Investigations on the influence of shear and lateral loads on the collapse behaviour of plate structures under inplane thrust

ABSTRACT The design of stiffened plate structures is of essential importance to prevent an ultimate strength failure of ship hull girders under extreme loads. Progressive collapse analyses are necessary to determine the buckling/plastic collapse behaviour of structural components. In this paper, plates, stiffened plates and larger panels of different plate slenderness ratios are investigated by nonlinear finite element analyses (FEA). The progressive collapse behaviour is determined for load cases of pure longitudinal and transverse thrust as well as for combined loads of lateral pressure and shear. The influence of preloads due to lateral pressure and shear on the remaining load carrying capacity of steel plate structures under inplane thrust is demonstrated. The effect of two different configurations of essential boundary conditions for shear load applications is discussed. The ultimate strength results delivered by separate models for continuous plates, stiffened plates and stiffened plate panels are compared.