Influence of flexural stiffness ratio on the buckling behavior of a stiffened plate

With the consideration of 13 different stiffness ratios, different stiffener arrangements and boundary conditions, the linear buckling and non-linear buckling behaviors of a stiffened plate with large-scale thin-walled steel structure were investigated using a finite element method. It is found that the effect of flexural stiffness ratio on the buckling performance of the stiffened plate is significant. At the critical stiffness ratio, which is ranging from 10 to 20, the buckling modes of the stiffened plate are divided into two main types, overall buckling and local buckling. The non-linear buckling load increases with the flexural stiffness ratio of the stiffened plate increasing. The increment of stiffeners in the loading direction can increase the local buckling load of the stiffened plate; however the increase of stiffeners in the non-loading direction has little effect on the local buckling behavior of the stiffened plate.