Effect of loading pulse duration on dynamic buckling of stiffened panels

Abstract

Design of stiffened panels requires evaluating their stability under various loading combinations for all possible scenarios regarding material degradation or initial geometric imperfections that could affect them. Both static and dynamic loading conditions are to be investigated for assessing the buckling strength. In this work, dynamic buckling under in-plane uniform axial compression loading having the form of a transient pulse with finite duration is evaluated through nonlinear finite element modelling. A welding induced defect that consists of an initial geometric imperfection modifying the skin plate curvature in the longitudinal direction was incorporated. The Budiansky buckling criterion was employed to predict instability under this dynamic loading. The obtained results have shown that the pulse period yields a drastic effect on the buckling strength. For the considered boundary conditions, half-sine like pulses having periods that are comparable to two times the period of the first mode of natural vibrations of the stiffened plate were found to reduce hugely the buckling strength, with the dynamic buckling load representing almost only half its static value.