitrary shapes, the whole plate is mapped into a square domain. The mapped domain is discretised into a number of strips. In this method, the displacement interpolation functions used are: the spline functions in the longitudinal direction of the strip and the finite element shape functions in the other direction. The stiffener is elegantly modelled so that it can be placed anywhere within the plate strip. The arbitrary orientation of the stiffener and its eccentricity are incorporated in the formulation. All these aspects have ultimately made the proposed approach a most versatile tool of analysis. Plates and stiffened plates are analysed and the results are presented along with those of other investigators for necessary comparison and discussion.     

Static and dynamic analysis of stiffened plates

In this paper a method for the static and dynamic analysis of eccentrically stiffened annular sector plates is presented. The plate is clamped on all the edges. The integral equation technique is adopted for the solution. In the static analysis the deflection and stresses at centre and the stresses at the edges are obtained and they are presented graphically. The results are compared for particular cases with those of other investigators who have used different analytical methods. The natural frequencies of stiffened clamped plates are also obtained for plates with different sector angles.     

A finite element large displacement analysis of stiffened plates

A finite element analysis of the large deflection behaviour of stiffened plates using the isoparametric quadratic stiffened plate bending element is presented. The evaluation of fundamental equations of the stiffened plates is based on Mindlin's hypothesis. The large deflection equations are based on von Kármán's theory. The solution algmrithm for the assembled nonlinear equilibrium equations is based on the Newton-Raphson iteration technique. Numerical solutions are presented for rectangular plates and skew stiffened plates.     

Finite element free vibration analysis of eccentrically stiffened plates

A new finite element model is proposed for free vibration analysis of eccentrically stiffened plates. The formulation allows the placement of any number of arbitrarily oriented stiffeners within a plate element without disturbing their individual properties. A plate-bending element consistent with the Reissner-Mindlin thick plate theory is employed to model the behaviour of the plating. A stiffener element, consistent with the plate element, is introduced to model the contributions of the stiffeners. The applied plate-bending and stiffener elements are based on mixed interpolation of tensorial components (MITC), to avoid spurious shear locking and to guarantee good convergence behaviour. Several numerical examples using both uniform and distorted meshes are given to demonstrate the excellent predictive capability of this approach.     

Vibration analysis of continuous plate structures using boundary integrals

The natural frequencies of thin continuous plates, including the influence of in-plane forces, are calculated using boundary integrals. This study deals in particular with continuous plate structures consisting of several fields of different thickness and possibly with the inclusion of internal supports. The concepts of compatibility and equilibrium conditions along the common boundaries have been imposed in conjunction with a boundary element formulation for each panel. Several examples are presented and the results are compared with analytical as well as finite element solutions demonstrating the effectiveness of the formulation. Some numerical issues are discussed as well.     

Shape optimization of stiffeners in stiffened composite plates with thermal residual stresses

The finite element analysis method is used to examine the influence of manufacturing-induced thermal residual stresses on the optimal shape of stiffeners in stiffened, symmetrically laminated plates. Three stiffener arrangements are studied via an optimization process in which the objective is to maximize the first natural frequency of the stiffened plate. The optimization problem is solved using the method of moving asymptotes (MMA). The numerical simulations indicate that thermal residual stresses can either cause a dispersion of stiffeners along the perimeter or a concentration around the centre. Further, the optimum fundamental frequency tends to increase with increasing temperature difference.     

Large amplitude free flexural vibrations of thin plates of arbitrary shape

A finite element formulation is developed for analyzing large amplitude free flexural vibrations of elastic plates of arbitrary shape. Stress distributions in the plates, deflection shape and nonlinear frequencies are determined from the analysis. Linearized stiffness equations of motion governing large amplitude oscillations of plates, quasi-linear geometrical stiffness matrix, solution procedures, and convergence characteristics are presented. The linearized geometrical stiffness matrix for an eighteen degrees-of-freedom conforming triangular plate element is evaluated by using a seven-point numerical integration. Nonlinear frequencies for square, rectangular, circular, rhombic, and isosceles triangular plates, with edges simply supported or clamped, are obtained and compared with available approximate continuum solutions. It demonstrates that the present formulation gives results entirely adequate for many engineering purposes.     

Transverse shear effect on vibration of laminated plate using higher-order plate element

An approach using a higher-order plate element to include the effect of transverse shear deformation on free vibration of laminated plate is presented. The total displacement of the element is expressed as the sum of the displacement due to bending and that due to shear deformation. The double-sized stiffness and mass matrices due to the separation of bending and shear displacements are then reduced to the size as if only the total deflection was considered. Numerical results for natural frequencies for a range of different isotropic and anisotropic plates with various thickness-to-length ratios are obtained and compared with solutions available in the literature. The effect of transverse shear deformation on natural frequencies of higher modes of laminated plates is also discussed.     

Finite element analysis of eccentrically stiffened plates in free vibration

A compound finite element model is developed to investigate eccentrically stiffened plates in free vibration. The plate elements and beam elements are treated as integral parts of a compound section, and not as independent bending components. The derivation is based on the assumptions of small deflection theory. In the orthogonally stiffened directions of the compound section, the neutral surfaces may not coincide. They lie between the middle surface of the plate and the centroidal axes of the stiffeners. The results of this study are compared with existing ones and with those of the orthotropic plate approximation. Modifications to the existing equivalent orthotropic rigidities are proposed.     

Elasto-plastic analysis of orthogonally stiffened plates with initial imperfections under uniaxial compression

In general, the stiffened plates consisting of steel plate elements are unavoidably accompanied by initial imperfections such as residual stresses and initial deflections, which have considerable effects on their ultimate strength. Therefore, it is needed for designing them to develop more rational method taking the ultimate strength influenced by initial imperfections into account rather than the conventional design method being on the basis of the linear elastic buckling theory.From this point of view, this study aims to evaluate rigorously the ultimate strength of orthogonally stiffened plate with initial imperfections under uniaxial in-plane compression. The elasto-plastic finite element method is applied to attain this purpose. By a happy combination of modal analytical technique and conventional finite element method, much reduction of the degree of freedom can be expected to be realized herewith. Some numerical calculations are performed by means of this rigorous method to examine the exactness of the analysis. Moreover, the numerical results are compared with the experimental ones.     

爆炸载荷下加筋板的动力学性能分析

为提升军舰、潜艇和航空母舰外板的抗爆炸载荷冲击能力,采用Abaqus分析爆炸载荷下材料阻尼、应变率、加筋板的几何构型及加强筋的几何参数对结构动力学性能的影响.结果表明：加筋板相对于平板具有优异的抗爆炸载荷冲击能力;材料的阻尼及应变率对结构动力学性能影响较大;双十字加筋板相对于其他几何构型的加筋板具有更优良的抗爆炸载荷冲击的能力;矩形加强筋截面高宽比对加筋板动力学性能影响较明显,在结构设计中应该根据需求进行合理选择.     

Nonlinear dynamic analysis of stiffened plates

A new finite strip formulation for the nonlinear analysis of stiffened plate structures subjected to transient pressure loadings is presented. The effects of large deflections, and strain rate sensitive yielding material properties are included. An explicit central difference/diagonal mass matrix time stepping method is adopted. Example results are presented for an I-beam, an isotropic plate and a five-bay stiffened panel and compared with other predictions and/or experimental results. It is observed that design level accuracy can be obtained for practical structures for a fraction of the cost of full finite element analyses.     

Axisymmetric vibration of bimodulus thick circular and annular plates

The fundamental natural frequencies of axisymmetric circular and annular plates subjected to a combination of a pure bending stress and extensional stress in the plane of the plate are investigated. The thick plate ring element model which includes the effect of transverse shear deformation is created for axisymmetric free vibration problems. The obtained results of non-dimensional natural frequency coefficient compared with the closed form solutions for ordinary plates are shown to be very good. The effects of various parameters on the natural frequency and neutral surface locations are studied. The bimodulus properties are shown to have significant influence on the natural frequency.     

Optimum design of stiffened structures with constraint on the frequency in the presence of initial stresses

Structural optimization often leads to simultaneity of two or more failure modes. The interaction between failure modes must be included in the constraint set for a safe design. In this paper, stiffened cylindrical panels and waffle plates are designed with constraints on static instabilities, natural frequencies and initially stressed vibration frequencies. The interaction between instability and the natural frequency of the structure is considered. The erosion of structural safety when instability and free vibrations are assumed to be independent of each other is shown. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the interaction phenomenon.     

Semi-analytical postbuckling analysis of stiffened imperfect plates with a free or stiffened edge

A large deflection, semi-analytical method is developed for pre- and postbuckling analyses of stiffened rectangular plates with one edge free or flexibly supported, and the other three edges laterally supported. The plates can have stiffeners in both directions parallel and perpendicular to the free edge, and the stiffener spacing can be arbitrary. Both global and local bending modes are captured by using a displacement field consisting of displacements representing a simply supported, stiffened plate and an unstiffened plate with a free edge. The out-of-plane and in-plane displacements are represented by trigonometric functions and linearly varying functions, defined over the entire plate. The formulations derived are implemented into a FORTRAN computer programme, and numerical results are compared with results by finite element analyses (FEA) for a variety of plate and stiffener geometries. Relatively high numerical accuracy is achieved with low computational efforts.     

In-plane vibration of plates by continuous mass matrix method

The continuous mass matrix method derived for frameworks is extended to the analysis of in-plane vibration of plates. A continuous mass distribution which is the same as the actual mass distribution of the plate is considered over each rectangular finite element. Taking into account that the rigid body movement produces inertial forces in dynamic analysis for a rectangular plate element eight independent conditions are provided to satisfy eight independent freedoms. Each condition is obtained from an independent displacement distribution satisfying the equations of motion at any point of the element and not only at the nodes of the rectangle. The dynamic element stiffness matrix thus obtained is a function of the natural circular frequency. The limit of the dynamic element stiffness matrix when the value of the natural circular frequency tends to zero is the static, stress compatible element stiffness matrix. The analysis of plates under forcing forces is performed by modal analysis after the natural circular frequencies and the corresponding modal shapes have been obtained from the free vibrations, for all the forcing forces are assumed to be function of the same time variation. Otherwise one must recur to a numerical analysis. The effect of the sizes, number of the meshes, the additional static load on the plate and the rigidity of the boundaries on the vibration of the plate is discussed. Few example problems are solved in order to illustrate the above mentioned effects. The numerical results obtained by continuous mass matrix method are compared with those of consistent mass matrix method. The convergence in terms of the sizes of meshes and the limit of convergence are examined.     

Linear free flexural vibration of cracked functionally graded plates in thermal environment

In this paper, the linear free flexural vibrations of functionally graded material plates with a through center crack is studied using an 8-noded shear flexible element. The material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent and graded in the thickness direction. The effective material properties are estimated using the Mori–Tanaka homogenization scheme. The formulation is developed based on first-order shear deformation theory. The shear correction factors are evaluated employing the energy equivalence principle. The variation of the plates natural frequency is studied considering various parameters such as the crack length, plate aspect ratio, skew angle, temperature, thickness and boundary conditions. The results obtained here reveal that the natural frequency of the plate decreases with increase in temperature gradient, crack length and gradient index.     

The free vibration of skew plates using the hierarchical finite element method

The hierarchical finite element method is used to determine the natural frequencies and modes of flat, isotropic skew plates. A number of such plates with different boundary conditions—including free edges and point supports—are considered in this paper. The dependence of frequency on skew angle, aspect ratio and Poisson's ratio is investigated, though succinctness prohibits a complete study exploring the full interrelation of these parameters. Extensive results are presented in diagrammatic, graphical, and tabular format; these are shown to be in very good agreement with the work of other investigators, and should prove a valuable source of data for use by engineers and scientists.     

An incremental galerkin method for plates and stiffened plates

In order to perform a detailed analysis of large deflection behavior of a rectangular plate or stiffened plate, an efficient semi-analytical method is developed. First, incremental forms of the governing differential equations of plates and stiffened plates with initial deflection are derived. These equations are linearized and may be easily solved. Secondly, these equations are solved for each load increment by the Galerkin method with a special consideration of simply supported boundaries.A procedure of equilibrium correction at intermediate load steps is presented such that good accuracy of the solution may be maintained with larger load steps.This method is successfully applied to plates with initial deflection subjected to in-plane as well as out-of-plane loads to obtain the whole histories of the behavior of these plates. Application of this method to stiffened plates with initial deflection is also presented. Comparisons of results obtained by this method with those obtained by other methods are made and the validity of the method is demonstrated.This incremental version of the Galerkin method is found to be extremely advantageous in certain types of plate and stiffened plate problems. These types are identified and the efficiency of the method is demonstrated.