Ultimate strength of perforated steel plates under edge shear loading

The aim of the present study is to investigate the ultimate strength characteristics of perforated steel plates under edge shear loading, which is a primary action type arising from cargo weight and water pressure in ships and ship-shaped offshore structures. The plates are considered to be simply supported along all (four) edges and kept straight. The cutout is circular and located at the center of the plate. A series of ANSYS nonlinear finite element analyses (FEA) are undertaken with varying the cutout size (diameter) as well as plate dimensions (plate aspect ratio and thickness). By the regression analysis of the FEA results obtained, a closed-form empirical formula for predicting the ultimate shear strength of perforated plates, which can be useful for first-cut strength estimations in reliability analyses or code calibrations, is derived. The accuracy of the ultimate strength formula developed is verified by a comparison with more refined nonlinear FEA results.