ULTIMATE STRENGTH OF

STIFFENED PANELS
STEEL and ALUMINIUM SHIP STRUCTURES

Document : PhD thesis of Qiaofeng Chen, NTNU, Norway

Distributed to EMSHIP STUDENTS (2011-2012)

(for academic purpose only)
Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 7

2 Overview of Buckling and Collapse of

Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

Although the ultimate strength of stiffened steel and aluminium panels can differ very much
due to the differences in material properties and the heated-affected zone
(HAZ) effect, there are many similarities in terms of buckling and collapse
modes, approach and methodology in estimating the ultimate strength of stiffened
steel and aluminium panels. The characteristics of buckling and collapse of stiffened
steel and aluminium panels subjected to compressive loadings are briefly addressed in this
chapter.

2.1 Characteristics of Stiffened Panels

Stiffened panels are efficient load carrying structures with respect to their weight. Stiffened
steel panels are the typical structural components used in ships, offshore structures and
other heavily loaded thin-walled shell structures. As aluminium alloys are light-weight,
strong, easily fabricated and anticorrosive, stiffened aluminium panels have also been
increasingly used in marine, offshore and transportation industries, such as high speed ferries,
ship superstructures and living quarters on offshore installations since the 1990s. Although the
material features of steel and aluminium alloys are different, there are still many similarities
in the design principle of structural layout and the structural behaviour between them. Figure
2.1 shows a typical stiffened steel and aluminium panel, which consists of:
- relatively closely spaced longitudinal stiffeners
- widely spaced longitudinal girders and transverse girders
- plating over stiffeners and girders

The plating is generally used to transfer lateral loads (i.e. hydrostatic loads, loads
of equipments on deck) to the stiffeners, which further transfer the loads to the transverse
8 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

girders and the longitudinal girders. The stiffener may be a flat bar, angle bar, tee bar, bulb bar
or closed box/hat-profile. In addition, the plating is also importantly used to carry the in-plane
compressive loads that may arise from bending and/or compressive loads. The longitudinal
stiffeners strengthen the stability of the associated plating, and carry the loads
from the plating. The transverse girders are mainly intended to provide the support for the
longitudinal stiffeners, and thus carry the loads from the longitudinal stiffeners.
In practice, the longitudinal girders and the transverse girders are much stronger than the
longitudinal stiffeners in order to avoid overall buckling of entire structure.

Figure 2.1 Stiffened panel terminology

The structural capacity of stiffened panels is commonly influenced by the following important
nomenclature parameters:
b
Y
- plate slenderness, =
t E

Y le
Y
- column reduced slenderness, = =

E i E

- aspect ratio of plating between stiffeners, a/b

- initial imperfections
- loading conditions
- boundary conditions
- heat-affected zone (particularly important for welded stiffened aluminium panels)
- residual stresses
Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 9

2.2 Buckling and Instability

Buckling and loss of stability are the typical collapse mode of thin-walled structures
such as plates and stiffened panels subjected to compressive loads. Buckling is a failure mode
characterized by a sudden failure of a slender structural member/plate/panel subjected to
compressive stresses, where the actual compressive stress at the point of failure is less than the
ultimate compressive stresses that the material can withstand. Such failure mode is also
described as elastic instability. The term buckling load usually refers to the linear elastic
buckling load. Physically, buckling can be understood as the out-of-plane (or straightness)
deflections of a structural member/plate/panel under compressive loads.

Instability of structures can take place in two ways as depicted in Figure 2.2. The first one is
bifurcation buckling and the second one is limit point buckling. Bifurcation buckling is an
instability in which there is a sudden change of shape of the structure. A bifurcation point
is a point in a load-deflection space where two equilibrium paths intersect. At the
bifurcation point, the tangent stiffness becomes infinity from positive to negative or vice
versa. This can cause difficulty and problem in numerical simulations. To avoid this problem,
initial imperfections are necessarily introduced to the analysis model. In fact, initial
imperfections are present in real stiffened panels, such factors need to be accounted for
in the prediction of ultimate strength. Limit point buckling is an instability in which the load-
displacement curve reaches a maximum and then exhibits negative stiffness and releases
strain energy. Unlike bifurcation buckling, there are no sudden changes
in the equilibrium path during limit point buckling. Correspondingly, the tangent stiffness
becomes zero as the load reaches the limit point. The load at the limit point is also
usually referred as ultimate strength, i.e. the maximum load that the structure can withstand.
For a perfect stiffened panel subjected to a compressive load, the structural instability
is referred to as the bifurcation load. For a stiffened panel with initial imperfections, the
structure will collapse at the limit point rather than at a bifurcation point.

Figure 2.2 Typical buckling collapse behaviour

10 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

2.3 Postbuckling Effect of Plates and Stiffened Panels

2.3.1 Postbuckling Behaviour

Commencement of buckling in a thin plate does not immediately result in failure. The
buckled plate remains stable and can resist loads well above the elastic buckling limit as
shown in Figure 2.3 (in contrast to a slender column which can carry little more than its elastic
critical load before lateral deflections become excessive, see Figure 2.4). This is an
important phenomenon for slender plates and thin plating of stiffened panels. The resistance
in the post buckling range is of importance for slender plates. The postbuckling strength
increases with increasing slenderness ratio.

Figure 2.3 Postbuckling strength Nu vs. elastic buckling strength Ncr

The postbuckling stress distribution and the extent to which the middle surface stretching
influences the postbuckling behaviour depends on the support conditions at the edges
of the plate.

As the lateral deflection increases, the stresses along the unloaded edges are no longer in
uniform but increase towards the unloaded edges. As it can be seen in Figure 2.5, membrane
stresses (Figure 2.5, c) develop in the transverse direction i.e. unloaded edges due to the large
lateral deflection, such membrane stresses have the effect that tends to stabilize plates.
Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 11

Figure 2.4 Postbuckling behaviour of plate with different boundary conditions, (a)
compressed plate with two free edges, (b) simply supported and kept straight along all
four edges

(a) Stress distribution before buckling (b) Stress distribution after buckling

(c) Stress distribution after buckling

Figure 2.5 Development of membrane stresses stress distributions of a simply supported plate
(four edges kept straight) under predominantly longitudinal compressive loads in different
loading stages
12 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

2.3.2 Approach to Account for Postbuckling Effect of Steel Plates/Panels

To evaluate the ultimate strength of steel plates/panels that need to take into account
of the reserve of postbuckling strength, the effective width concept has been widely used.
The effective width concept can be understood to model the effectiveness
of plate elements that are buckled due to predominantly axial compression. By the effective
width concept (Figure 2.6), the total force of the actual non-uniform stresses over gross width
b is assumed to be carried by the effective width b e with the uniform stress equal to V x max :

b/ 2

be
³ b /2
V x dx
b
V xav
(2.1)
V x max V x max

where
xav is the average stress over breadth b,
x max is the maximum (edge)
stress the effective width b e .

Figure 2.6 Effective width concept for the plating of a stiffened panel

The term ‘effective width’ was firstly introduced by von Karman (1924) who later in
1932 proposed the first expression of the effective width:

be

= cr (2.2)
b
Y

where
cr is plate buckling stress,
Y is material yield stress.

Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 13

The formula (2.2) is reasonable for relatively thin plates and but optimistic for thick plates. In
order to more accurately account for the effectiveness of thick plates, it was further modified
by Winter (1947):

be
cr §
cr ·
= ¨¨ 1  0.25 ¸¸ (2.3)
b
max ©
max ¹

The formula (2.3) is widely used to evaluate the postbuckling strength for steel plates in the
design codes of AISI 1996 and ENV 1993-1-1. The
max in equation (2.3) may be taken as

Y .

In 1970s and 1980s, extensive studies on the effective width for steel plates were made by
Faulkner (1975), Rhodes (1982), Ueda, et al. (1986). By summarizing their study, one of the
most typical effective width empirical formulas for compressive strength of long plates
subjected to axial compression can be expressed as follows:

­ 1.0 for <1

be °
= ®C C (2.4)
b ° 1 - 22 for  t 1
¯ 

For simply supported plates, Faulkner (1975) proposed C1 =2.0 and C 2 =1.0. In
DNV Classification Note 30.1, C1 =1.8 and C 2 =0.8 are applied.

For compressive loads on the long edge a, i.e. a t b , Faulkner (1979) proposed the
following effective width formula:

ae 0.9 b 1.9 § 0.9 ·

= + ¨1- ¸ (2.5)
a 2 a  © 2 ¹

For steel plates, the formulas (2.3), (2.4) and (2.5) can be used to directly evaluate the ultimate
strength of plates subjected to axial compression or transverse compression accordingly. For
compressive stiffened steel panels, the formulas (2.3) and (2.4) are used to
calculate the effective moment of inertia which is applied in the design formulas for
calculation of resistance (e.g. ENV 1993-1-1 and DNV Note 30.1).
14 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

2.3.3 Approach to Account for Postbuckling Effect of Aluminium Plates/Panels

The postbuckling behaviour of thin-walled aluminium plates/panels is similar to that of

steel plates and panels. But unlike using the effective width concept to evaluate postbuckling
strength of steel plates and panels, the ultimate strength of aluminium plates and panels with
local buckling in Eurocode 9 is evaluated based on the concept of effective thickness.
The reason why the effective width method is used in steel plates and the effective thickness
method is adopted in aluminium plates is not yet clarified in design codes and research papers,
but it is probably because that the prediction of ultimate strength of
compressive aluminium plates is more complicated than that of steel. The HAZ effect on
steel plates is small and commonly not considered, while the ultimate strength of
compressed aluminium plates is significantly influenced by the HAZ. Moreover, the
strength reduction of aluminium plates caused by the HAZ varies with the plate thickness of
HAZ.

The effective thickness is intent to allow for local buckling of compressive element
by replacing the true thickness with a reduced thickness (i.e. effective thickness).
The effective thickness in Eurocode 9 is determined by the following formula:

­ t when /H d 3 /H
°
t e = ®§ C1 C2 · (2.6)
¨
°¨ /H - ¸t when /H ! 3 /H
/H  ¸¹
2
¯©

where
t e is effective thickness,
t is gross thickness of compressive element,
= 250/f0 ,
f 0 is the proof stress of aluminium alloy, in MPa,
C1 and C2 are constants (given in Eurocode 9) that depend on the position of
compressive element and association with welds or without welds,
E is the slenderness parameter which is a function of b/t, i.e.

§ b·
E f ¨M ¸ (2.7)
© t¹

M is dependent on the stress distribution and the position of compressive element, the details
can be referred to Eurocode 9,
E3 is the limit of slenderness parameter of class 4 cross section, the value E3 of class 4 cross
section is given in Eurocode 9.
Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 15

After determining the effective thickness by formulas (2.6) and (2.7), the effective area
Aeff and effective stiffness I eff for evaluation of resistance can then be calculated
by replacing the true thickness with the corresponding effective thickness with reference to
Figure 2.7. For details of calculating the effective thickness in different loading conditions,
Eurocode 9 and relevant rules as required can be referred accordingly.

(a) (b) (c)

(a) Effective cross section for axial compression

(a) Effective cross section for bending with respect to y-axis
(c) Effective cross section for bending with respect to z-axis

Figure 2.7 Effective cross section for compression and bending

2.4 Collapse Modes of Stiffened Panels

Dependent on the geometric properties, loading conditions and boundary conditions,
stiffened panels subjected to predominantly compressive loads may buckle and collapse in
different modes. Generally, the following different types of buckling/collapse modes (Figure
2.8) of stiffened panels under compressive loads may take place:
- Mode I: overall collapse induced by overall buckling (Figure 2.8, a)
- Mode II: collapse of plating between stiffeners due to predominant transverse
compressive loads (Figure 2.8, b)
- Mode III: collapse as a beam-column, flexural buckling in terms of plate-induced
failure or stiffener-induced failure, (Figure 2.8, c)
- Mode IV: local buckling of stiffener web (Figure 2.8, d)
- Mode V: torsional-flexural buckling (or tripping) of stiffener (Figure 2.8, e)
- Mode VI: Gross yielding
16 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

(a) Mode I: overall buckling/collapse as a unit (b) Mode II: collapse of plating between
stiffeners under predominant
transverse compressive loads

(c) Mode III: collapse as a beam-column, (d) Mode IV: local buckling of stiffener web
collapse in terms of plate-induced
failure or stiffener-induced failure

(e) Mode V: torsional-flexural buckling (or tripping) of stiffener

Figure 2.8 Collapse modes of stiffened panels (Figures from Paik and Thayamballi, 2003)

Mode I is the typical collapse pattern of stiffened panels with low web’s stiffeners. As the
bending capacity of stiffeners with low web is weak, the stiffeners can buckle together
with the associated plating as a unit. In practice, most structures are designed to avoid overall
buckling/collapse. Mode II is the collapse mode of local plate buckling of plating between
stiffeners when a stiffened panel is under predominant transverse compressive loads. It is
Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 17

noted that overall (global) buckling mode (Mode I) may take place for stiffened panels
subjected to transverse compression when stiffeners are weak (as described in Appendix K).
Mode III indicates that stiffened panels collapse as a beam-column flexural buckling in terms
of either plate-induced failure or stiffener-induced failure. This failure mode takes place if the
stiffeners are neither weak nor very strong. Mode IV occurs in terms of local buckling of
stiffener web when the ratio of web height to web thickness is large and at the same time the
stiffener flange is strong enough to keep straight. Mode V is the torsional-flexural buckling
mode that is induced by tripping of stiffener. This failure mode is very typical to panels with
flatbar stiffeners with high ratio of web height to web thickness. Mode VI is not common
in practical, it takes place only when stiffened panels are very stocky, i.e. the panel is short
with thick plate.

2.5 Global Buckling and Local Buckling of Multi-Stiffener Panels

For a large plate structure with multi-stiffeners (such as a deck or a sidewall of a ship)
subjected to compression in the x-direction or in the y-direction or both, it may buckle and
collapse in either global or local buckling modes dependent on plating thickness, breath
of plating web height and thickness of stiffener, etc. In practice, overall (i.e. global grillage)
buckling is in most cases avoided by designing the structure with a sufficient
margin against this failure mode. Referring to Amdal, J. (2005), an approach based
on the energy method used to calculate the elastic buckling load of a multi-stiffener panel with
simply supported edges is introduced in the following. By this approach, it can be judged if a
overall or local buckling mode is governed. But, it is noted that the energy contributed
from the stiffener torsional buckling is not accounted for in the formulas, it is therefore
conservative to estimate the elastic buckling load by this approach. But the error of elastic
buckling load due to neglecting stiffener torsional buckling is small for panels with weak
stiffeners such as flatbar stiffeners and T-type stiffeners. For reference, comparisons
of the elastic buckling loads of multi-stiffener panels obtained by FE analysis and the
following formulas are conducted and documented in Appendix L.

Figure 2.9 A simply supported multi-stiffened panel subjected to compression.

18 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

ƒ Buckling mode of plate

Referring to Figure 2.9, the buckling mode of a multi-stiffened panel with simply supported
condition around four edges is expressed by the following displacement function (2.8).

M N
mS x nS y
w( x, y ) ¦¦W
m 1n 1
mn sin(
a
)sin(
b
) (2.8)

where m and n are the number of half waves in buckling mode in the x- and y-
directions, respectively.

In order to simplify the analysis, here it is assumed to focus on a buckling mode, the
displacement function equation (2.8) can be simplified into:

mS x nS y
w( x, y ) Wmn sin( )sin( ) (2.9)
a b

The error introduced by equation (2.9) is small for a long plate (a/b>2).

ƒ Buckling mode of stiffener

The displacements of the stiffeners in the x-direction are expressed by:

mS x nS y j
w( x, y y j ) Wmn sin( ) sin( ) (2.10)
a b

Similarly, the displacements of the stiffeners in the y-direction are expressed by:

mS xk nS y
w( x xk , y ) Wmn sin( ) sin( ) (2.11)
a b

ƒ External work
The external work of the panel under axial stress V x is sum of the work for plate Ae, pl and the
work for stiffeners Ae , st , and is expressed by:

Ae Ae , pl  Ae, st (2.12)
where,

b a
t
³ ³ V x  w' x  dxdy
2
Ae , pl (2.13)
200
Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 19

p a
1
¦ V x Fa ³  w' x  dx
2
Ae , st (2.14)
j 1 2 0

where Fa is the cross-sectional area of the stiffener in the x-direction.

ƒ Internal energy
The total internal energy in the panel is then expressed by:

Ai Ai , pl  Ai , st  x  Ai , st  y (2.15)
where,

The plate energy Ai , pl is expressed by:

b a
Ai , pl
D
2 ³0 ³0
 w' xx  w' yy  dxdy (2.16)

Et 3
where, D .
12 1  v 2 

The energy Ai , st  x of the stiffeners in the x-direction is expressed by:

§1
p a
·
¦ a ³  w' xx  dx ¸
2
Ai , st  x ¨ EI (2.17)
j 1© 2 0 ¹j

The energy Ai , st  y of the stiffeners in the y-direction is expressed by:

§1
q b
·
¦ b ³  w' yy  dy ¸
2
Ai , st  y ¨ EI (2.18)
k 1© 2 0 ¹k

I a and I b are the moments of inertia of stiffeners in the x- and y-direction. p, q are the number
of stiffeners in the x- and y-direction.

ƒ Buckling stress
By inserting equation (2.9) into equation (2.13), and equation (2.10) into equations (2.14) and
(2.12), i.e. the total external work is found as:

m 2S 2 ­° § b · F p
§ nS · ½°
2

Ae V xWmn ®t ¨ ¸  2 a ¦ ¨ sin yj ¸ ¾ (2.19)

8 ¯° © a ¹ a j 1© b ¹ ¿°
20 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

By inserting equations (2.16), (2.17) and (2.18) into equation (2.15), the total internal energy
is found as:

S4 ­ ª§ m · 2 § n · 2 º
2
nS ·
2
mS · ½°
2
° m4 p
§ n4 q
§
Ai W ® Dab «¨ ¸  ¨ ¸ »  2 EI a 3
2
mn ¦ ¨ sin y j ¸  2 EI b 3 ¦ ¨ sin xk ¸ ¾
8 °¯ ¬«© a ¹ © b ¹ ¼» a j 1© b ¹ b k 1© a ¹ °
¿

(2.20)
By Rayleigh’s method, the buckling stress V E is found by the requirement: Ae Ai .

S 2D ­°§ mb n 2 a ·
2 2
§ mb · § n2 a ·
2
½°
VE ®¨  ¸  ia ¨ G 
¸ p b¨i G
¸ q¾ (2.21)
b 2  t  G p ta  ¯°© a mb ¹ © a ¹ © mb ¹ ¿°
where,
Fa
ta , equivalent thickness of the stiffeners in the x-direction
sb
EI a
ia , relative stiffness for the stiffeners in the x-direction
Dsb
EI b
ib , relative stiffness for the stiffeners in the y-direction
Dsa

­0 when the stiffeners in the x-direction are at rest

Gp ®
¯1 when the stiffeners in the x-direction buckle
­0 when the stiffeners in the y-direction are at rest
Gq ®
¯1 when the stiffeners in the y-direction buckle

Referring to Figure 2.9, for simplicity it may use to following equation to check if a multi-
stiffened panel under compression will buckle in terms of a local plate mode and a global
mode.

­ b S 2 D ª ms sb º
2
S 2D ­°§ mb n 2 a ·2 § mb ·
2
§ n2 a ·
2
½°
°° «
a
 »  ®¨  ¸  ia ¨ G
¸ p b¨ i ¸ q¾G
VE b 2  t  G p ta  °¯© a
2
® sa sa t ¬ sb msa ¼ mb ¹ © a ¹ © mb ¹ °¿ , Local
° , Global
°̄ else
(2.22)
2
S 2 D ª msa s º
where, the term of «  b » is the buckling stress of sub-plate ( sa x s b as shown in
sa2 t ¬ sb msa ¼
Figure 2.9) with simply supported edge boundary condition.
Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels 21

For a simply supported panel with transverse stiffeners only (i.e in the y-direction)
subjected to compressive loading in the x-direction as shown in Figure 2.10, equation (2.22)
becomes as:

­ S 2 D ª§ b · § sb · º
2
S 2 D ­°§ mb n 2 a ·
2
§ n2 a ·
2
½°
°° 2 «¨ 
¸ ¨ ¸»  ®¨  ¸  ib ¨ ¸ q¾G
VE ® b t ¬«© sb ¹ © b ¹ ¼» b 2 t °© a mb ¹ © mb ¹ °¿ , Local (2.23)
¯
° , Global
°̄ else

2
S 2 D ª§ b · § sb · º
where, the term of «¨ ¸  » is the buckling stress of sub-plate ( b x s b as shown in
b 2 t «¬© sb ¹ ¨© b ¸¹ ¼»
Figure 2.10) with simply supported edge boundary condition.

X sb

Figure 2.10 A simply supported panel with transverse stiffeners only (i.e. in the y-direction)
subjected to compressive loading in the x-direction.

For a simply supported panel with longitudinal stiffeners only (i.e. in the x-direction)
subjected to compressive loading in the x-direction as shown in Figure 2.11, equation (2.22)
is then written as:

­ b S 2 D ª ms a º
2
S 2D ­°§ mb n 2 a ·2 § mb ·
2 ½°
°° «
a
 »  ®¨  ¸  ia ¨ G
¸ p ¾ , Local
VE b 2  t  G p ta  ¯°© a
2
® sa sa t ¬ a msa ¼ mb ¹ © a ¹ ¿°
(2.24)
° , Global
°̄ else

2
S 2 D ª msa
a º
where, the term of 2 «  » is the buckling stress of sub-plate ( a x s a as shown
sa t ¬ a msa ¼
inFigure 2.11) with simply supported edge boundary condition.
22 Chapter 2. Overview of Buckling and Collapse of Stiffened Steel and Aluminium Panels

sa b

Figure 2.11 A simply supported panel with longitudinal stiffeners only (i.e. in the x-direction)
subjected to compressive loading in the x-direction.