A study on the effect of stiffeners on quasi-static crushing of stiffened square tube with non-linear finite element method

During ship collision and grounding, the crushing collapse of a thin-walled structure subjected to compressive loads is one of the important failure mechanisms. Non-linear finite element method (FEM) is a powerful tool for analyzing large deformation plasticity problems. In this paper, the effects of longitudinal and transverse stiffeners on the quasi-static crushing of stiffened square tubes, which have relatively light stiffeners, are studied with non-linear FE program LS-DYNA. Based on the experimental data and numerical simulation results, new formulas for equivalent plate thickness and the mean crushing load are developed. The prediction of the mean crushing load is in good agreement with the experimental data.