Design of low strength-high hardening metal multi-stiffened shear plates

• Design curves for low strength-high hardening metal multi-stiffened shear plates are provided.
• A “first stability” curve is outlined.
• Ultimate strength of the plate in shear duly accounting for buckling phenomena is expressed.
• The issue related to the design of stiffeners is faced.

In this paper design curves for low strength-high hardening metal multi-stiffened shear plates are provided, based on both experimental tests and parametric numerical analyses. To this aim, an almost pure aluminum is considered as base material, it being characterized by a yielding stress point of about 20 MPa and a hardening ratio higher than 4.An “initial stability” curve, which is useful to determine service limit conditions for metal plates in shear, is outlined with the aim of establishing the early buckling phenomena. Then, design curves providing the reduction factor of the ultimate strength of the plate in shear duly accounting for buckling phenomena are proposed as a design tool for system dimensioning.Finally, the issue related to the design of stiffeners, which are applied to delay shear buckling and to improve the plate hysteretic performance, is investigated.The current study represents an extension of the outcomes provided in a previous paper [4] (Brando and De Matteis, 2011), where the above design curves have been provided for hardening aluminum shear plates without stiffeners.