Influences of Welding Imperfections on Stiffness of Rectangular Plate Under Thrust

Abstract

In this paper, stiffness of plates in compression was discussed considering the influences of initial deflection and welding residual stresses. For this purpose, an elastic large deflection analysis was performed in an analytical manner, as well as an elasto-plastic large deflection analysis by the finite element method. It has been found that: (1) Initial deflection reduces the stiffness of a compressed plate according to its magnitude. (2) Welding residual stresses do not affect the stiffness itself but buckling load. Consequently, they affect only the load at which the stiffness changes due to the occurence of deflection in the elastic range.