Influence of initial distortion on the structural stress in 3 mm thick stiffened panels

• Effect of initial distortion (w0) on structural stress of 3 mm panel is studied.
• Realistic w0 shapes and geometrically non-linear FE analysis is carried out.
• Different structures from plate strip to actual stiffened panels are analyzed.
• Structural stress in panel is most affected by shape and secondly magnitude of w0.
• Straightening under load is not as important in thin panels as it is in specimens.

This paper investigates the effect of initial distortion on the structural stress in 3 mm thick stiffened panels. The influence of initial distortion shape as well as magnitude is studied under axial tension and compression using geometrically non-linear finite element analysis. Different levels of structures are analyzed starting from the plate strips to an actual panel in order to understand how the structural response of thin initially distorted panel builds up. This way the difference between having initial distortion in one or two directions as well as the effect of boundary conditions becomes visible. The results reveal high non-linearity in the behavior of plate strip models and relatively linear behavior of actual plates and panel models in typical fatigue relevant ranges. This is due to support that the actual structures get from having initial distortion in two directions and from surrounding structures. In case of panels the most important effect on structural stresses near the transverse butt weld is the shape of the initial distortion. The second important is the magnitude of initial distortion and significantly less relevant is the straightening effect, i.e. decrease in structural to nominal stress ratio under loading.