Design of Steel Plated Structures with Finite Elements

Due to the relatively large slenderness of plated structures, the proof of adequate buckling resistance is crucial for dimensioning. Plate buckling is a stability problem of a compression-loaded plate and is generally characterized by failure of the structure prior to achieving plastic component resistance. The stability verification of welded plated structures assisted by finite element analysis (FEM) is becoming increasingly prevalent in applied engineering. The rules and examples given in this book might illustrate the correct application of the numerical models and give background information on the FEM-based design of welded plated structures. Aside from technical background information on calculation methods and software requirements, modelling, solution settings, evaluation, and verification as a key part of this manual, benchmark examples and worked examples are given. They not only allow the user to better understand the procedure and the background but can also serve as test examples to prove the validity of their own numerical calculations. We are sure that this manual will contribute to improved knowledge of the application of FEM for the design of plated structures, and thereby enhance the acceptance of FEM design in practice.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 AREA OF APPLICATION Typical rectangular plates Arbitrary geometries and boundary conditions 3 CALCULATION METHODS AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS Overview of calculation methods Linear analysis Linear buckling analysis Material nonlinear analysis Geometric nonlinear analysis including imperfections (GNIA) Geometric and material nonlinear analysis including imperfections (GMNIA) Software requirements 4 MODELLING (PREPROCESSING) Material properties Mesh discretisation Boundary conditions Imperfections 5 SOLUTION SETTINGS General Importance of large deformations Prestress effect Solver selection Setting the convergence criterion Time increment settings Overcome convergency problems Solution printout 6 EVALUATION AND VERIFICATION (POSTPROCESSING) AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS Evaluation Verification Interpretation 7 BENCHMARK EXAMPLES Longitudinally stiffened panel under normal force Longitudinally stiffened panel subjected to shear force Web in bending with weak stiffeners Transversally stiffened steel plate girder subjected to patch loading 8 WORKED EXAMPLES Bottom plate with trapezoidal stiffeners Web subjected to shear and bending Patch loading verification of a box girder bridge SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES