This paper presents a practical method for designing bulb-flat-stiffened plating against local buckling, without limitations on section slenderness. The aim is to improve the current shape limitation requirements of BS 5400: Part 3, which are known to be unduly conservative. This is of particular concern when applied to assessment of existing structures. Behavioural insight and validation is provided by 60 finite element (FE) solutions. A strength curve for the design of plate panels, which is a function of the system-critical stress, expressed as the critical slenderness parameter ëp, given in a previous paper, is verified by further numerical data in this paper. A modified Perry equation is proposed for the design strength of imperfect bulb flat stiffeners, taking into account the restraint provided by the plate. The strength of the stiffened plate is given byadding the stiffener strength to the plate strength.
S.K.G. Chou, J.C. Chapman and P.C. Davidson