Post-buckling behavior of stiffened plates with small initial curvature under combined loads

Abstract

The post-buckling behavior of a stiffened plate with small initial curvature is discussed in this paper. The stiffened plate is idealized by an equivalent orthotropic plate. The basic differential equations are derived and solved under two sets of boundary and loading conditions. Non-dimensional design curves giving the center deflection, critical load, effective width, and bending moment are presented for different values of the inplane load, lateral load, virtual aspect ratio, stiffeners characteristics and initial deflection. An example of the use of the design curves is given in which the results are compared under different boundary conditions and different initial deflections.