Strength and Stability Testing of Stiffened Plate Components

摘要

A full-scale testing system was designed and constructed to test stiffened steelplate specimens under combined axial and lateral loads. The system includes an assembly of plate edge restraints that was developed to represent the appropriate boundary conditions for a stiffened plate grillage system. A total of twelve specimens, including 'as-built' specimens, 'deformed' specimens and 'damaged' specimens, were tested in this set-up. Test variables included manitude and direction of lateral loads, plate edge restraints, and local damage. The specimens failed by plate buckling, stiffener tripping or local collapse, as governed by the particular specimen and loading details. Load and displacement responses were determined for all specimens. To simulate the physical tests by numerical methods, a finite element model was constructed using ABAQUS. Five representative tests were analyzed to verify the numberical model. Comparison with the test results showed that the finite element analyses predict the failure mode and the ultimate strength with satisfactory accuracy.