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1. INTRODUCTION
Plates are very important elements in steel structures. They can be assembled into complete members by the basic rolling process (as hot rolled sections), by folding (as cold formed sections) and by welding. The efficiency of such sections is due to their use of the high in-plane stiffness of one plate element to support the edge of its neighbour, thus controlling the out-of-plane behaviour of the latter.
The size of plates in steel structures varies from about 0,6mm thickness and 70mm width in a corrugated steel sheet, to about 100mm thick and 3m width in a large industrial or offshore structure. Whatever the scale of construction the plate panel will have a thickness t that is much smaller than the width b, or length a. As will be seen later, the most important geometric parameter for plates is b/t and this will vary, in an efficient plate structure, within the range 30 to 250.
In addition to the geometric proportions of the plate, its strength is governed by its boundary conditions. Figure 1 shows how response to different types of actions is influenced by different boundary conditions. Response to in-plane actions that do not cause buckling of the plate is only influenced by in-plane, plane stress, boundary conditions, Figure 1b. Initially, response to out-of-plane action is only influenced by the boundary conditions for transverse movement and edge moments, Figure 1c. However, at higher actions, responses to both types of action conditions are influenced by all four boundary conditions. Out-of-plane conditions influence the local buckling, see Figure 1d; in-plane conditions influence the membrane action effects that develop at large displacements (>t) under lateral actions, see Figure 1e.
When the plate buckles, it is particularly important to differentiate between applied displacements, see Figure 2b and applied stresses, see Figure 2c. The former permits a redistribution of stress within the panel; the more flexible central region sheds stresses to the edges giving a valuable post buckling resistance. The latter, rarer case leads to an earlier collapse of the central region of the plate with in-plane deformation of the loaded edges.
uniform over the entire panel, see for example Figure 3a, the base of a water tank. varying over the entire panel, see for example Figure 3b, the side of a water tank. a local patch over part of the panel, see for example Figure 3c, a wheel load on a bridge deck.
In members made up of plate elements, such as the box girder shown in Figure 5, many of the plate components are subjected to more than one component of in-plane action effect. Only panel A does not have shear coincident with the longitudinal compression.
If the cross-girder system EFG was a means of introducing additional actions into the box, there would also be transverse direct stresses arising from the interaction between the plate and the stiffeners.
As with any instability of a continuous medium, more than one buckled mode is possible, in this instance, with one half wave transversely and in half waves longitudinally. As the aspect ratio increases the critical mode
changes, tending towards the situation where the half wave length a/m = b. The behaviour of a long plate panel can therefore be modelled accurately by considering a simply-supported, square panel. ii. Bending conditions As shown in Figure 7, boundary conditions influence both the buckled shapes and the critical stresses of elastic plates. The greatest influence is the presence or absence of simple supports, for example the removal of simple support to one edge between case 1 and case 4 reduces the buckling stress by a factor of 4,0/0,425 or 9,4. By contrast introducing rotational restraint to one edge between case 1 and case 2 increases the buckling stress by 1,35.
Where there is more than one action component, there will be more than one mode and therefore there may be interaction between the modes. Thus in Figure 8b(i) the presence of low transverse compression does not change the mode of buckling. However, as shown in Figure 8b(ii), high transverse compression will cause the panel to deform into a single half wave. (In some circumstances this forcing into a higher mode may increase strength; for example, in case 8b(ii), predeformation/transverse compression may increase strength in longitudinal compression.) Shear buckling as shown in Figure 8c is basically an interaction between the diagonal, destabilising compression and the stabilising tension on the other diagonal.
Where buckled modes under the different action effects are similar, the buckling stresses under the combined actions are less than the addition of individual action effects. Figure 9 shows the buckling interactions under combined compression, and uniaxial compression and shear.
greater restraint than those near the centre from the transverse flexural members. They therefore have greater post buckling stiffness and carry a greater proportion of the action. As the grillage moves more into the post buckling regime, the transverse buckling restraint is augmented by transverse membrane action.
Figures 11a, 11b and 11c describe in more detail the changing distribution of stresses as a plate buckles following the equilibrium path shown in Figure 11d. As the plate initially buckles the stresses redistribute to the stiffer edges. As the buckling continues this redistribution becomes more extreme (the middle strip of slender plates may go into tension before the plate fails). Also transverse membrane stresses build up. These are self equilibrating unless the plate has clamped in-plane edges; tension at the mid panel, which restrains the buckling is resisted by compression at the edges, which are restrained from out-of-plane movement.
An examination of the non-linear longitudinal stresses in Figures 11a and 11c shows that it is possible to replace these stresses by rectangular stress blocks that have the same peak stress and same action effect. This effective width of plate (comprising beff/2 on each side) proves to be a very effective design concept. Figure 11e shows how effective width varies with slenderness (p is a measure of plate slenderness that is independent of yield stress; p = 1,0 corresponds to values of b/t of 57, 53 and 46 for fy of 235N/mm2, 275N/mm2 and 355N/mm2 respectively). Figure 12 shows how effective widths of plate elements may be combined to give an effective cross-section of a member.
Figure 14 summarises the strength of actual plates of varying slenderness. It shows the reduction in strength due to imperfections and the post buckling strength of slender plates.
plate stiffness and action capacity increases. If the edges are encastre as in Figure 15d, both stiffness and strength are increased by the boundary restraining moments.
Slender plates may well deflect elastically into a large displacement regime (typically where d > t). In such cases the flexural response is significantly enhanced by the membrane action of the plate. This membrane action is at its most effective if the edges are fully clamped. Even if they are only held partially straight by their own in-plane stiffness, the increase in stiffness and strength is most noticeable at large deflections. Figure 15 contrasts the behaviour of a similar plate with different boundary conditions. Figure 16 shows the modes of behaviour that occur if the plates are subject to sufficient load for full yield line patterns to develop. The greater number of yield lines as the boundary conditions improve is a qualitative measure of the increase in resistance.
"smearing" the stiffeners over the width of the plate can only model overall behaviour. stiffeners are usually eccentric to the plate. Flexural behaviour of the equivalent tee section induces local direct stresses in the plate panels. local effects on plate panels and individual stiffeners need to be considered separately. the discrete nature of the stiffening introduces the possibility of local modes of buckling. For example, the stiffened flange shown in Figure 17a shows several modes of buckling. Examples are:
(i) plate panel buckling under overall compression plus any local compression arising from the combined action of the plate panel with its attached stiffening, Figure 17b. (ii) stiffened panel buckling between transverse stiffeners, Figure 17c. This occurs if the latter have sufficient rigidity to prevent overall buckling. Plate action is not very significant because the only transverse member is the plate itself. This form of buckling is best modelled by considering the stiffened panel as a series of tee sections buckling as columns. It should be noted that this section is monosymmetric and will exhibit different behaviour if the plate or the stiffener tip is in greater compression. (iii) overall or orthotropic bucking, Figure 17d. This occurs when the cross girders are flexible. It is best modelled by considering the plate assembly as an orthotropic plate.
4. CONCLUDING SUMMARY
Plates and plate panels are widely used in steel structures to resist both in-plane and out-of-plane actions. Plate panels under in-plane compression and/or shear are subject to buckling. The elastic buckling stress of a perfect plate panel is influenced by: plate slenderness (b/t). aspect ratio (a/b). boundary conditions. interaction between actions, i.e. biaxial compression and compression and shear.
The effective width concept is a useful means of defining the postbuckling behaviour of a plate panel in compression. The behaviour of actual plates is influenced by both residual stresses and geometric imperfections. The response of a plate panel to out-of-plane actions is influenced by its boundary conditions. An assembly of plate panels into a stiffened plate structure may exhibit both local and overall modes of instability.
5. ADDITIONAL READING
1. Timoshenko, S. and Weinowsky-Kreiger, S., "Theory of Plates and Shells" Mc Graw-Hill, New York, International Student Edition, 2nd Ed. Previous | Next | Contents