Formulation of reduction rate for ultimate compressive strength of stiffened panel induced by opening

The main objective of this study is to numerically investigate the characteristics of ultimate compressive strength of stiffened panels with opening and also to fit the design-oriented formulae. For this purpose, three series of well executed experimental data on longitudinally stiffened steel plates with and without opening subjected to the uniform axial in-pane load which is carried out to study the buckling and post-buckling up to the final failure are chosen. Also, a nonlinear finite element method capable of efficiently analyzing the large elasto-plastic deflection behavior of stiffened panels is developed and used for simulation. The feasibility of the present simulation process is confirmed by a good agreement with the experimental results. More case studies are developed employing the simulation process to analyze the influence of various design variables on the reduction rate of ultimate strength of stiffened panel induced by opening. Based on the computed results, two design formulae are fitted and the accuracy of design formulae is studied. Furthermore, the viability of the design formulae for practical engineering is proved.