Interaction buckling failure of stiffened steel plates

The buckling behaviour of four full-scale stiffened plates with longitudinal T-stiffener was investigated experimentally and analytically. The specimens were designed according to the set of non-dimensional geometric parameters confirmed analytically to result in interaction buckling failure. The primary objective of this study was to achieve interaction buckling under uniaxial compression at different load eccentricities. Initial imperfections were measured for all specimens and longitudinal residual stresses were measured on a duplicate specimen. The tests confirmed the existence of interaction buckling.; The finite element model used in this study was validated by testing a series of full-scale stiffened plates. The numerical analysis indicated that the model was capable to predict the capacity and failure modes of the specimens.; An assessment on current DNV (Det Norske Veritas), API (American Petroleum Institute) and S136-01/S16-01 design guidelines predicted inconsistent buckling capacities for the test specimens. However, DNV predicted the failure mode of the specimens accurately.