Design of Axially Loaded Stiffened Plates

A method of computing the collapse load of an axially loaded plate with open-section stiffeners uniformly spaced on one side is presented. The method is based on the Perry Robertson formula and provides for the loss of stiffness of the plate and for the torsional buckling of slender stiffeners. The effects of residual stresses due to welding and early loss of stiffness of wide plates are accounted for by empirically enhancing the initial plate imperfections. The design method consists of computing the minimum value for the failure loads by considering all the possible modes of collapse, i.e., plate compression failure, stiffener compression failure, and stiffener tension failure. This method, as applied to a large number of stiffened plate tests, carried out at the University of Manchester, is shown to yield satisfactory prediction of ultimate loads.