Equivalent orthotropic model for corrugated plates based on simplified constitutive relation

Abstract

The transverse bending stiffness of a corrugated plate determined using an equivalent orthotropic model based on the Dirichlet boundary conditions and representative volume element method is the upper limit of the real solution, albeit often inaccurate in practice. Based on the Kirchhoff hypothesis, the constitutive relations of corrugated plates were reasonably simplified to propose a new corrugated plate equivalent orthotropic model. The resulting equivalent transverse bending stiffness agreed with the results of the most reasonable simplified expression available. Static response results obtained using the proposed model were more accurate than those obtained using the existing model without a simplified constitutive relation. Furthermore, for dynamic response, the proposed model exhibited improved accuracy when predicting low- and high-order natural frequencies. For the arc-and-tangent corrugated plate, two integral parameter expressions were calculated; the proposed equivalent plate model was verified by comparing the results of a full-scale test of the corrugated metal pipe arch culvert.