Abstract
Orthogonal stiffened plates present in the ship deck are subjected to axial compression due to hogging and sagging bending moments and, lateral load due to cargo load. The main objective of this investigation is to determine the ultimate load carrying capacity and study the interactive behaviour of orthogonal stiffened plates under axial and lateral loads. Tests were conducted on six stiffened plates with plate slenderness ratios of 80 and 64, and corresponding column slenderness ratios of 24 and 26. Hydraulic jacks and inflatable air balloon with load control mechanism were fabricated to apply axial and lateral loads on the test specimens respectively. All the specimens were tested up to ultimate load and the mode of failure was determined based on the initial yielding observed in the plate and/or stiffener. Nonlinear finite element analysis of test specimens was performed using the general purpose FE software ANSYS®. Both material and geometric nonlinearities were considered in the FE analysis of test specimens. The ultimate loads obtained from the finite element analysis were compared with experimental data and found to be satisfactory. It was also observed that the mode of failure obtained from finite element analysis is similar as observed from experiments. It was concluded that the increase in lateral load beyond two thirds of ultimate lateral load significantly reduces the axial ultimate load carrying capacity of stiffened panels. The interactive effect of stiffened plates subjected to combined action of axial and lateral loads is determined as nonlinear.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alagusundaramoorthy, P. (1993). Ultimate strength of stiffened plates, PhD Dissertation, Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.
Dean, J. A. and Dowling, P. J. (1976). “Ultimate load tests on three stiffened plates under combined inplane and lateral loading.” Proceedings of International Conference on Steel Plated Structures, ed. Dowling, P. J. et al., Imperial College, London, pp. 743–763.
Ghavami, K. (1994). “Experimental study of stiffened plates in compression up to collapse.” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 197–221.
Grondin, G. Y., Chen, Q., Elwi, A. E., and Cheng, J. J. (1998). “Stiffened steel plates under compression and bending.” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 125–148.
Guedes Soares, C. and Gordo, J. M. (1996). “Collapse strength of rectangular plates under transverse compression.” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 215–234.
Hu, S. Z., Chen, Q., Pegg, N., and Zimmerman, T. J. E. (1997). “Ultimate collapse tests of stiffened plate ship structural units.” Marine Structures, Vol. 10, No. 8–10, pp. 587–610.
Hu, S. Z. and Jiang, L. (1998). “A finite element simulation of the test procedure of stiffened panels.” Marine Structures, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 75–99.
Lavana Kumar, C. (2001). Stiffened plates subjected to combined action of axial load and lateral pressure, MS Dissertation, Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.
Mechanical Testing (1985). Metals Handbook, Ninth Edition, American Society for Metals, pp. 28–33.
Murray, N. W. (1973). “Buckling of stiffened panels loaded axially and in bending.” The Structural Engineer, Vol. 51, No. 8, pp. 285–301.
Robertson, A. (1925). “The strength of struts.” Selected Engineering Papers, The Institution of Civil Engineers, London, England, Vol. 28, pp. 1–55.
Shanmugam, N. E. and Arockiasamy, M. (1996). “Local buckling of stiffened plates in offshore structures.” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 41–59.
Sheikh, I. A., Elwi, A. E., and Grondin, G. Y. (2003). “Stiffened steel plates under combined compression and bending.” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Vol. 59, No. 7, pp. 911–930.
Smith, C. S. (1975). “Compressive strength of welded steel ship grillages.” Transactions of Royal Institute of Naval Architects, Vol. 117, pp. 325–359.
Suneel Kumar, M. (2006). Ultimate strength of stiffened plates with initial imperfections and cutout under inplane and out-of-plane loading, PhD Thesis, Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.
Suneel Kumar, M., Alagusundaramoorthy, P., and Sundaravadivelu, R. (2009) “A novel setup for testing of ship deck stiffened panels under axial and lateral loads.” ASTM J Testing and Evaluation 2009, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 160–174.
Ueda, Y. and Yao, T. (1983). “Ultimate strength of compressed stiffened plates and minimum stiffness ratio of their stiffeners.” Engineering Structures, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 97–106.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, M.S., Kumar, C.L., Alagusundaramoorthy, P. et al. Ultimate strength of orthogonal stiffened plates subjected to axial and lateral loads. KSCE J Civ Eng 14, 197–206 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-010-0197-2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-010-0197-2