Parametric instability of stiffened plates

Abstract

The parametric instability behavior of a stiffened plate subjected to uniform in-plane edge loading is studied using the finite element analysis. The method of Hill's infinite determinants is applied to analyze the dynamic instability regions. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the effects of various parameters, such as the aspect ratio, boundary condition, stiffening scheme, on the dynamic stability of stiffened plates. The results show that the location, size and number of stiffeners have a significant effect on the location of the boundaries of the principal instability regions when compared with those of a flat unstiffened plate.