World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 78 2011

Numerical Study of Buckling of Thin Plates

Ali Reza Pouladkhan, Jalil Emadi and Majid Safamehr

Abstract— One of the most important static analyses for thin Depending mainly on values of the applied in-plane
plates, is buckling analysis. The most common method to study the loads, an initial, flat configuration of a plate equilibrium
Critical Buckling Load of thin plates, is equilibrium method. This may be stable or unstable. The initial configuration of
method is based on solving a fourth order partial differential elastic equilibrium is stable, if when the plate is displaced
equation. This paper presents a finite element model for a simply
supported and simply supported-simply supported-fixed-free
form this equilibrium state by an infinitesimal disturbance,
rectangular plate. The study uses ABAQUS (v.6.7) software to say a small lateral force, the deflected plate will tend to
derive the finite element model of the rectangular plate. Finally, come back to its initial, flat configuration when the
the obtained results through FEM would be compared with an disturbance is removed. The initial configuration of
exact solution for both boundary conditions. equilibrium is said to be unstable, if when the plate is
Keywords— Critical buckling load; Equilibrium method; displaced from this equilibrium position by a small lateral
Partial differential equation; Finite element method; Exact load, it will tend to displace still further when the load is
solution.
removed. If the plate remains at the displaced position even
after the small lateral load is removed, it is said to be in
1. INTRODUCTION
neutral equilibrium. Thus, the plate in neutral equilibrium is
Thin plates of various shapes used in naval and neither stable nor unstable.
aeronautical structures are often subjected to normal The goal of the buckling analysis of plates is to determine
compressive and shearing loads acting in the middle plane the critical buckling loads and the corresponding buckled
of the plate (in-plane loads). Under certain conditions such configuration of equilibrium. We consider below the linear
loads can result in a plate buckling. Buckling or elastic buckling analysis of plates based on the following
instability of plates is of great practical importance [1]. assumptions:
The buckling load depends on the plate thickness: the (a) Prior to loading, a plate is ideally flat and all the
thinner the plate, the lower is the buckling load. In many applied external loads act strictly in the middle
cases, a failure of thin plate elements may be attributed to
plane of the plate.
an elastic instability and not to the lack of their strength.
(b) States of stress is described by equations of the
Therefore, plate buckling analysis presents an integral part
of the general analysis of a structure [1,2]. linear plane elasticity. Any changes in the plate
In this study, we consider a systematic but simplified dimensions are neglected prior to buckling.
analysis of plate buckling and obtain some useful relations (c) All the loads applied to the plate are dead loads;
between the critical loads and plate parameters. that is, they are not changed either in magnitude or
in direction when the plate deforms.
2. GENERAL POSTULATIONS OF THE THEORY OF (d) The plate bending is described by Kirchhoff 's
STABILITY OF PLATES plate bending theory.
This section contains some fundamentals of classical The linear buckling analysis of plates based on these
stability analysis of thin elastic plates. It should be noted assumptions makes it possible to determine accurately the
that the stability analysis of plates is qualitatively similar to critical loads, which are of practical importance in the
the Euler stability analysis of columns [2]. stability analysis of thin plates. However, this analysis gives
Consider an ideal thin, elastic plate which is assumed no way of describing the behavior of plates after buckling,
initially to be perfectly flat and subjected to external in- which is also of considerable interest. The post-buckling
plane compressive and shear loads acting strictly in the analysis of plates is usually difficult because it is basically a
middle of plane of the plate. The resulting deformations of nonlinear problem.
this plate are characterized by the absence of deflections Classical buckling problems of plates can be formulated
( and, consequently, of the bending using (1) the equilibrium method, (2) the energy method,
and twisting moments, as well as the transverse shear and (3) the dynamic method. In this study, we use the
forces. Such a plane stress condition of the plate is referred equilibrium method [2,3,4].
to as an initial or flat configuration of equilibrium, assuming
the equilibrium conditions between applied external loads 3. THE EQUILIBRIUM METHOD
and the corresponding in-plane stress resultants. Consider an initial state of equilibrium of a plate
subjected to the external edge loads acting in the middle
plane of the plate. Let the corresponding in-plane stress
- Ali Reza Pouladkhan: Islamic Azad University , Ardestan Branch,
Esfahan, Iran [email protected] resultants in this initial state be . They may
- Jalil Emadi, Academic Member, Islamic Azad University, Ardestan be found from the solution of the plane stress problem for
Branch, Ardestan, Iran, E-mail: [email protected]
- Majid Safamehr: Academic Member, Islamic Azad University, the given plate geometry and in-plane external loading. For
Ardestan Branch, Ardestan, Iran, E-mail: [email protected] the plate, the in-plane external edge loads that result in an
elastic instability as in the case of a beam column, are

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independent of the lateral loads. Thus, the governing equation :
differential equation of the linear buckling analysis of plates
is the following :
One possible solution is however, this
Where , , and are the internal forces acting in the represents the trivial solution, and corresponds
middle surface of the plate due to the applied in-plane to an equilibrium in the unbuckled, flat state of the plate and
loading. This equation is a homogeneous, partial differential is of no interest. Another possible solution is obtained by
equation. The mathematical problem is to solve this setting the quantity in square brackets to zero, or
equation with appropriate homogeneous boundary
conditions. In general, such a problem has only a trivial
solution corresponding to the initial, flat configuration of From which
equilibrium (i.e. w=0). However, the coefficients of the
governing equation depend on the magnitudes of the stress
resultants, which are in turn, connected with the applied in-
plane external forces, and we can find values of these loads The constants remain undetermined. The above
for which a nontrivial solution is possible. The smallest
expression gives all values of corresponding to
value of these loads will correspond to a critical load [3,4].
as possible forms of the
defected surface. From all of these values one must select
the smallest, which will be the critical value. Evidently the
4. BUCKLING OF RECTANGULAR PLATES smallest value of is obtained for . For the
According to the equilibrium method, the critical values formula for takes the form
of applied in-plane forces may be found from the solution of
the governing differential equation (1). As mentioned, this
equation is a homogeneous, linear partial differential Or, in an equivalent form,
equation with, generally speaking, variable coefficients. It is
impossible to find its analytical solution in the general case.
However, for some particular but practically important cases Where
this equation makes it possible to obtain an exact solution.
The following examples illustrate the equilibrium method
for obtaining the exact solutions associated with Is the buckling parameter. For a given value of m, the
determining the critical forces in rectangular plates [5,6,7].
parameter depends only on the ratio a / b, called the
For example, in the case of a rectangular, simply
aspect ratio of the plate. As follows from the last equations,
supported plate, the critical buckling load subjected to a
the smallest value of , and consequently, the value of the
uniformly distributed compressive edge load acting in
the x direction (as shown in figure 1) will be determined. critical force , depends on the number of half-sine
waves in the longitudinal direction, m. For a given aspect
ratio the critical load is obtained by selecting m so that it
makes the last equation a minimum. Since only depends
on m, we have the following :

Since the first factor in parentheses of the above is

nonzero, we obtain

Fig. 1 Simply supported plate subjected to a uniformly distributed This provides the following minimum values of the
compressive edge load [1]. critical load :

Solution :
For this particular case The For the steel plate as follow properties
differential equation (1) becomes

We seek the solution of this equation in the form of

That satisfies the simply supported boundary conditions.

Inserting this solution into Eq.(1) leads to the following

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Where A.G.S is : Approximate Global Size
5. THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (FEM) The nearest result into the Analytical method is :
The finite element method (FEM) is based on the concept Approximate Global Size : 0.005
that one can replace any continuum by an assemblage of Number of Elements : 800 ;
simply shaped elements with well-defined force Where the above Mesh is optimum because the error is
displacement and material relationships. While one may not minimum and :
be able to derive a closed-form solution for the continuum,
one can derive an approximate solution for the element
assemblage that replaced it. So; we can draw the Mesh Convergence Curve :
According to the FEM, a plate is discretized into a finite
number of elements (usually, triangular or rectangular in
shape), called finite elements and connected at their nodes
and along interelement boundaries. Unknown functions
(deflections, slopes, internal forces, and moments) are
assigned in the form of undetermined parameters at those
nodes. The equilibrium and compatibility conditions must
be satisfied at each node and along the boundaries between
finite elements [11].
In this study we want to compare the FEM with
equilibrium method and obtain Mesh Convergence Curve to
optimize the results. For this investigation, we use
ABAQUS software. ABAQUS is one of the most important
Finite Element Softwares. The Eigenvalue Method is used
in this study.
Fig. 4 Mesh Convergence Curve for the Finite Element Model.
6. GEOMETRY AND PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
■ The model used for this study is a plate with simple Several mode shapes are shown in the following figures.
supports with S8R elements. It is clear that with increasing mode number, the Eigenvalue
(Critical Load) is increased.

Mode Shape 1:

Fig. 2 Boundary configuration of the simply supported rectangular

plate.

Mode Shape 2:

Fig. 3 Typical finite element model of the simply supported

rectangular plate.
S8R : An 8-node doubly curved thick shell , reduced
integration [12].
TABLE 1
NUMBER OF ELEMENTS USED TO ACHIEVE OPTIMUM MESH FOR SIMPLY
SUPPORTED PLATE.

A.G.S Number of Mesh Critical Load ( )

0.02 50 70797
0.01 200 70988
0.005 800 71004
0.004 1250 71004

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Mode Shape 3:

Fig. 6 simply supported-simply supported-fixed-free plate

subjected to a uniformly distributed compressive edge load [1].

Solution :
It is convenient for this problem to employ Levy's method
for the solution. The boundary conditions at the edges
and will be automatically satisfied by setting
Mode Shape 4:

For this case, we also can set

Substituting the above into
Eq. (1) and imposing the condition that at least one of the
terms multiplying must vanish, we determine
for the following ordinary differential equation :

The solution of this equation is shown below :

Where

Mode Shape 5:

The constants are evaluated from the

boundary conditions prescribed on the edges and
, i.e.,

and on the edge :

(e.1)

Introducing with into the boundary conditions

(e.1), we obtain two algebraic equations for the unknown
constants. Solving the above equations, one finds

Fig. 5 Mode shapes and critical loads of the simply supported

rectangular plate. Substituting the above into Eq. , gives

For another example, in the case of a rectangular, simply-

simply-fixed-free supported plate, the critical buckling load Introducing with in the form of Eq. into
subjected to a uniformly distributed compressive edge load the boundary conditions (e.2) results in two simultaneous
acting in the x direction (as shown in figure 6) will be homogeneous algebraic equations. In order to obtain a
nontrivial solution, we equate the determinant of these
determined. The edges and are simply
equations to zero, and obtain
supported, the edge is fixed, and the edge is free
[8,9,10].
Where

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For the minimum eigenvalue of Eq. , i.e., the

critical value of the applied force is :

Where for
For the steel plate as follow properties

Fig. 9 Mesh Convergence Curve for the Finite Element Model.

7. GEOMETRY AND PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
■ The model used for this study is a plate with simple and
fixed supports with S8R elements. Mode Shape 1:

Fig. 7 Boundary configuration of the simply supported-simply

supported-fixed-free rectangular plate.

Fig. 8 Typical finite element model of the the simply supported-

simply supported-fixed-free rectangular plate.
S8R : An 8-node doubly curved thick shell , reduced Mode Shape 2:
integration [12].
TABLE 2
NUMBER OF ELEMENTS USED TO ACHIEVE OPTIMUM MESH FOR SIMPLY
SUPPORTED-SIMPLY SUPPORTED-FIXED-FREE PLATE .

A.G.S Number of Mesh Critical Load ( )

0.01 200 24557
0.005 800 24544
0.004 1250 24541

Where A.G.S is : Approximate Global Size

The nearest result into the Analytical method is :
Approximate Global Size : 0.004
Number of Elements : 1250 ;
Where the above Mesh is optimum because the error is
minimum and :

So; we can draw the Mesh Convergence Curve :

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Mode Shape 3: boundary conditions, the Critical Buckling Load was
investigated and obtained an acceptable result from finite
element analysis. Based on these results, we can simulate
some more complicated models in ABAQUS, which is
difficult to present exact solutions for them to predict the
critical buckling load.

REFERENCES
[1] Ventsel, E., and Krauthammer, T., Thin Plates and Shells,
Marcel Dekker, New York, 2001.
[2] Timoshenko, S.P. and Gere, J.M., Theory of Elastic Stability,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1961.
[3] Cox, H.L., The Buckling of Plates and Shells, The Macmillan
Company, New York, 1963.
[4] Bulson, P.S., The Stability of Plates, American Elsevier
Publishing Company, New York, 1969.
Mode Shape 4: [5] Volmir, A.S., Stability of Elastic Systems, Gos. Izd-vo Fiz.-Mat.
Lit-ry, Moscow, 1963 (in Russian).
[6] Carson, W.G. and Newton, R.E., Plate buckling analysis using a
fully compatible finite elements, AIAAJ, vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 527–
529, (1969).
[7] Kapur, K.K. and Hartz, B.J., Stability of plates using the finite
element method, J Engng Mech Div, Proc ASCE, vol. 92, pp.
177–195, 1966.
[8] Bryan, G.N., On the stability of a plane plate under thrusts in its
own plane with application to the buckling of the sides of a ship,
Proc Lond Math Soc, vol. 22, pp. 54–67, (1891).
[9] von Karman, T., Sechler, E.E., and Donnel, L.H., The strength
of thin plates in compression, Trans ASME, vol. 54, pp. 53–57
(1932).
[10] Marguerre, K., The apparent width of the plate in compression,
Tech Memo No. 833, NACA, Washington, D.C, 1937.
[11] Zienkiewicz, O., The Finite Element Method, McGraw-Hill,
London, 1977.
[12] HKS, (2005) ABAQUS User's Manual version 6.6, (Providence,
RI: Hibbitt, Karlsson, and Sorenson).

Mode Shape 5:

Fig. 10 Mode shapes and critical loads of the simply supported-

simply supported-fixed-free rectangular plate.

8. CONCLUSION
A finite element model was presented for this study. This
paper reviewed the capability of the shell element (S8R)
provided by commercialized FEA codes, and discussed a
simple case of static finite element analysis. Based on the
finite element modeling technique, the study showed
acceptable results in comparison with exact solutions for a
simply supported rectangular plate and simply supported-
simply supported-fixed-free rectangular plate. For both

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