Experimental Study and Development of Design Formula for Estimating the Ultimate Strength of Curved Plates

Abstract

The curved plate has been extensively used as a structural member in many industrial fields, especially the shipbuilding industry. The present study investigated the ultimate strength and collapse behavior of the simply supported curved plate under a longitudinal compressive load. To do this, experimental apparatuses for evaluating the buckling collapse test of the curved plates was developed. Then, a series of buckling collapse experiments was carried out by considering the flank angle, slenderness ratio, and aspect ratio of plates. To examine the fundamental buckling and collapse behavior of the curved plate, elastoplastic large deflection analysis was performed using the commercial finite element analysis program. On the basis of both the experimental and FE analysis, the effects of the flank angle, slenderness ratio, and aspect ratio on the characteristics of the buckling and collapse behavior of the curved plates are discussed. Finally, the empirical design formula for predicting the ultimate strength of curved plates was derived. The proposed empirical formula is a good indicator for estimating the behavior of the curved plate.