Journal of Computational and Applied Mechanics, Vol. 5., No. 1., (2004), pp.

165179

OPTIMUM DESIGN OF STIFFENED PLATES FOR DIFFERENT LOADS AND SHAPES OF RIBS
Zoltn Virg
Department of Equipments for Geotechnics, University of Miskolc 3515 Miskolc Egyetemvros, Hungary gtbvir@uni-miskolc.hu [Received: December 1, 2003] Dedicated to Professor Jzsef FARKAS on the occasion of his seventy-fth birthday Abstract. In this overview of loaded stiened plates various plate types, loadings, and stiener shapes are investigated. Mikami [1] and API [2] methods are used for the optimum design and comparison of the two methods and uniaxially compressed plates stiened by ribs of various shapes. Both methods consider the eect of initial imperfection and residual welding stresses, but their empirical formulae are dierent. The elastic secondary deection due to compression and lateral pressure is calculated using the Paiks solution [3] of the dierential equation for orthotropic plates, and the self-weight is also taken into account. Besides this deection some more deformations are caused by lateral pressure and the shrinkage of longitudinal welds. The unknowns are the thickness of the base plate as well as the dimensions and number of stieners. The cost function to be minimized includes two kinds of material and three kinds of welding costs. Mathematical Subject Classication: 74K20,74P10 Keywords: stiened plate, welded structures, stability, residual welding distortion, structural optimization, minimum cost design

1. Introduction Stiened welded plates are widely used in various load-carrying structures, e.g. ships, bridges, bunkers, tank roofs, oshore structures, vehicles, etc. They are subject to various loadings, e.g. compression, bending, shear or combined load. The shape of plates can be square, rectangular, circular, trapezoidal, etc. They can be stiened in one or two directions by stieners of at, L, trapezoidal or other shape. Various plate types, loadings and stiener shapes have been investigated. In this paper two kinds of loads are investigated [6], [7]. These are uniaxial compression and lateral pressure. Structural optimization of stiened plates has been worked out by Farkas [8], Farkas and Jrmai [9], and applied to uniaxially compressed plates with stieners of various shapes [10], biaxially compressed plates [11]. This paper contains the minimum cost design of longitudinally stiened plates using the strength calculation methods. Deections due to lateral pressure, compression stress and shrinkage of longitudinal welds are taken into account in the stress constraint. The self-weight is added to the lateral pressure. The local buckling constraint
c 2004 Miskolc University Press

166

Z. Virg

of the base plate strips is formulated as well. The cost function includes two kinds of material and three kinds of welding costs. The unknowns are the thickness of the base plate as well as the dimensions and number of stieners.

2. Geometric characteristics The stiened plates are shown in Figures 1 and 2. The plates are simply supported at four edges. Geometrical parameters of plates with at, L- and trapezoidal stieners can be seen in Figures 3-5.

Figure 1. Longitudinally stiened plate loaded by uniaxial compression

Figure 2. Longitudinally stiened plate loaded by uniaxial compression and lateral pressure

Figure 3. Dimensions of a at stiener

Optimum design of stiened plates for dierent loads and shapes of ribs The geometrical parameters of the at stiener are calculated as follows AS = hS tS , hS = 14tS , q = 235/fy , AS , btF

167

(2.1) (2.2) (2.3) (2.4) (2.5) hS yG 2 2 , (2.6) (2.7) (2.8)

yG =

hS + tF S , 2 1 + S

S = Ix =

bt3 h3 tS 2 F + btF yG + S + hS tS 12 12 tS IS = h3 , S 3 hS t3 S . It = 3

Figure 4. Dimensions of an L-stiener The calculations of geometrical parameters of the L-stiener are AS = (b1 + b2 ) tS b1 = 30tS , b2 = 12.5tS , tF b1 + tF + b2 tS b1 + b1 tS 2 2 yG = , btF + AS (2.9) (2.10) (2.11)

(2.12)

168 Ix = bt3 F

Z. Virg b3 tS 2 + btF yG + 1 + 12 2 12 b1 2 +b1 tS yG + b2 tS (b1 yG ) , 2 b3 tS IS = 1 + b2 b2 tS , 1 3 3 b tS b3 tS It = 1 + 2 . 3 3 (2.13)

(2.14) (2.15)

Figure 5. Dimensions of a trapezoidal stiener The calculations of geometrical parameters of the trapezoidal stiener are AS = (a1 + 2a2 ) tS , (2.16) a1 = 90 [mm], a3 = 300 [mm], thus 1/2 , (2.17) hS = a2 1052 2 2 105 , (2.18) sin2 = 1 a2 a1 tS (hS + tF /2) + 2a2 tS (hS + tF ) /2 yG = (2.19) btF + AS 2 bt3 tF 2 Ix = F + btF yG + a1 tS hS + yG + 12 2 2 1 3 hS + tF 2 + a2 tS sin + 2a2 tS , (2.20) yG 6 2 2 IS = a1 h3 tS + a3 tS sin2 , (2.21) S 3 2 4A2 It = P P , (2.22) bi /ti a1 + a3 (2.23) AP = hS = 195hS . 2

Optimum design of stiened plates for dierent loads and shapes of ribs 3. Design constraints in case of uniaxial compression

169

3.1. Global buckling of the stiened plate. According to Mikami [1] the eect of initial imperfections and residual welding stresses is considered by dening buckling curves for a reduced slenderness = (fy /cr )1/2 . (3.1)

The classical critical buckling stress for a uniaxially compressed longitudinally stiened plate is 2 D 1 + S 2 cr = + 2 + R for R = L/B < R0 = (1 + S )1/4 , (3.2) 2 hB 2 R i 22 D h 1/2 cr = (3.3) 1 + (1 + S ) for R R0 . hB 2

Figure 6. Global buckling curve considering the eect of initial imperfections and residual welding stresses When the reduced slenderness is known the actual global buckling stress can be calculated according to Mikami [1] as follows U /fy = 1 for 0.3, for for 0.3 1, > 1. (3.4) (3.5) (3.6)

The global buckling constraint is dened by P + S N , U A 1 + S in which S is given by Equation 2.5, A = BtF + ( 1)AS , (3.8) (3.7)

U /fy = 1 0.63 ( 0.3) U /fy = 1/ 0.8 + 2

170 and the factor is

Z. Virg

p = 1 P = U P /fy

if if

U P > U , U P U .

(3.9) (3.10)

Figure 7. Global buckling curve according to Mikami and API According to API [2] U /fy = 1 U /fy = 1.5 U /fy = 0.5/ if if if 0.5, > 1. (3.11) (3.12) (3.13) 0.5 1,

The global buckling constraint can be written as follows N U . A

(3.14)

3.2. Single panel buckling. This constraint eliminates the local buckling of the base plate parts between the stieners. From the classical buckling formula for a simply supported panel uniformly compressed in one direction 2 4 2 E tF crP = , (3.15) 10.92 b the reduced slenderness is 1/2 42 E b/tF b P = = ; 10.92fy tF 56.8 = 235 fy 1/2 (3.16)

and the actual local buckling stress considering the initial imperfections and residual welding stresses is U P /fy = 1 for P 0.526, (3.17) 0.7 0.526 U P = for P > 0.526. (3.18) fy P

Optimum design of stiened plates for dierent loads and shapes of ribs The single panel buckling constraint is N U P . A

171

(3.19)

3.3. Local and torsional buckling of stieners. These instability phenomena depend on the shape of stieners and will be treated separately for L stiener. The torsional buckling constraint for open section stieners is N U T . A The classical torsional buckling stress is crT = GIT EI + 2 , IP L IP (3.21) (3.20)

where G = E/2.6 is the shear modulus, IT is the torsional moment of inertia, IP is the polar moment of inertia and I is the warping constant. The actual torsional buckling stress can be calculated as a function of the reduced slenderness T = (fy /crT ) U T /fy = 1 for
1/2

(3.22) (3.23) (3.24) (3.25)

T 0.45, for 0.45 1.41, > 1.41.

U T /fy = 1 0.53 ( 0.45) U T /fy = 1/2 for

Figure 8. Limiting curves for local plate buckling (P ) and torsional buckling of open section ribs (T )

172

Z. Virg

4. Design constraints in case of uniaxial compression and lateral pressure 4.1. Calculation the deection due to compression and lateral pressure. Paik et al. [3] used the dierential equations of large deection orthotropic plate theory and the Galerkin method to derive the following cubic equation for the elastic deection Am of a stiened plate loaded by uniaxial compression and lateral pressure C1 A3 + C2 A2 + C3 Am + C4 = 0, m m where (4.1)

2 L 3 2 Aom L m4 B m4 B C1 = Ex 3 + E 3 ; C2 = Ex 3 + E 3 , 16 L B 16 L B 2 A2 L 2 m2 m2 B L m4 B m4 B om Dx 3 + 2H C3 = Ex 3 + E 3 + xav + +D 3 , 8 L B L tF L LB B (4.2) 16LB m2 B C4 = Aom xav 4 p, L tF nAS (4.3) ; Ey = E. Ex = E 1 + BtF

Since the self-weight is taken into account, the lateral pressure is modied as V g p = p0 + , (4.4) BL where g is the gravitation constant, 9.81 [m/s2 ]. The exural and torsional stinesses of the orthotropic plate are as follows:
2 Et3 EIx EtF yG F + + , 2 2 1 xy b 12 1 xy Et3 F , Dy = 2 12 1 xy v u u E Et3 EIx Et3 F 2 u + EtF yG + F u Ex 12 b 12 u , x = 2 0.86 u EIx E t b Ex

Dx =

(4.5)

(4.6)

The deection due to lateral pressure is Aom = 5qL4 ; 384EIx

E x ; xy = x y , Ex E Gxy It H= ; Gxy = , b 2 (1 + xy ) X bi a1 + 2a2 a3 = + . ti tS tF y = q = pb;

(4.7) (4.8) (4.9)

b = B/.

(4.10)

Optimum design of stiened plates for dierent loads and shapes of ribs The solution of equation (4.1) is Am = where s
3

173

C2 + k1 + k2 , 3C1 s

(4.11)

r 3 Y Y 2 X3 Y Y + ; k2 = + , k1 = + 2 4 27 2 4 27 3 C2 2C2 C2 C3 C4 C3 22 ; Y = X= 3 3C 2 + C . C1 3C1 27C1 1 1

2

X3

(4.12) (4.13)

4.2. Deection due to shrinkage of longitudinal welds. According to [9] the deection of the plate due to longitudinal welds is as follows fmax = CL2 /8, where the curvature for steels is C = 0.844x103 QT yT /Ix , (4.15) QT is the heat input, Ix is the moment of inertia of the cross-section containing a stiener and the base plate strip of width b, yT is the weld eccentricity yT = yG tF /2. The heat input for a stiener is QT = 2x59.5a2 . W (4.17) (4.16) (4.14)

4.3. The stress constraint. The stress constraint includes several eects as follows: the average compression stress and the bending stress caused by deections due to compression, lateral pressure and the shrinkage of longitudinal welds. M max = xav + yG U P , (4.18) Ix where qL2 M = xav (A0m + Am + fmax ) + , (4.19) 8 According to [1], the calculation of the local buckling strength of a face plate strip of width b1 = max(a3, b a3), (4.20) is performed taking into account the eects of initial imperfections and residual welding stresses U P = fy when P 0.526, (4.21) 0.7 0.526 when P 0.526, (4.22) U P = P where 1/2 42 E b1 /tF b1 P = = . (4.23) 10.92fy tF 56.8

174

Z. Virg 5. Cost function

The objective function to be minimized is dened as the sum of material and fabrication costs X K = Km + Kf = km V + kf Ti , (5.1) or in another form kf K = V + (T1 + T2 + T3 ) , km km (5.2)

where is the material density, V is the volume of the structure, Km and Kf as well as km and kf are the material and fabrication costs as well as cost factors, respectively, Ti are the fabrication times as follows: time for preparation, tacking and assembly p T1 = d V ,

(5.3)

where d is a diculty factor expressing the complexity of the welded structure, is the number of structural parts to be assembled; T2 is time of welding, and T3 is time of additional works such as changing of electrode, deslagging and chipping. T3 0.3T2 , thus, X C2i an Lwi , (5.4) T2 + T3 = 1.3 wi

where Lwi is the length of welds, the values of C2i an can be obtained from formulae or wi diagrams constructed using the COSTCOMP [4] software, aw is the weld dimension. Welding technology aw [mm] 103 C2 an w SAW 0-15 0.2349a2 w SMAW 0-15 0.7889a2 w GMAW-M 0-15 0.3258a2 w Table 1. Welding times versus weld size aw [mm] for longitudinal llet welds, downhand position

6. Optimiztion method Rosenbrocks hillclimb [5] mathematical method is used to minimize the cost function. This is a direct search mathematical programming method without derivatives. The iterative algorithm is based on Hooke & Jeeves searching method. It starts with a given initial value, and takes small steps in the direction of orthogonal coordinates during the search. The algorithm is modied so that secondary searching is carried out to determine discrete values. The procedure nishes when the convergence criterion is satised or the iterative number reaches its limit.

Optimum design of stiened plates for dierent loads and shapes of ribs 7. Numerical data and optimum results

175

7.1. Longitudinally stiened plate loaded by uniaxial compression. The given data are width B = 6000 [mm], length L = 3000 [mm], compression force N = 1.974 107 [N], Young modulus E = 2.1 105 [MPa] and density = 7.85 106 [kg/mm3 ]. The yield stress is fy = 355 [MPa]. The unknowns the thicknesses of the base plate and the stiener and the number of the ribs - are limited in size. For without fabrication cost the welding cost is not considered, the material minima is not shown in Tables 4, 5, 6 and 7. 3 tF 40[mm], 3 tS 12[mm], 3 10.

(7.1)

Mikami

API

kf /km 0 1 2 0 1 2 kf /km 0 1 2 0 1 2 kf /km 1 2 1 2 kf /km 1 2 1 2

tF [mm] tS [mm] 22 6 22 6 22 6 19 10 21 7 21 7

K/km [kg] 10 5166 10 6152 10 7138 10 5224 10 6249 10 7367

Table 2. Optimum dimensions with L- stiener (SAW) Mikami tF [mm] tS [mm] K/km [kg] 9 7 9 3424 12 6 9 4920 17 5 9 6518 9 7 9 3424 9 7 9 4761 12 6 9 6097 tF [mm] tS [mm] 22 6 24 5 21 7 21 7 K/km [kg] 10 7232 10 8846 10 7546 10 9960

API

Table 3. Optimum dimensions with trapezoidal stiener (SAW) Mikami API

Table 4. Optimum dimensions with L- stiener (SMAW) Mikami API tF [mm] tS [mm] K/km [kg] 19 4 9 6452 19 4 9 8538 15 5 9 6444 21 3 10 7955

Table 5. Optimum dimensions with trapezoidal stiener (SMAW)

176 kf /km 1 2 1 2

Z. Virg tF [mm] tS [mm] 22 6 22 6 21 7 21 7 K/km [kg] 10 6329 10 7493 10 6462 10 7793

Mikami API

Table 6. Optimum dimensions with Lstiener (GMAW-M) Mikami API kf /km 1 2 1 2 tF [mm] tS [mm] K/km [kg] 11 6 9 4992 16 5 9 6750 9 7 9 5099 16 5 9 6532

Table 7. Optimum dimensions with trapezoidal stiener (GMAW-M) 7.2. Longitudinally stiened plate loaded by uniaxial compression and lateral pressure. The given data are width B = 4000 [mm], length L = 6000 [mm], compression force N = 1.974 107 [N], Young modulus E = 2.1 105 [MPa] and density = 7.85 106 [kg/mm3 ]. There are three values of lateral pressure p0 = 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 [MPa] and two values of yield stress fy = 255, 355 [MPa]. The unknowns the thicknesses of the base plate and the stiener and the number of the ribs - are limited in size. The results are shown in Tables 8-13. The optimum results are given in bold type. 3 tF 40[mm], 3 tS 12[mm], (7.2) 3 10. fy p0 tF tS K/km [kg] [MPa] [MPa] [mm] [mm] kf /km = 0 kf /km = 1.5 235 0.1 38 12 10 8014 11758 235 0.05 30 12 6 6127 8362 355 0.1 28 12 10 6568 10137 355 0.05 20 12 9 4825 7914 Table 8. Optimum material minima fy p0 [MPa] [MPa] 235 0.1 235 0.05 355 0.1 355 0.05 dimensions with at stiener for kf /km = 0, the tF tS K/km [kg] [mm] [mm] kf /km = 0 kf /km = 1.5 38 12 10 8014 11758 30 12 6 6127 8362 28 12 10 6568 10137 21 11 8 4852 7312

Table 9. Optimum dimensions with at stiener for kf /km = 1.5, the cost minima

Optimum design of stiened plates for dierent loads and shapes of ribs fy p0 tF tS K/km [kg] [MPa] [MPa] [mm] [mm] kf /km = 0 kf /km = 1.5 235 0.2 31 12 5 6993 8933 235 0.1 21 12 7 5686 8230 235 0.05 20 10 7 4969 6952 355 0.2 22 12 7 6107 8641 355 0.1 18 9 10 5036 7389 355 0.05 17 7 10 4313 6302 Table 10. Optimum dimensions with L-stiener for kf /km = 0, the material minima fy p0 tF tS K/km [kg] [MPa] [MPa] [mm] [mm] kf /km = 0 kf /km = 1.5 235 0.2 34 11 4 7132 8584 235 0.1 27 10 5 5888 7422 235 0.05 24 8 6 5162 6564 355 0.2 28 9 6 6528 8149 355 0.1 22 8 7 5247 6801 355 0.05 19 8 7 4626 6129 Table 11. Optimum dimensions with L-stiener for kf /km = 1.5, the cost minima fy p0 tF tS K/km [kg] [MPa] [MPa] [mm] [mm] kf /km = 0 kf /km = 1.5 235 0.2 28 12 4 6974 8549 235 0.1 24 10 4 5723 6975 235 0.05 18 10 5 4993 6466 355 0.2 21 11 5 6108 7780 355 0.1 15 10 6 4944 6635 355 0.05 13 8 7 4148 5611 Table 12. Optimum dimensions with trapezoidal stiener for kf /km = 0, the material minima fy p0 tF tS K/km [kg] [MPa] [MPa] [mm] [mm] kf /km = 0 kf /km = 1.5 235 0.2 35 9 3 7250 8223 235 0.1 24 10 4 5723 6975 235 0.05 23 8 4 5122 6132 355 0.2 28 8 4 6530 7589 355 0.1 21 7 5 5111 6284 355 0.05 16 7 6 4264 5560 Table 13. Optimum dimensions with trapezoidal stiener for kf /km = 1.5, the cost minima

177

178

Z. Virg 8. Conclusions The results show that the trapezoidal stiener is the most economic one. The cost saving can be 69 % compared with various ribs. In general the Mikami method gives thinner basic plates than those given by API. Materials with higher yield stress give cheaper results. The cost saving can be 40 % compared with the lower one. Higher strength steel is 10 % more expensive. In most cases the material and cost minima are dierent, the number of stieners is smaller at cost minima due to welding cost eects. SAW is the cheapest welding process if we do not consider investment cost. It can be seen from Tables 8 and 9 that there are no solutions for the highest lateral pressure (p0 = 0.2 [MPa]) for at stieners due to the size limits. In case of uniaxially and laterally loaded plate the ratio between material cost and welding cost ranged from 13 % (for at stiener, higher yield stress and minimum lateral pressure) to 64 % (in case of trapezoidal stiener, lower yield stress and maximum lateral pressure). For L- and trapezoidal stieners the number of stieners decreases if the lateral pressure is increased, but it increases if the yield stress of the material is increased. For at stieners the number of stieners increases if the lateral pressure is increased and the yield stress of the material is increased.

Acknowledgement. The author wishes to acknowledge the guidance of Prof. Kroly Jrmai and Prof. Jzsef Farkas. The research work was supported by the Hungarian Scientic Research Found grants OTKA T38058 and T37941 projects.

REFERENCES
1. Mikami, I., and Niwa, K.: Ultimate compressive strength of orthogonally stiened steel plates. J. Struct. Engng ASCE, 122(6), (1996), 674682. 2. American Petroleum Institute API Bulletin on design of at plate structures. Bulletin 2V. Washington, 1987. 3. Paik, J.K., Thayamballi, A.K. and Kim, B. J.: Large deection orthotropic plate approach to develop ultimate strength formulations for stiened panels under combined biaxial compression/tension and lateral pressure. Thin-Walled Structures, 39, (2001), 215246. 4. COSTCOMP Programm zur Berechnung der Schweisskosten. Deutscher Verlag fr Schweisstechnik, Dsseldorf, 1990. 5. Rosenbrock, H. H.: An automatic method for nding the greatest or least value of a function. Computer Journal, 3, (1960), 175184. 6. Virg, Z. Minimum cost design of a compressed welded stiened plate using two different buckling constraints, III. International Conference of PhD. Students, Miskolc, Hungary, 2001, 467474. (ISBN 963 661 482 2)

Optimum design of stiened plates for dierent loads and shapes of ribs

179

7. Virag Z. and Jrmai K.: Parametric studies of uniaxially compressed and laterally loaded stiened plates for minimum cost, International Conference on Metal Structures (ICMS), Miskolc, Hungary, Millpress, Rotterdam, 2003, 237242. (ISBN 90 77017 75 5) 8. Farkas, J.: Optimum design of metal structures. Budapest, Akadmiai Kiad, Chichester, Ellis Horwood, 1984. 9. Farkas, J. and Jrmai, K.: Analysis and optimum design of metal structures, Balkema, Rotterdam-Brookeld, 1997. 10. Farkas, J. and Jrmai, K.: Minimum cost design and comparison of uniaxially compressed plates with welded at, L- and trapezoidal stieners. Welding in the World, 44(3), (2000), 4751. 11. Farkas, J., Simoes, L.M.C., and Jrmai, K.: Minimum cost design of a welded stiened square plate loaded by biaxial compression. WCSMO-4, 4th World Congress of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Dalian China, Extended Abstracts, 2001, 136137. 12. Farkas, J., and Jrmai, K.: Economic design of metal structures, Millpress, Rotterdam. 2003.