Constructal design of perforated steel plates subject to linear elastic and nonlinear elastoplastic buckling

Abstract

Steel plates are used in a great variety of engineering applications, such as deck and bottom of ship structures, and platforms of offshore structures. Cutouts are often provided in plate elements for inspection, maintenance, and service purposes. So, the design of shape and size of these holes is significant. Usually these plates are subjected to axial compressive forces which make them prone to instability or buckling. If the plate is slender, the buckling is elastic. However, if the plate is sturdy, it buckles in the plastic range causing the so-called inelastic (or elasto-plastic) buckling.Therefore, the goal of this work is to obtain the optimal geometry which maximizes the buckling load for steel plates with a centered elliptical perforation when subjected to linear and nonlinear buckling phenomenon by means of Constructal Design. To do so, numerical models were developed in ANSYS software to evaluate the elastic and elasto-plastic buckling loads of simply supported and uniaxially loaded rectangular plates with elliptical cutouts. The results indicated that the optimal shapes were obtained in accordance with the Constructal Principle of "Optimal Distribution of Imperfections", showing that the Constructal Design method can be satisfactorily employed in mechanic of materials problems.