Stress levels for elastic buckling of rolled strip and plate

Abstract

Elastic buckling of a thin plate is considered in the context of flat rolling of metal plate and strip. The residual stress in the plate some distance away from the roll gap can have regions of high compression and tension whose average value is quite moderate. These are induced by mismatches between the inlet strip profile and the outlet profile defined by the roll gap. In this paper the stress levels at which elastic buckling will occur are predicted together with the form of the buckling. A fast solution technique is described in which the actual stress is replaced by piecewise constant stresses within elements across the strip. Exact solutions for the deflection due to constant stresses are employed, along with the continuity conditions at the element junctions. Various known buckling solutions are reproduced to validate the technique. Stress distributions typical of those expected to occur in flat rolling are considered and both edge and centre buckling solutions are presented.