Buckling of Rectangular Plates with Embedded Stiffeners under Shear Stress

This study analyzes the shear buckling behavior of rectangular plates with embedded stiffeners, employing the Finite Element Method (FEM) in ABAQUS. A total of 98 plate models were examined under shear stresses to assess the influence of key design parameters, including stiffener height, shape, location, and plate aspect ratio, on shear buckling resistance. The findings indicate that the optimal position for the embedded stiffener is at the center of the plate, irrespective of the configuration, resulting in an enhancement in shear resistance ranging from 14% to 32% compared to the unstiffened reference plates. Stiffeners positioned at one-third and one-quarter of the plate length yield more modest improvements, with shear resistance increases of 3% to 9% and 1% to 6%, respectively. For plates with an aspect ratio of 0.5, the optimal stiffener height was determined to be 30 mm, resulting in a 33% increase in shear resistance. Conversely, for plates with an aspect ratio of 1, the optimal stiffener height was found to be 40 mm, yielding a 76% increase in shear buckling resistance. The influence of the stiffener shape was also examined, with trapezoidal stiffeners demonstrating the most substantial enhancement (33% increase) for aspect ratio 0.5, and circular stiffeners exhibiting the most significant improvement (75% increase) for aspect ratio 1. The analysis further revealed that increasing the aspect ratio from 0.5 to 1 led to a substantial reduction in the shear buckling resistance, with a decrease of 64%. These findings underscore the crucial impact of stiffener parameters and aspect ratio on the shear buckling performance of stiffened plates, providing valuable guidance for the design and optimization of thin-walled structures subjected to shear loading.