A parametric study of the post-buckling behaviour of steel plates

This paper investigates the sensitivity of the buckling and post-buckling behaviour of imperfect steel plates used in ship and related marine structures when subject to variations in their initial conditions. The different aspects analysed comprise of variation in aspect ratio, boundary conditions, initial out-of-plane imperfection and material elastic and plastic properties such as strain hardening. The analyses were carried out using the non-linear finite clement program ABAQUS. The results obtained for the several plate models show that the three must relevant parameters affecting the buckling and post-buckling of uniaxially loaded plates are aspect ratio, unloaded edges boundary conditions and initial out-of-plane imperfection amplitude. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.