Inelastic local buckling behaviour of perforated plates and sections under compression

A recently developed inelastic large displacement isoparametric spline finite strip method was used to investigate the inelastic stress distributions, load transfers and failure modes for a range of hole shapes, sizes and spacings. While such study is available for elastic material behaviour, the influence of yielding on the load transfers in and failure modes of perforated plates and sections is not well understood. This study considers perforated simply supported plates under compression and perforated C-section columns in compression failing by local buckling. Several inelastic material models were included in the study, including elastic perfectly-plastic and linear hardening models, and a model with nonlinear yielding and isotropic hardening. Comparisons are made with elastic analyses and conclusions are drawn about the influence of yielding and strain hardening on the stress distributions, load transfers and failure modes of typical thin-walled metallic plates and structural sections.

► Perforated locally buckled plates and sections under compression are studied.
► Eight hole configurations and six material models are considered.
► Failure modes, inelastic stress distributions and load transfers are described.
► The effects of yielding, strain hardening and hole arrangements are presented.