Probabilistic ultimate buckling strength of stiffened plates, considering thick and high-performance steel

The probabilistic distribution of ultimate buckling strength for stiffened steel plates subjected to a distributed axial stress was obtained using Monte Carlo simulations in association with the response surface method. The plates of both normal and high-performance steel (SBHS) were taken into account, and their thickness was varied from 10 to 90 mm. The ultimate buckling strength was determined by nonlinear elasto-plastic finite element (FE) analysis, considering geometric and material nonlinearity. The initial out-of-plane deflection and residual stress were considered as two independent random variables upon which the ultimate buckling strength depends. The response surface, showing the variation of ultimate strength due to the initial deflection and residual stress, was estimated using the nonlinear FE results. Based on the obtained statistical distribution, partial safety factors for the ultimate buckling strength were proposed. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.