A Study on the Lateral Ultimate Strength and Collapse Modes of Doubly Curved Stiffened Plates

Abstract

Bows and stems are often subjected to wave slamming loads. Stiffened plates with curvatures in both longitudinal and transversal directions are the basic members of these structures. As a result, it is important to investigate the lateral ultimate strength of the doubly curved stiffened plates. In this study, the non-linear finite element method (NFEM) is selected to investigate the collapse modes and lateral ultimate strengths of the doubly curved stiffened plates. Additionally, the influences of curvature and geometrical properties on the collapse modes and ultimate strengths of doubly curved stiffened plates are investigated. In the NFEM analysis, a series of numerical simulations, covering different aspect ratios, curvatures, and structural scantlings are performed. Different collapse modes of doubly curved stiffened plates under lateral loading cases are observed. The relationships between the collapse modes and the geometrical properties are then discussed based on the numerical results. Moreover, the results also show that larger curvatures along the stiffeners and stronger stiffeners contribute more to the lateral ultimate strengths. Subsequently, an empirical formula is derived and verified for predicting the lateral ultimate strength of the doubly curved stiffened plates. The results of the empirical formula match well with numerical calculations.