BUCKLING OF FLAT PLATES UNDER BENDING AND SHEAR

Extensive work has been carried out to determine expressions for the c ritical buckling loads of flat plates under the elementary load cases of shear, compression and bending, and combinations of these three. Ex isting solutions are based on constant stress levels throughout the pl ate, but no theoretical solution or design rules exist for more comple x situations. Finite element analysis is often therefore used to solve more complicated cases. This paper outlines a programme of work that has been undertaken to compare collapse loads predicted by theoretical , experimental and finite element analysis predicted collapse loads fo r the case of a flat rectangular plate under combined shear and bendin g.