Ultimate Strength of Stiffened Plates Subjected to Longitudinal Compression and Lateral Pressure

This paper presents a non-linear finite element analysis (FEA) and subsequent formula development for ultimate strength of stiffened panels of ship structures. A review of studies on ultimate strength of ship plating subjected to lateral pressure was carried out. The present work takes into account, the influence due to the lateral pressure on the ultimate strength of stiffened plates with initial imperfections subject to longitudinal compressive loads. ANSYS non-linear FE software was used for non linear finite element analyses of stiffened panels (864 cases) considering VLCC hull. Based on regression analysis, a set of semi-analytical formulae were proposed and described. It is observed that depending upon the failure mode, scantlings of the stiffened panel and magnitude of lateral pressure, ultimate strength of the stiffened panels in compression is affected.