Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

An approximate method to generate average

stress}strain curve with the e!ect of residual
stresses for rectangular plates under uniaxial
compression in ship structures
Yuren Hu *, Jiulong Sun

School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 1954 Huashan Road,
Shanghai 200030, People's Republic of China

Shanghai Rules and Research Institute, China Classixcation Society, 1234 Pudong Ave., Shanghai 200135,
People's Republic of China
Received 6 April 1999; received in revised form 7 December 1999; accepted 6 January 2000

Abstract
The average stress}strain curve for rectangular plates under uniaxial compression in ship hull
structures is generated on the basis of the existing design formulae. The dual-term equation for
ultimate strength of uniaxially compressed plates is employed to generate the average
stress}strain curve for long plates. Two alternatives proposed by Faulkner and Frankland,
respectively, are considered. An approximate method to take into account the e!ect of residual
stresses is proposed. By investigating the variation of the stress distribution at di!erent stages of
compression, the average stress}strain relationship of the rectangular long plates with the e!ect
of residual stresses is derived from equilibrium. The behaviors of the wide plates are also
discussed. The assumption proposed by Valsgard for the idealized stress distribution of wide
plates under uniaxial compression is adopted. The average stress}strain relationship for wide
plates is derived from the existing design formulae. Two equations proposed by Hughes and
recommended by API for critical stress of the central portion of the wide plate are considered.
The e!ect of residual stresses is also taken into account for wide plates.  2000 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Rectangular plates; Axial compression; Residual stresses; Ultimate strength; Buckling; Postbuckling; Post-collapse

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 0086-21-6384-2238.

E-mail address: yurenhuc@online.sh.cn (Y. Hu).
0951-8339/99/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 5 1 - 8 3 3 9 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 2 - 2

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Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

Nomenclature
a
b
b
C
b

E
R
B
R
PB
t
b
b
C
b
*
d
e
e
W
e
e H
g
p
?
p
?
p
?
pP
?
pPB
?
p
C
p
K
p
KNA
p
K
p
P
p
W
p
*p

length of the plate

actual width of the plate
e!ective width of the plate at post-buckling stage
e!ective width of the plate at collapse
Young's modulus of the material
in#uence factor of the initial de#ection
interaction factor between the initial de#ection and the residual stress
thickness of the plate
slenderness of the plate
e!ective slenderness of the plate
longitudinal slenderness of the wide plate
initial de#ection of the plate
average strain of the plate
yield strain of the material
dimensionless strain
dimensionless strain at which the e!ect of the residual stresses vanishes
factor of residual tension stress block width
average apply stress of the plate
average stress of the central portion of the wide plate
average stress of the edge portion of the wide plate
average apply stress of the plate with residual stresses
average apply stress of the plate with residual stresses and initial de#ection
edge stress of the plate
ultimate average stress of the plate
ultimate stress of the central portion of the wide plate
ultimate average stress of the edge portion of the wide plate
compressive residual stress in the central portion of the plate
yield stress of the material
dimensionless stress
stress reduction in the central portion of the plate

1. Introduction
Rectangular plates with four edges supported by longitudinal and transverse
sti!eners are the basic structural components in ship structures. The average
stress}strain relationship of the rectangular plates under uniaxial compression, including the nonlinear post-buckling and post-collapse behaviors, is essential in
estimating the ultimate longitudinal strength of a ship hull [1}3]. Generally, an
elasto-plastic large de#ection bending analysis by using classical theory or by using

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

587

the nonlinear "nite element method is required to establish the average stress}strain
curve for a plate. It is a very complicated task.
For the purpose of practical application, it is bene"cial to develop a simpli"ed
method to generate the average stress}strain curve of plates under uniaxial compression. In 1990, Billingsley [4] "rst proposed a method to generate the average
stress}strain curve on the basis of the widely used design formulae for ultimate
strength of plates. He generated the average stress}strain curves for both long and
wide rectangular plates based on a design formula adapted by US Navy [5]. However,
the load shedding at the post-collapse stage was not taken into account, so the
average stress was assumed to keep constant after the ultimate strength was reached.
The e!ect of residual stresses and initial distortions were not considered either.
In 1993, the method on the basis of the design formulae was further developed by
Gordo and Guedes Soares [6] to take into account the post-collapse load shedding
behavior. The average stress}strain curve they generated was based on the design
formula proposed by Faulkner [7]. The e!ects of residual stresses and initial distortions were also considered.
Since the design formulae have been found to prove excellent agreement with test
data, the average stress}strain curves generated by the above-mentioned method are
expected to have enough accuracy. The method is superior to those using classical
theory and nonlinear FEM in that it is simple and convenient in practical use.
In this paper, a similar method to that developed by Gordo and Guedes Soares is
employed to generate the average stress}strain curve of rectangular plates under
uniaxial compression. The e!ect of residual stresses is discussed. An approximate
method to treat the e!ect of residual stresses, which is di!erent from that of Gordo
and Guedes Soares, is proposed. The average stress}strain curve of wide plates is also
generated by adopting the assumption proposed by Valsgard [8] and by using the
existing design formulae. The e!ect of residual stresses is also considered for wide
plates.

2. Average stress}strain curve generated from design formulae

In predicting the ultimate strength of rectangular long plates under uniaxial
compression, the e!ective-width approach has been widely adopted for years. A plate
is considered long if the length a of its unloaded edges is greater than the width b of the
loaded edges. For long plates, it is assumed that at collapse the load is entirely taken
by two strips adjacent to the supported edges, while the remaining central portion is
unstressed. The width of the load-carrying strips, b , is called the e!ective width of

the plate. von Karman suggested that the critical stress of the loaded portion of the
plate should be calculated by using the equation for critical stress of simply supported
long plate of the width b , and at collapse the critical stress should equal the yield

stress of the material, thus derived the well-known von Karman's equation as follows:
b
p
1.9
 " K " ,
b
p
b
W

(1)

588

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

where b is the actual width of the plate, p is the maximum average plate
K
stress, p is the yield stress of the material, and b is the slenderness of the plate
W
de"ned by
b
b"
t

p
W,
E

(2)

where t is the thickness of the plate, and E is the Young's modulus of the
material.
However, experimental results have shown that von Karman's equation overpredicts the ultimate strength of the plate at low b's. To overcome this shortcoming,
a second term has been introduced and the following dual-term formula has been
proposed by many researchers [7]:

1,
0)b(1,
b
p
 " K "
C
C
p
b
 !  , b*1.
W
b
b

(3)

Faulkner has proposed C "2 and C "1 in the above dual-term equation


for plates with simply supported edges. Faulkner's equation has shown excellent
agreement with test data and has been widely used in practice. Another wellknown equation is the US Navy plate strength equation attributed to Frankland,
which takes C "2.25 and C "1.25 for plates with simply supported edges.


Frankland's equation has also found wide applications [9]. There are many
other empirical formulae applied in aeronautical, civil engineering and naval
architecture. A historical review and detailed listing of the formulae can be found
in [7].
For plates with clamped edges, the dual-term formula of Eq. (3) can also be applied
with the values of the coe$cients adjusted to C "2.5 and C "1.5625 according to


Faulkner [7]. However, in estimating the ultimate longitudinal strength of ship hulls,
it is a general practice to assume that the plate has simply supported edges, since this
will give a result on the conservative side. Therefore, only simply supported plates are
discussed in this paper. Nevertheless, the method is also valid for plates with clamped
edges.
von Karman also suggested generalizing the idealized stress distribution of the plate
at collapse to the post-buckling stage from buckling to collapse. He assumed that at
any moment after buckling the load was entirely taken by the e!ective width of the
plate. Under this assumption, the above-mentioned empirical formulae are also
applicable at the post-buckling stage, provided that an e!ective slenderness b is
C
de"ned as follows:
b
b "
C t

p
p
C "b
C,
E
p
W

(4)

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

589

where p is the edge stress of the plate. Thus, Eq. (3) can be generalized into
C

1,
0)b (1,
C
p
b
C" ?"
(5)
C
C
b
p
 !  , b *1,
C
C
b
b
C
C
where p is the average apply stress, and b is the e!ective width of the plate at the
?
C
post-buckling stage. Eq. (5) forms the basis of generating the average stress}strain
curve of the long plates.
To generate the average stress}strain curve from Eq. (5), the "rst step is to rede"ne
the e!ective slenderness of the plate in terms of the average strain as follows [6]:
b "b(eN ,
(6)
C
where e "e/e is the dimensionless average strain and e "p /E is the yield strain. In
W
W
W
addition, Eq. (6) is extended to the post-collapse unloading stage. That is to say, the
e!ective width of the plate is assumed to be governed by the average strain even after
collapse. Substituting Eq. (6) into Eq. (5) yields the following equation of the e!ective
width in terms of the average strain:

b
p
C" ?"
b
p
C

1,
C
C
 ! ,
be
b(e

1
0)e ( ,
b
1
e * .
b

(7)

Further assume the stress}strain relationship of the plate edge is the same as that of
the material. For steels used in naval architecture, it is reasonable to assume an
elastic}perfectly plastic relationship, which can be expressed by the following equation:

!1, e (!1,
p
C
p " " e ,
!1)e (1,
C p
W
1,
e *1.

(8)

Notice that for convenience the stress and strain are positive in compression in the
above equation.
From Eqs. (7) and (8), a dimensionless average stress}strain relationship can be
derived for rectangular long plates under uniaxial compression.

p
p
p " ? " C
? p
p
W
W

1
0)e ( ,
b

e ,

p
C
C
1
? " e
 !  ,
)e (1,
p
be
b
b(e
C
C
C
 ! 
e *1.
be
b(e

(9)

590

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

Fig. 1. Average stress}strain curves of compressive rectangular plates.

Fig. 1 shows typical average stress}strain curves generated from Faulkner's equation
and from Frankland's equation. It can be seen that at a given average strain, the
average stress obtained from Faulkner's equation is a bit lower than that from
Frankland's equation. That is to say, the average stress}strain curve generated from
Faulkner's equation is slightly more conservative.

3. Approximate method to take into account the e4ect of residual stresses

With the contraction arising from the welding process, tension residual stresses at
about p can be found in that portion of the plate in the immediate vicinity of the
W
supporting frames. The residual tension stress block typically extends several thickness (gt) out from the weld each side. In the central portion of the plate far from the
welds, compressive residual stresses of value p exist to maintain equilibrium in the
P
longitudinal direction. An idealized distribution of the residual stresses is shown in
Fig. 2 [10]. The following relationship can be obtained from equilibrium,
p
2gt
pN " P "
.
P p
b!2gt
W

(10)

A method to take into account the e!ect of the residual stress in generating the
average stress}strain curve is proposed by Gordo and Guedes Soares [6] by adopting
the assumption made by Cris"eld [11]. In their method, the central portion of the
plate initially under compression is assumed to lose the load-carrying capacity at

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

591

Fig. 2. Idealized distribution of residual stresses.

a strain of eN "1!eN "1!pN , while the tension blocks at plate edges can be loaded
P
P
elastically until the strain reaches eN "2. The tangent modulus of the material in the
tension block varies at eN "1!eN due to the e!ect of the loss of the load-carrying
P
capacity of the central portion. A detailed description of this method can be found
in [6].
A di!erent method is proposed in this paper by investigating the variation of the
stress distribution at di!erent stages of compression. The basic assumption adopted is
that the e!ective width of the plate is governed by the average strain (Eq. (7)) in the
whole process of compression and is not a!ected by the residual stresses. The average
stress}strain relationship is derived from equilibrium.
The following four stages of compression are considered.
Stage (1): 0)eN (1/b. At this stage, the plate is fully e!ective. The stress in the plate
is the sum of the applied stress and the residual stress, as shown in Fig. 3(a). Obviously,
the average stress and the average strain have the following linear relationship.
pN P "eN
?

(11)

Stage (2): 1/b)e (1!p . At this stage, the applied stress is fully taken by the
P
e!ective width of the plate, while the distribution of the residual stress keeps unchanged. The resultant stress distribution is shown in Fig. 3(b). Since inside the range
of the e!ective width the relationship between the applied stress and the average strain
is linear, the following relationship can be derived.



C
C
C
C
 !  "e
 !  .
pP "p P
?
C b(e
be
be
b(e

(12)

Stage (3): 1!p )e (e H. Except for the residual tension stress block of width 2gt,
P
the remaining portion of the e!ective width at plate edges (of the width b !2gt)
C
yields at e "1!p and starts unloading with an increase of the strain. The residual
P
tension stress block can carry the load until the average stress}strain curve intersects

592

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

Fig. 3. Stress distribution of long plates under compression with residual stresses.

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

593

the unloading curve without the e!ect of the residual stresses at a strain e H. Meanwhile, the central portion of the plate also starts unloading and transfers the load to
the residual tension stress block. If the stress reduction in the central portion of the
plate is *p, then the stress in the residual tension stress block becomes pP !p #
C
W
((b!b )/2gt)*p, while the stress in the remaining portion of the e!ective width keeps
C
the value of the yield stress p . The resultant stress distribution at this stage is shown
W
in Fig. 3(c). Equilibrium yields
pP b"pP 2gt#(p !p )(b !2gt)"Ee2gt#(p !p )(b !2gt).
?
C
W
P C
W
P C

(13)

From Eqs. (7), (10) and (13), the average stress}strain relationship for this stage can be
obtained as follows.

C
C
p (e !1#p )
 !  # P
P .
pP "(1!p )
?
P b(e
be
1#p
P

(14)

Stage (4): e *e H. The stress in the central portion of the plate decreases to zero at
e"e H. At the same time, the stress in the residual tension stress block reaches p , i.e.
W
b!b
C p "p .
pP !p #
C
W
W
2gt P

(15)

After that, the e!ect of the residual stresses vanishes and the average stress}strain
curve is the same as the unloading curve without the e!ect of the residual stresses.
Therefore, the average stress}strain relationship at this stage is
C
C
pP "  !  .
? b(e
be

(16)

The intersection point of the curves for stages (3) and (4), e H, can be solved from the
following equation:

C
C
e H#(1#p ) 1!  #  "2.
P
b(e H be H

(17)

However, it is di$cult to solve this equation explicitly. For the convenience in

computer programming, the average stress}strain relationship for both stages (3) and
(4) can be written as

C
C
p (e !1#p ) C
C
 !  # P
P ,  !  , e *1!p .
pP "min (1!p )
?
P b(e
P
be
1#p
be
b(e
P
(18)
In summary, the average stress}strain relationship for rectangular long plates under
uniaxial compression with the e!ect of residual stresses derived in this paper can be

594

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

expressed as follows:
pP "
?

1
0)e ( ,
b

e



C
C
 !  ,
be
b(e
C
C
p (e !1#p ) C
C
 !  # P
P ,  !  ,
min (1!p )
P b(e
be
1#p
be
b(e
P
e

1
)e (1!p ,
P
b
e *1!p .
P
(19)

Fig. 4 shows typical average stress}strain curves for di!erent levels of residual stresses.
The curves are for a plate with slenderness b"2 and the Faulkner's equation is used
(C "2 and C "1).


The present method di!ers from the method proposed by Gordo and Guedes
Soares mainly in the treatment of stage (3). In Gordo and Guedes Soares' method, the
intersection point between the average stress}strain curve of stage (3) and the unloading curve without the e!ect of the residual stresses is pre-assumed to be e H"2, and
from this assumption derived the average stress}strain relationship for this stage. The
condition of equilibrium is not satis"ed. In contrast to this, the present method
derived the average stress}strain relationship directly from the equilibrium condition.
Then the intersection point is obtained, which does not necessarily equal 2. This seems
more reasonable. Fig. 5 shows the di!erence of the average stress}strain curves
derived from the two methods for a plate with b"1.99 and with residual stress

Fig. 4. Average stress}strain curve of compressive rectangular plates with residual stresses.

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

595

Fig. 5. Comparison of average stress}strain curves with e!ect of residual stresses.

p "0.22. The curve obtained from experiment data by Brad"eld for a plate specimen
P
of the same parameters, specimen No. 45S1W in [12], is also plotted in the "gure.
A fairly good agreement can be found between the experimental results and the
approximate curve generated by using the present method.
For the purpose of further veri"cation, average stress}strain curves generated by
using the present method for three plates are compared with those obtained from the
"nite element method by Cris"eld [11] in Fig. 6.
It should be pointed out that the e!ect of the initial de#ection is not addressed in
this paper. Gordo and Guedes Soares have proposed a method to account for the
e!ect of the initial de#ection in [6], which can be used in generating the average
stress}strain curve for long plates. Following this method, an in#uence factor of the
initial de#ection, R (e ), and an interaction factor between the initial de#ection and the
B
residual stress, R (e ), can be introduced and the average stress}strain relationship of
PB
the rectangular long plates can "nally be expressed as
pPB(e )"pP (e )R (e )R (e ).
?
?
B
PB

(20)

4. Average stress}strain curve for wide plates

The discussion in the previous sections is only valid for long plates. Although long
plates are dominant in modern longitudinally framed hull structures, there are still
wide plates especially in side shell and longitudinal bulkhead structures. For transversely framed hull structures, wide plates are dominant. Therefore, it is of practical
signi"cance to study the behaviors of wide plates.

596

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

Fig. 6. Comparison of average stress}strain curves with FEM results.

It has been found [13] that the ultimate strength of wide plates under uniaxial
compression is much lower than that of long plates, since the central portion of the
wide plate is less supported by the frames at plate sides. The typical stress distribution
of a wide plate under uniaxial compression is shown in Fig. 7(a). When the stress in the
central portion reaches its critical value, it collapses and loses the load-carrying
capacity. The plate edge can take further load until its stress reaches the yield stress.
The whole wide plate collapses at this moment.
Valsgard [8] assumed that at collapse the behavior of the edge portion of the wide
plate at each side is the same as that of a long plate of width ? , and the behavior of the

central portion of the wide plate is approximately the same as an in"nitely wide plate.
Therefore, an idealized stress distribution of the wide plate at collapse can be obtained
as shown in Fig. 7(b). Notice that the stress of the edge portion plotted in the "gure is
the average stress of that portion. Finally, the ultimate average stress of the wide plate
can be expressed from equilibrium as follows.



a
a
p " p
# 1! p
K b K
b K

(21)

where the ultimate average stress of the edge portion, p

, is calculated from the
K
equation for long plates as described in the previous sections of the paper.
To generate the average stress}strain curve for wide plates, a further assumption is
made that at any given strain the stress distribution in a wide plate can be idealized in

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

597

Fig. 7. Stress distribution in wide plates.

the same manner as that at collapse. Therefore, the following relationship can be
obtained:



a
a
p " p
# 1! p
,
? b ?
b ?

(22)

where p is the dimensionless average stress of the whole wide plate. p

is the
?
?
average stress of the central portion of the wide plate. p
is the average stress of the
?
edge portion calculated from Eq. (9). Notice that the slenderness b in Eq. (9) should
be changed to the longitudinal slenderness b of the wide plate de"ned by
*
a
b "
* t

p
W.
E

(23)

598

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

Now, we derive the average stress}strain relationship for wide plates on the basis of
the following two equations.
(1) Hughes+ equation: The following equation is derived by Hughes [13] from
analyzing the numerical results obtained by Smith [14]:

1,

0)b (1,
*

p
"
K

(24)
0.63
, b *1,
*
b #3.27dM
*
where dM "d/t is the dimensionless amplitude of the initial de#ection.
To derive the average stress}strain relationship for wide plates, it is assumed that
the stress}strain relationship of the central portion of the wide plate is linear before
collapse and after collapse the stress remains unchanged. Thus the following equation
is obtained.



a
a
p " p
# 1! p
? b ?
b ?

0.63
0)e (
,
b #3.27dM
*
a
0.63
0.63
1
a
e # 1!
,
)e ( ,
b b #3.27dM
b #3.27dM
b
b
*
*
* (25)
"
a
C
0.63
C
a
1
 !  # 1!
e
,
)e (1,
b b (e
b e
b b #3.27dM
b
*
*
*
*
C
a
0.63
a C
 !  # 1!
,
e *1.
b e
b b #3.27dM
b b (e
*
*
*
e ,








Fig. 8 shows typical average stress}strain curves for a wide plate of

a/b"0.25, b "2 having an initial de#ection of d"0 and d"0.12b t, with Faulk*
*
ner's equation (C "2 and C "1) and Hughes' equation used for the edge portion


and central portion of the wide plate, respectively. An average stress}strain curve for
a corresponding long plate of b"2 is also plotted in the "gure for comparison.
(2) Equation recommended by API: The following design equation is recommended
by the American Petroleum Institute for the ultimate strength of wide plates [15]:



b
p
a C
C
a
 " K "
 !  #0.08 1!
b
p
b b
b
b
W
*
*

1 
1#
)1.
b
*

(26)

where the coe$cients are taken as C "2 and C "1 (Faulkner's equation for long


plates) by API. A similar equation is adopted with C "2.25 and C "1.25 (Frank

land's equation for long plates) in [9] to estimate the ultimate strength of wide plates
in reliability assessment of ship structures.

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

599

Fig. 8. Average stress}strain curve of wide plate.

It can be found that this equation has the same form as Eq. (21). Now p
is again
K
calculated by Faulkner's equation or Frankland's equation, while the equation for
p
is
K
1 
p
"0.08 1#
.
(27)
K
b
*
By manipulating in a way similar to that of Hughes' equation, the following average
stress}strain relationship for wide plates can be obtained:



a
a
p " p
# 1! p
? b ?
b ?



1 
0)e (0.08 1#
,
b
*
a
a
1 
1 
1
e #0.08 1!
1#
,
0.08 1#
)e ( ,
b
b
b
b
b
*
*
* (28)
"
a
C
C
a
1  1
 !  #0.08 1!
e
1#
,
)e (1,
b b (e
b e
b
b
b
*
*
*
*
a C
C
a
1 
 !  #0.08 1!
, e *1.
1#
b b (e
b e
b
b
*
*
*
e ,














600

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

A typical average stress}strain curve for a wide plate of b "2 generated from
*
Eq. (28) with C "2 and C "1 is also plotted in Fig. 8 together with the curves


generated from Eq. (25) by using Hughes' equation with d"0 and 0.12b t. It can be
*
found from the "gure that the two sets of curves are fairly close. However, Eq. (28)
cannot account for the e!ect of the initial de#ection. Since wide plates are more
sensitive to the initial de#ection than long plates, Eq. (25) is more suitable for use in
generating the average stress}strain curve for wide plates.
For comparison, average stress}strain curves for wide plates of
a/b"0.33, b "1.57 and 2.63 generated from Eq. (25) and from numerical procedure
*
by Valsgard [8] are plotted in Fig. 9. It can be found that the curves generated by the
present method are in fairly good agreement with those obtained by numerical
procedure. The average stress}strain curve for a wide plate of a/b"0.33, b "1.57
*
generated by Billingsley's method is also plotted in the "gure. It can be seen that for
a given average strain the average stress obtained from Billingsley's curve is much
higher than that from the curves given by this paper. The reason might be that in
Billingsley's method the critical stress of the central portion of the wide plate is
calculated by using Euler's equation for elastic buckling of in"nitely wide plate and no
inelastic e!ect is concerned. Another di!erence is that Billingsley determines the
load-carrying e!ective width according to the full width of the wide plate, while in the
present paper it is determined according to the width of the edge portion of the total
width a as proposed by Valsgard.

Fig. 9. Comparison of average stress}strain curve for wide plates.

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

601

Fig. 10. Average stress}strain curve of wide plate with residual stresses.

To take into account the e!ect of residual stresses, it is reasonable to assume that
the residual stresses only a!ect the behaviors of the edge portion of the wide plate.
Hence, Eq. (19) can be used in calculating the average stress of the edge portion of the
wide plate (p
in Eq. (22)). Fig. 10 shows typical average stress}strain curves for
?
a wide plate (b "2 and d"0.12b t) with di!erent levels of residual stresses.
*
*
5. Conclusions
The average stress}strain curve of the rectangular plates under uniaxial compression, including the nonlinear post-buckling and post-collapse behaviors, is essential in
estimating the ultimate longitudinal strength of a ship hull. To generate the average
stress}strain curve on the basis of the existing empirical design formulae is a simple
and e!ective method in practical application. This method is adopted in the present
paper. The average stress}strain curve for rectangular long plates is generated from
the dual-term design formulae. Two alternatives proposed by Faulkner and by
Frankland are discussed and compared. The results show that the curve generated
from Faulkner's equation is slightly more conservative than that from Frankland's
equation.
A new method to approximately take into account the e!ect of the residual stresses
is proposed in the paper. Variations of the stress distribution in the plate at four stages
of compression with the involvement of residual stresses are investigated. It is found
that stage (3) is the one a!ected by the existence of the residual stresses. The average

602

Y. Hu, J. Sun / Marine Structures 12 (1999) 585}603

stress}strain relationship of this stage is derived from equilibrium. The e!ect of initial
de#ection on the behaviors of long plates is not discussed in the paper. Gorgo and
Guedes Soares' work [6] can be referred to for this matter.
Wide plates are also discussed in the paper. Under the assumption made by
Valsgard for idealized stress distribution in wide plates, the edge portion of the wide
plate is treated as a long plate, while the critical stress of the central portion is
calculated from the empirical design formulae for in"nitely wide plates. Two cases of
using the Hughes' equation and the equation recommended by API are considered.
Since Hughes' equation can take into account the e!ect of the initial de#ection, it is
more suitable in practical use.
The method described in this paper has the advantages over the classical elastoplastic analysis and the nonlinear FEM method in that it is simple and convenient in
practical use and it has enough accuracy since the empirical design formulae have
found quite good agreement with the experimental data. The resulted average
stress}strain curves for both long and wide plates can be further used to generate the
load-end shortening curves for sti!ened panels in predicting the ultimate longitudinal
strength of ship hulls by using the simpli"ed method.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their appreciation to the China Classi"cation Society
for supporting this research. However, any views in this paper are those of the authors
and do not necessarily re#ect the o$cial views of the CCS.
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