Buckling and post-buckling performance of stiffened webs subjected to interactive shear and compression

This paper examines the buckling and post-buckling response of stiffened plates with centrally located single and two equidistant stiffeners under combined shear and compression. The introduction of stiffening elements considerably improves the buckling and post-buckling performance of thin plates when subjected to interactive loading. This is mainly due to the flexural and torsional rigidities of the stiffening elements that lead to a more stabilised structural system. This work essentially outlines the finite element modelling procedures that are employed to determine the critical buckling and nonlinear post-buckling response of stiffened web panels under combined shear and compression respectively. The modelling strategies and solution procedures, detailed in this paper, have shown to be able to describe the complete loading history of the actively applied load, in the presence of a constant shear preload, from the onset of initial buckling through the elastic and elastoplastic post-buckling phase of behaviour to the ultimate conditions followed by the subsequent elastoplastic unloading phase. The validity of this approach is ascertained by obtaining a good comparison against the exiting FEM results present in the literature.