INTRODUCTION :There have been solutions generated for the cases of plates, uniformly loaded along

one direction and restrained with conditions, to analyse the buckling coefficients.
In this following case, solution for the elastic buckling of flat rectangular plates with
centerline boundary conditions subjected to non-uniform in-plane axial compression is
presented. The loaded edges are simply supported, the non-loaded edges are free, and
the centreline is simply supported with a variable rotational stiffness.
Galerkin method is used to establish an eigenvalue problem and a series solution for
plate buckling coefficients is obtained by combined trigonometric and polynomial
functions that satisfy the boundary conditions.
Here, for various stress gradient ratios, the variation of elastic buckling coefficient
with respect to the aspect ratio is presented here. The solution is obtained, is found to
be specific for stiffened plates, I-section beams that are subjected to biaxial bending or
combined flexure or torsion, and is important to estimate the reduction in elastic
buckling capacity due to stress gradient.
Centre-lined stiffened plates subjected to non uniform stress commonly arise in
aircraft frames and in civil engineering structural members. The buckling capacity of
plates with free edges and centreline support, such as flanges of I-beams, is evaluated
by separating one side of the plate and assuming ideal boundary conditions when the
applied stress is uniform. We have discussed the solution for various boundary
conditions for uniform stress conditions.
This paper presents a series formulation for the elastic buckling of flat rectangular
plates subjected to non-uniform in-plane axial compression with free outer edges and
variable rotational stiffness along the center.
Plates with centerline boundary conditions for which deflection functions do not
perfectly represent the behavior leads to difficulty in using direct energy approaches.
For plates rotationally stiffened at the centerline, non-loaded edges free, and simply
supported at loaded edges as illustrated in figure below deriving a pure trigonometric
function that represents the deflected shape is difficult and a combined trigonometric
and a polynomial function would be suitable.
In this case, as purely trigonometric functions do not predict the deflection behaviour,
a polynomial function is applied on non-loading edges and a sine function is applied
on loaded edges.
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The algorithm for finding the development starts with Von Karman Equation for
rectangular plate and obtain deflection function, along with a rotational stiffness at the
centerline, which leads to 3 boundary conditions with two conditions each.

MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
The equation governing the elastic behaviour of the buckled elastic plate is given by

Where W is the deflection function of the elastic buckling plate along x and y
directions (Cartesian coordinates) and D- flexural rigidity of the plate
The above figure describes the equation of the plate subjected to uniaxial eccentric
compression with loaded edges simply supported, and non loaded edges free with a
rotational support at the centreline. The stress intensity is constant at the
centerline as N0 and the stress variation imparted such that the
applied load on the higher-stressed free edge is N 0 (1+) and the
lesser-stressed free edge N 0 (1 ) . The load eccentricity parameter
a is a measure of the stress gradient introduced in the plate. For
example, a would be the ratio of minor axis bending to major axis
bending stresses in the compression flange plates of an I-girder
subjected to combined lateral and vertical bending. The general

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equation for the loading stress along the loading edge can be
described as

The above Von Karmann equation is normalised for the sake of

finding the solution of the problem easily

By substituting the above equations we have the equation of plate

buckling as

Following are the boundary conditions for the plate :1) The deflection along the non loading edges along y-direction
and the shear is zero i.e.

2) The deflection along the loaded edges satisfy the following

conditions, i.e. moment is zero and deflection is zero.
3) At mid
the

section of
plate, there

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is rotational restraint, hence there is no out-of-plane

displacement

is the non-dimensional rotational stiffness.

The solution of non-dimensional deflection of buckling plate reduces

to

Where
And

The above function f m ()

exactly describes the deflection of

loaded edges, and gn () is taken as polynomial with six boundary

conditions. The above conditions must satisfy the boundary
conditions of the plate, and by substituting we have non
dimensionalised moment and shear equations as

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Where

The following boundary conditions are applied to evaluate the

constants A n , Bn , C n , Dn , E n , F n
as

The

above

boundary conditions are applicable to y=0, y=1/2 and y=1

respectively.

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The above constants are evaluated and substituted in the equation

The following deflection equation is obtained, corresponding to

number of series

Where

The final form of the governing equation is

Where
K=k x 2

where k

is elastic buckling coefficient

Galerkin solution is obtained by the expansion of following equation

The above expression is reduced to following equation by using

Y =q j y j

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The above equations are separated into the following forms and it is
denoted in matrix formation as follows :-

Where

The value of K is valid only when q has non zero values. Hence, the
determinant of the matrix must be zero

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MATLAB Code for the plot of elastic buckling coefficient vs. aspect
ratio of plate
function[]= PlateBuckling()
clc
clear all
% Initiate the function for plate buckling coefficient calculation %
E = 200000;
% Young's Modulus of Plate material
v = 0.25;
% Poisson Ratio of Plate material
th = 0.02;
% (t = Non dimensional = r*b/D)
D = (E*th^3)/(12*(1-v^2));
% Flexural Rigidity of the plate; th =
thickness of the plate
t = 0;
m = 1;
n=7;
phi = 0.5:0.05:4;
%aspect ratio(X-axis)
len_phi = length(phi);
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%
alpha = 0.5;
% Load eccentricity parameter
syms e
for q = 1:len_phi
b(q) = (m*pi/phi(q))^2;
end
% Coefficients Calculation %

%calculation of beta values

for count=1:len_phi
i=0;
w = [ 0
0
0
2
0
-b(count)*v
0
0
6
0
-(2-v)*b(count)
0
4*(i+5)*(i+4)-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+5)
2*(4*(i+4)*(i+3)-b(count)*v2*t*(i+4))
4*(4*(i+3)*(i+2)-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+3))
8*(4*(i+2)*(i+1)b(count)*v-2*t*(i+2)) 16*(4*(i+1)*i-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+1))
32*(4*(i)*(i-1)-b(count)*v-2*t*i)
1
2
4
8
16
32
(i+5)*(i+4)-b(count)*v
(i+4)*(i+3)-b(count)*v
(i+3)*(i+2)-b(count)*v
(i+2)*(i+1)-b(count)*v
(i+1)*(i)-b(count)*v
(i)*(i-1)-b(count)*v
(i+5)*(i+4)*(i+3)-(i+5)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i+4)*(i+3)*(i+2)-(i+4)*(2v)*b(count) (i+3)*(i+2)*(i+1)-(i+3)*(2-v)*b(count) (i+2)*(i+1)*(i)(i+2)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i+1)*(i)*(i-1)-(i+1)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i)*(i-1)*(i2)-(i)*(2-v)*b(count)];

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u = [0;0; (b(count)*v)/2 - 2*(i+6)*(i+5)+(i+6)*t; -1/2; b(count)*v(i+6)*(i+5); (i+6)*(2-v)*b(count)-(i+6)*(i+5)*(i+4)];

% X = gseidel(w,u)
X(:,i+1) = w\u;
i=1;
w = [ 0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
6
0
-(2-v)*b(count)
4*(i+5)*(i+4)-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+5)
2*(4*(i+4)*(i+3)-b(count)*v2*t*(i+4))
4*(4*(i+3)*(i+2)-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+3))
8*(4*(i+2)*(i+1)b(count)*v-2*t*(i+2)) 16*(4*(i+1)*i-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+1))
32*(4*(i)*(i-1)-b(count)*v-2*t*i)
1
2
4
8
16
32
(i+5)*(i+4)-b(count)*v
(i+4)*(i+3)-b(count)*v
(i+3)*(i+2)-b(count)*v
(i+2)*(i+1)-b(count)*v
(i+1)*(i)-b(count)*v
(i)*(i-1)-b(count)*v
(i+5)*(i+4)*(i+3)-(i+5)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i+4)*(i+3)*(i+2)-(i+4)*(2v)*b(count) (i+3)*(i+2)*(i+1)-(i+3)*(2-v)*b(count) (i+2)*(i+1)*(i)(i+2)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i+1)*(i)*(i-1)-(i+1)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i)*(i-1)*(i2)-(i)*(2-v)*b(count)];

u = [0;0; (b(count)*v)/2 - 2*(i+6)*(i+5)+(i+6)*t; -1/2; b(count)*v(i+6)*(i+5); (i+6)*(2-v)*b(count)-(i+6)*(i+5)*(i+4)];

% X = gseidel(w,u)
X(:,i+1) = w\u;

for i=2:1:7

w = [ 0
0
0
0
0
i*(i-1)
0
0
0
0
(i+1)*i*(i-1)
0
4*(i+5)*(i+4)-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+5)
2*(4*(i+4)*(i+3)-b(count)*v2*t*(i+4))
4*(4*(i+3)*(i+2)-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+3))
8*(4*(i+2)*(i+1)b(count)*v-2*t*(i+2)) 16*(4*(i+1)*i-b(count)*v-2*t*(i+1))
32*(4*(i)*(i-1)-b(count)*v-2*t*i)
1
2
4
8
16
32

Advanced Structural Mechanics

(i+5)*(i+4)-b(count)*v
(i+4)*(i+3)-b(count)*v
(i+3)*(i+2)-b(count)*v
(i+2)*(i+1)-b(count)*v
(i+1)*(i)-b(count)*v
(i)*(i-1)-b(count)*v
(i+5)*(i+4)*(i+3)-(i+5)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i+4)*(i+3)*(i+2)-(i+4)*(2v)*b(count) (i+3)*(i+2)*(i+1)-(i+3)*(2-v)*b(count) (i+2)*(i+1)*(i)(i+2)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i+1)*(i)*(i-1)-(i+1)*(2-v)*b(count)
(i)*(i-1)*(i2)-(i)*(2-v)*b(count)];

u = [0;0; (b(count)*v)/2 - 2*(i+6)*(i+5)+(i+6)*t; -1/2; b(count)*v(i+6)*(i+5); (i+6)*(2-v)*b(count)-(i+6)*(i+5)*(i+4)];

% X = gseidel(w,u)
X(:,i+1) = w\u ;
end
%Y(1) =
e^(1+6)+X(1,1)*e^(1+5)+X(2,1)*e^(1+4)+X(3,1)*e^(1+3)+X(4,1)*e^(1+2)+X(5,1)*
e^(1+1)+X(6,1)*e^1;
for i=0:1:7
Y(i+1) =
e^(i+6)+X(1,i+1)*e^(i+5)+X(2,i+1)*e^(i+4)+X(3,i+1)*e^(i+3)+X(4,i+1)*e^(i+2)
+X(5,i+1)*e^(i+1)+X(6,i+1)*e^i+1;
end
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%
for sx=1:1:8
for sy=1:1:8
M1(sx,sy) = b(count)*(1-alpha-2*alpha*e)*Y(sx)*Y(sy);
M(sx,sy) = int(M1(sx,sy),e,0,1);
end
end
for px = 1:1:8
for py = 1:1:8
L1a(px,py) = (360*e^2+120*X(1,px)*e+24*X(2,px))*Y(py);
L1b(px,py) =
-2*b(count)*(30*e^4+20*X(1,px)*e^3+12*X(2,px)*e^2+6*X(3,px)*e+2*X(4,px))*Y(
py);
L1c(px,py) = b(count)^2*(Y(px)*Y(py));
L1(px,py) = L1a(px,py)+L1b(px,py)+L1c(px,py);
L(px,py) = int(L1(px,py),e,0,1);
end

end

L = double(L);

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M = double(M);
K = L\M;
V0 = eig(K);
V= min(V0);

K_eig(count) = (1/(V*pi^2));
end
plot(phi,K_eig);
hold on
end

Conclusion :MATLAB Software is used to generate the graph between elastic

buckling coefficient vs. aspect ratio for stress gradient of 0.5 and t =
0.
Similarly, for various values of torsional stiffness, the variation of
elastic buckling coefficient can be obtained. Accordingly, it is found
that for a simply supporting case, for values of m,n as 1, we have k
= 4.0

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Advanced Structural Mechanics