Ultimate strength of simply supported plate with opening under uniaxial compression

ABSTRACTUnstiffened plates are integral part of all kinds of structures such as ship and offshore oil platforms. Openings are unavoidable and absolutely reduce the ultimate strength of structures. In this study, the finite element analysis package, ABAQUS, is used to analyze the behavior of unstiffened plate with rectangular opening. The rectangular opening form is divided into two cases. In case1, opening depth is constant, but opening width is varied. Meanwhile, in case2 opening width is fixed and opening depth is varied. Besides, for the two different form opening, the effect of plate slenderness parameter (β), opening area ratio (AR) and opening position ratio (PR) on the ultimate strength of plate with opening under axial compression are presented. It has been found that the ultimate strength of plate ofcase1is much more sensitive to the plate slenderness parameter (β) and opening area ratio (AR) than that of case2. However, for case1, opening position (PR) almost has no effect on the ultimate strength, whereas, regardingcase2, the influence of opening position (PR) depends on the plate slenderness parameter (β). Based on nonlinear regression analysis, three design formulae are not only developed butalso approved reasonably for the practical engineering design.