Numerical Analysis of Perforated Thin Plates Subjected to Tension or Buckling

Thin perforated plates are employed as structural members in many engineering applications. More specifically, in naval, marine and offshore structures these panels are used to make a way of access or to reduce the total weight of the structure. In several design situations these plates are subjected to axial forces. Besides, the presence of the perforation causes a change in the plate´s mechanical behavior. When the perforated plate is tensioned, regions of stress concentration are generated, and if the panel is subject a compressive load, there is a possibility to occur the buckling phenomenon. For these reasons, in this work a numerical study was accomplished, aiming to obtain the optimal geometry for the thin perforated plate subjected to tension or buckling. The computational models were developed in the ANSYS software and the geometric optimizations were based on the Constructal Design method. The results indicated an optimal geometry which can be up to 594 % superior considering the level of stress concentration, and there is an optimal geometry which presents a critical buckling load until 57.2 % superior. Moreover, these preliminary results show that additional researches into this subject are justified.