Plate buckling in design codes

Abstract

Slender steel plates loaded in compression will buckle out of plane before their cross-sectional capacity is reached. Precisely determining the failure load in an analytical way is an impossible exercise. Therefore many researchers have put effort into finding a simple design method, which would still predict the plate buckling load with the required accuracy. Many different methods have been developed, some of which have been adopted in the currently valid design code in the Netherlands. Some preliminary calculations showed that the Eurocode (NEN-EN 1993-1-5) gives much more plate buckling capacity then the Dutch code (NEN 6771). This observation was the start of this thesis, of which the main goal is to find and explain the differences between the two design codes. A secondary goal is to formulate an advice as to what method in the Eurocode is the best to use.