Estimation of ultimate strength of continuous stiffened panel under combined transverse thrust and lateral pressure Part 1: Continuous plate

A simplified method to estimate the ultimate strength of a continuous plate, typical in ship bottom plating, subjected to combined transverse thrust and lateral pressure is developed. A series of elastic/elastoplastic large deflection finite element analysis (FEA) of a continuous plate supported along the lines of longitudinal stiffeners and transverse frames is performed. Attention is focused on the effect of a continuity of plating on its buckling and ultimate strengths, while the previous studies are mainly concerned with an isolated plate. Based on the FEA results, a set of formulae has been derived for the estimation of the ultimate strength of a continuous plate under combined transverse thrust and lateral pressure. An increase of elastic buckling strength and a change in the collapse mode from a simply supported mode to a clamped mode are considered as an effect of a continuity of plating. It has been proven from a comparison with FEA that the proposed formulae give very accurate predictions of the ultimate strength.