VISCOPLASTIC BIFURCATION BUCKLING OF PLATES

A method is proposed according to which the bifurcation buckling load of inelastic rate-sensitive plates subjected to specified boundary conditions can be deduced from the solution of the corresponding perfectly elastic problem under the same boundary conditions. Applications of the method are given for the determination of the buckling stresses of simply supported viscoplastic plates for various values of loading rates and thermal conditions. Both classical and higher-order theories of plates are used in this investigation, and the effect of shear deformation is studied. The numerical results are given for a viscoplastic material that is modeled by the Bodner-Partom unified theory.