Buckling and postbuckling of an imperfect plate subjected to the shear load

Abstract

The stability analysis of an imperfect plate subjected to the shear load is presented. To solve this problem, a specialized computer program based on FEM has been created. The nonlinear finite element method equations are derived from the variational principle of minimum of total potential energy. To obtain the nonlinear equilibrium paths, the Newton-Raphson iteration algorithm is used. Corresponding levels of the total potential energy are defined. Special attention is paid to the influence of imperfections on the post-critical buckling mode. Obtained results are compared with those gained using ANSYS system.