Residual ultimate strength of cracked steel unstiffened and stiffened plates under longitudinal compression

摘要

This paper numerically deals with the influence of cracks (in terms of length and location) on the ultimate compressive strength characteristics of unstiffened and stiffened plate elements used in thin-walled structures. The cracks were presumed to be through-thickness, having no contact between their faces and no propagation was allowed. A series of nonlinear finite element analyses was conducted using ANSYS commercial finite element code in which the Newton-Raphson method has been employed to solve the nonlinear governing equations. This study indicates that the length of cracks and especially its location can significantly affect the ultimate strength characteristics of unstiffened and stiffened plate elements subjected to axial compressive action.