Ultimate strength of steel plates with a single circular hole under axial compressive loading along short edges

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the ultimate strength characteristics of steel plates with a single circular hole under axial compressive loading along short edges, which is a primary action type arising from vertical or horizontal hull girder bending moments of ships and ship-shaped offshore structures. The plates are considered to be simply supported along all (four) edges and kept straight. The circular hole is located at the center of the plate. A series of ANSYS nonlinear finite element analyses (FEA) are undertaken with varying the hole size (diameter) as well as plate dimensions (plate aspect ratio and thickness). By regression analysis of the FEA results obtained, a closed-form empirical formula for the ultimate longitudinal compressive strength of perforated plates, which can be useful for first-cut strength estimations and reliability analyses, is derived. The accuracy of the ultimate strength formula developed is verified by a comparison with more refined nonlinear FEA results.

Keywords:

• Ships
• ship-shaped offshore structures
• ultimate strength
• steel plates
• perforated plates
• circular hole

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The present study was undertaken at the Ship and Offshore Structural Mechanics Laboratory, Pusan National University, Korea, which is a National Research Laboratory funded by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (Grant no. ROA-2006-000-10239-0).