Ultimate strength of perforated steel plates under combined biaxial compression and edge shear loads

The present paper is a sequel to the authorʹs papers [Paik JK, Ultimate strength of perforated steel plates under edge shear loading. Thin-Walled Structures 2007; 45: 301–6, Paik JK Ultimate strength of perforated steel plates under axial compressive loading along short edges. Ships Offshore Struct, 2007; 2(3): (in press)]. In contrast to the previous papers with the focus on edge shear or uniaxial compressive loads, the aim of the present study is to investigate the ultimate strength characteristics of perforated steel plates under combined biaxial compression and edge shear loads, which is a typical action pattern of steel plates arising from cargo weight and water pressure together with hull girder motions in ships and ship-shaped offshore structures. The plates are considered to be simply supported along all (four) edges, keeping them straight. The cutout is circular and located at the center of the plate. A series of ANSYS nonlinear finite element analyses (FEA) are undertaken with varying the plate dimension (thickness). Based on the FEA results obtained, closed-form empirical formulae of the ultimate strength interaction relationships of perforated plates between combined loads, which can be useful for first-cut estimations of the ultimate strength in reliability analyses or code calibrations, are derived.