Elastic lateral-torsional buckling analysis of permanent means of access structure

International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a new regulation to request permanent means of access (PMA) for a regular inspection of ship structure. Horizontal platforms for an inspector to walk on should be provided at specified locations. The platform is attached perpendicular to longitudinal bulkheads or side shell like a common longitudinal stiffener. Since the platform is much wider than ordinary stiffeners, a mid-flat-bar is welded in the middle of the platform. The wide platform (i.e. the tall web plate) makes PMA structure prone to lateral torsional buckling prior to overall flexural Euler buckling subjected to axial compression. This study employs the Rayleigh-Ritz method to treat the elastic lateral-torsional buckling of the PMA structure. The deformation of the cross-section can be expressed using six independant parameters. Compared to the previous research for an ordinary stiffened plate (Hughes and Ma, 1996a), two additional parameters are employed to model the deformation of the mid flat bar. This study also proposes a new strain distribution of lateral bending introducing two respective neutral axes for the flange and the mid-flat-bar. Two mathematical models are developed for two cases; one without associated plating, and the other with both the plating and its rotational restraint. In the former, the coupling between the lateral torsional buckling (“tripping”) and the Euler buckling is investigated. In the latter, a plate rotational spring constant is suggested based on extended deformed shape of the plating. For each model, the validity of the proposed method is verified by a comparison with a number of linear buckling analyses carried out using the NASTRAN finite-element program.