Elastic/plastic buckling of moderately thick plates and members

A mathematical model able to describe the buckling behaviour of moderately thick, elastic/plastic plates rigidly connected along their longitudinal edges is presented. The governing equations are derived on the basis of incremental and deformation theories of plasticity. The Ramberg-Osgood model is used to describe the elastic/plastic behaviour, whereas a Green-Lagrange strain model is adopted to measure the geometrical nonlinearities. The plate is analyzed within the framework of the Mindlin theory. comparison with results available in literature, as well as the effects of geometry, boundary conditions, loading conditions and nonlinearities on the buckling response of different stiffened plates are presented.