Optimal locations of internal line supports for rectangular plates against buckling

This paper concerns the optimal locations of straight line internal supports for rectangular thin plates, under uniaxial compression, so as to maximize the elastic buckling loads. The optimization problem can be readily solved by using the newly developed pb-2 Rayleigh-Ritz method for the buckling analysis. Since the method avoids any discretization, the problems associated with the need to move the nodal points so as to coincide with the internal line support are eliminated. Moreover, the optimization exercise may be performed on a personal computer since the method requires a relatively smaller memory and computational effort as a result of a lower number of unknown variables involved when compared to other discretization methods such as the finite difference or finite element methods. Optimal results will be presented for plates with various combinations of edge conditions, aspects ratios and one or two internal line supports. The results indicate large sensitivity of buckling loads to supporting conditions.