BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF TRAPEZOIDALLY CORRUGATED PANELS USING SPLINE FINITE STRIP METHOD

Buckling of trapezoidally corrugated panels under in-plane loading is analyzed by a spline finite strip method. The influence on the elastic buckling load of various parameters, such as geometry, loading forms and boundary conditions, etc., is studied. It is found that: (1) for l ongitudinal compression the buckling load increases with the corrugati on angle alpha, and for a given alpha the highest buckling load is ach ieved when the 'proportion parameter' gamma = 1; (2) for shear loading the buckling load increases as alpha increases, and for a given alpha the highest buckling load is obtained when gamma = 2; and (3) for a c ombined loading of compression and shear, interactive curves can be ap proximated by unit circles when alpha = 15-degrees, 30-degrees, 45-deg rees, 60-degrees and 90-degrees. However, when alpha = 75-degrees a pa rabola seems to be a better approximation. Based on the numerical expe riments, simplified formulae and interactive curves are suggested for practical design.