Buckling of Rectangular Plates Partially Restrained along Opposite Edges

One of the most known problems with thin plates is that of their stability under various types of loads. Many comprehensive studies are available about buckling of plates under various loads or boundary conditions. In this study, a numerical investigation has been performed to analyze the stability behavior of an isotropic plate, with its two transverse edges simply supported and its longitudinal sides partially simply supported. The plate is loaded at transverse edges under compressive uniform load. In order to evaluate critical buckling load, an Eigen value buckle analysis is performed with the ABAQUS finite element software package. Some parametric studies has been conducted on the plates with one or two longitudinal partially restrained. The length of longitudinal sides of a plate without any restrained condition (Free boundary condition) is a fraction of its length; also location of this partially free zone is changeable. The three first buckling mode of each case has been obtained. The results revealed that in contrary to the impression, the minimum buckling load did not happen while the free zone was in center of the longitudinal side. Furthermore, the location of partially free zone influences the buckling modes and can disturb buckling shape of the plate. The investigation of a plate’s aspect ratio and its partially free zone size in critical buckling load, shows that with lower aspect ratio, the effect of partially free zone size is ignorable. Other results show that the plot of the buckling coefficient versus the dimensionless location of free zone - with one and two opposite sides - are similar for each buckling mode.

Keywords:

Critical Buckling load , simply supported , Eigen value , restrained condition , buckling modes