Journal of Constructional Steel Research 66 (2010) 11121117

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcsr

Finite element analysis of linear plates buckling under in-plane patch loading
Ghania Ikhenazen a, , Messaoud Saidani b , Abdelkrim Chelghoum a
a

Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Science and Technology H. Boumediene, Algeria

Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Coventry University, UK

article

info

Article history:
Received 14 August 2009
Accepted 4 March 2010
Keywords:
Linear buckling
Thin plates
Patch compression
Finite element method

abstract
The elastic buckling load is physically important in design because it is actually the critical step in the
changing plate configuration that will eventually lead to complete failure. The present work investigates
the problem of linear buckling of simply supported thin plates subjected to patch compression. In order
to satisfy the boundary conditions in a rigorous way, the authors chose the finite element method using
the exact stress distribution throughout the plate.
In the present paper, the stability problem treated using the total energy is briefly outlined. The plate
modelling is made by means of an eight noded rectangular element and a reduction of variable strategy
is applied to estimate the number of degrees of freedom leading to little or no loss in seeking solution
accuracy.
The buckling coefficient is determined for different load cases applied to a range of plate with various
edge ratios. The achieved results are summarised through different graphs representing variation of the
buckling coefficient against the plate ratio for each load case treated. A comparison with previous works
is made. Finally, it is shown that the resolution of the plate buckling problem using true stress distribution
with the finite element method leads to a good agreement with results previously obtained by means of
analytical methods using an exact stress distribution.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The use of thin panels in many technical fields such as
aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering is nowadays quite
common. Since modern design process requires the evaluation of
appropriate safety levels, many studies have been carried out in
the last decades in order to describe the buckling due to uniform
compression [14], tension [5,6] and shear [1] for such structures.
On the other hand, a limited number of studies have been carried
out to evaluate the influence of patch loading on the critical
buckling load in the compressed plates although designers are
always confronted with this issue. Such a problem is encountered
in airframe where the action of the airloading on an aircraft wing
develops an axial loading that gives a non-uniform compression
that can lead to loss of stability. Also, the aerodynamic heating of
panels in supersonic aircraft can be approximated by non-uniform
thermal stresses as the temperature distribution is not uniform
throughout the volume of the restrained plate. In civil engineering
structures, engineers are often confronted with designs involving
partial edge loading, such as the buckling of the web plate of a

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ghaniai@yahoo.fr (G. Ikhenazen).

0143-974X/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2010.03.006

crane girder under the action of heavy wheel loads applied to the
flanges.
In addition, even when this issue has been tackled, the
problem of the influence of the use of exact stress distribution
has not received sufficient attention and still remains open.
Indeed, authors such as [1,79] used simplified stress patterns in
investigating this problem, this simplification led to considerable
error. Later on, few authors published their works in which they
applied true stress distribution and consequently obtained reliable
results. Pavlovic and Baker [10] used an analytical method to
investigate thin plate buckling, Rockey [11] used finite element
method to investigate the buckling stiffened plate, and Stephen
and Steven [12] worked on the error estimation for plate buckling
element.
It is worth to point out that since constructional elements are
frequently subjected to in-plane patch loading and often prone
to buckling, it is important that further design data should be
provided to deal with this important stability problem. If such an
issue has so far received relatively little attention from researchers,
the reason for this is undoubtedly due to the additional theoretical
difficulties involved in obtaining rigorous solutions to the buckling
of plate when subjected to non-uniform compression. Undeniably,
the solution of this stability problem is mathematically difficult
to obtain as the stress distribution throughout the plate varies

G. Ikhenazen et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 66 (2010) 11121117

0
0

0
0
1/2(1 )
0
0
0

1
0
0
0
0

1113

0
0
0
h2 /12
h2 /12
0

0
0
0

h2 /12
h2 /12
0

0
0
0
0
0

(2)

h2 (1 )/24

where E is Youngs modulus; h is the plate thickness and is

Poissons ratio. In respect to one element the strain energy can be
written in terms of the stiffness matrix [Se ] of the element and in
terms of the nodal generalised element displacements {ue } giving
the equation:

Fig. 1. Thin plate under uniaxial patch loading.

Ue = 1/2 {ue }T [Se ] {ue } .

(3)

When an element is subjected to in-plane stresses, there is an

additional energy term due to the work done by the applied forces.
For a uniformly loaded plate in x direction only, the components
of the stress tensor will be null except x . Therefore, the in-plane
stresses matrix could be defined as:

Fig. 2. Thin plate under uniaxial point loading.

[ ] =


x
0

0
.
0

(4)

This additional energy can be expressed as:

We = 1/2 {ue }T Se0 {ue }

 

Fig. 3. Eight noded quadrilateral element.

considerably. However, using the finite element method, one can

easily deal with this varying stress system. In the present work, the
buckling of thin elastic plates non-uniformly compressed in one
direction (see Figs. 1 and 2) is investigated using the finite element
method. This numerical analysis is performed with the commercial
available software Pafec [13]. The aim of this paper is to show
some representative elastic buckling coefficient results of a simply
supported plate. This paper pays a particular attention to the real
stress distribution. The influence of edge ratio and loadbreadth
ratio on the critical buckling load is investigated. Furthermore, a
reduction of variable strategy is applied to estimate the number
of degrees of freedom leading to little or no loss in seeking
solution accuracy. The obtained numerical results are graphically
summarised through a K -plate aspect ratio curves (K is the
critical buckling coefficient) and compared with previous works
and some interesting conclusions are drawn. To the knowledge of
the authors, so far no experimental work has been carried out to
validate the results of the current numerical investigation.

Utotal = Ue + We
Utotal = 1/2 {ue }T [Se ] Se0

 

It happens that nature chooses to arrange for the static

equilibrium position of a linear elastic structure to be a position
that in which there is a little potential energy stored as possible.
Thus, the solution of the stability problem involves finding the
minimum of total potential energy Utotal . This yields the principle
of minimum potential energy that can be formulated as follows:

Utotal
= 0.
{ue }

(8)

In matrix form the above equation leads to:

[S] S 0

 

In the present work, to carry out the buckling analysis of a

plate subjected to non-uniform in-plane stresses an eight noded
quadrilateral thin element is used as shown on Fig. 3. This element
can be used for both membrane and bending action.
Many problems of plates stability, because of their complexity,
can only be solved by using the energy method. This involves
expressions for the strain energy of bending of plates and the work
done by the in-plane forces. Hooks law is used to relate the strain
vector {} to the stress resultant vector { } which gives:

[D] =

Eh
1 2

(7)

{ue } = 0

(9)

for one element, and for the whole plate it can be written as:

2.1. Total potential energy

where [D] is the 6 by 6 matrix written down as follows:

{ue } .

2.2. Formulation of the stability problem

 

{ } = [D]{}

(6)

hence

[Se ] Se0

2. Plate modelling and problem formulation

(5)

where [Se0 ] is the geometric stiffness matrix element where are

gathered the first derivatives of the nodal displacements, the stress
matrices and the thickness of the plate. Now, the element total
potential energy can be obtained as follows:

(1)

{u} = 0.

(10)

The in-plane stresses distribution that would cause the plate to

buckle and in particular the smallest one Nxcr is required to be
found. To solve this problem, [S 0 ] has been computed to unit
condition (i.e. the loading has been attributed the value of one
N/ml). An intensity factor f has been applied to take account of the
magnitude of the applied stress. The above equation can therefore
be written as:
[S] f S 00

 

{u} = 0.

(11)

The computational problem is then to solve the eigenvalues of

Eq. (11). The lowest solution of the above equation corresponds to
the smallest buckling load, which is the minimal critical load Nxcr
sought from which the associated minimal buckling coefficient K
is deduced.
The analogous problem with a uniformly distributed compressive load applied over the width b of a simply supported thin plate

1114

G. Ikhenazen et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 66 (2010) 11121117

has been treated analytically and has led to the well-known expression [1]:
K = Nxcr

b2

for a/b 1

2D

(12)

where D is the flexural rigidity and can be calculated as follows:

D=

Eh3
12(1 2 )

Generally, numerical and experimental results for the reduced

problem, as in [16,1820], suggest that a limited number of modes
would suffice to describe correctly the buckling behaviour of plate
structures. In the present investigation, it has been noticed that
the estimate of buckling mode k deteriorates as k approaches the
number of masters. Numerical tests are performed for the first
three modes for a set of grids that are described in the following.

In the case where the loading is uniformly distributed over the

entire opposite edges, Eq. (12) and the proposed method lead to
similar results. However, if this is not the case, then Eq. (12) is not
applicable.
2.3. Problem reduction
2.3.1. Reduction of variables strategy
The solution of the full finite element eigenvalue problems
is often computationally expensive in both computer time and
in core storage. Reduction of variables strategies represent a
convenient alternative in this case because of their ability to solve
problems with a number of unknowns less than the actual number
of degrees of freedom with little or no loss in seeking solution
accuracy [14,15]. It happens that almost all the degrees of freedom
in a large eigenvalue problem have little effect on the geometric
stiffness matrix. Thus, in some way the geometric aspect of certain
degrees of freedom can be eliminated. This can be achieved by
neglecting their stability effect. The reduction is carried out using
the well-known frontal process [16,17].
The generalised displacement vector {u} is partitioned as
follows:

{u} = {{um } , {ur }}

2.3.2. Frontal solution

The reduction is carried out simultaneously in both the elastic
and geometric stiffness matrices that occupy the same array in
storage. In the frontal technique, the reduction process alternates
with the assembly of elements according to input data which tells
the program to eliminate certain deflections immediately, to turn
them into slaves. Clearly, the storage demand can be very small.
The strain energy of a system with n degrees of freedom is
written as:
1/2 u1

u2

un [S] u1

u2

un

T

(15)

and the work done by the in-plane stresses as:

1/2 u1

u2

un

  00  

u1

u2

un

T

(16)

The condition that minimizes the strain energy with respect to the
slave variable ur is
Sr1 u1 + + Srr ur + + Srn un = 0.

(17)

Substituting for ur in (15) gives a reduced form [S ] , with row and

column r deleted and with its i, j terms
Sij = Sij Sir Sjr /Srr .

(18)

00

00

Similarly [S ] becomes [S ] with its i, j terms

(13)

Sij00 = Sij00 Sir00 Sjr /Srr Sjr00 (Sir /Srr ) + Srr00 (Sir /Srr ) Sjr /Srr . (19)

where {um } is the vector containing all the retained degrees

of freedom termed masters, whereas {ur } is a vector which
includes freedoms that to be reduced out and so called slaves.
The elimination of the terms in the {ur } vector is part of a frontal
process. Eq. (11) becomes after reduction:

The reduction of a single variable, say ur , can be speeded up

considerably by setting up a vector {G} as follows:

00

[Sm ] f Sm



{ um } = 0

(14)

00
where [Sm ] and [Sm
] are respectively the reduced elastic and
geometric stiffness matrices.
An important question that arises is how to choose which
degrees of freedom are to be reduced out and which are to be
kept. In the buckling problem, the master degrees of freedom
should be those which are important in describing the membrane
strain energy. Therefore, the masters should be concentrated in the
regions of high in-plane stresses and low flexural stiffness, these
areas that are expected to buckle easily should contain masters.
On this basis, an automatic procedure has been implemented in the
program. This has been achieved by monitoring the ratio between
Sii and Sii00 , the leading diagonal stiffness and geometric stiffness
terms of degree of freedom i. When the ratio Sii /Sii00 is large then
either the in-plane stress at degree of freedom i is small or its
stiffness is large and hence it is well connected into the structure;
it is unwise to keep degree i as a master. On the other hand,
if Sii00 is large and/or Sii is small then the degree of freedom i is
likely to give rise to appreciable instability effects. The selection
technique involves keeping as masters (the degrees of freedom
that are to be kept after reduction) the degrees of freedom for
which the ratio Sii /Sii00 is small. After each elimination, the search
is applied to the reduced problem obtained by eliminating the
previous slave, not the original full system, and is repeated until
a specified number of masters remains. In practical application,
the matrix operations implied by the above equations need a great
computer core storage, thus the frontal solution is used.

Gi = Sir / Srr

(20)

and the back substitution is achieved by forming the vector {H } as

follows:


Hi =

1
Gi
Sir Srr00
2
Srr
00

Srr

(21)

which will be stored in the backing store. The operations required

to obtain the modified Sij and Sij00 become

Sij = Sij Gi .Gj
00

Sij = Sij Gi .Hj Gj .Hi .

00

(22)
(23)

In this way, the stiffness matrix is never completely formed

when the front solution is used. The area that is used to store
the lower triangle of the currently part of the stiffness matrix is
used repeatedly to store the coefficients relating to many different
equations.
2.3.3. Numerical tests
In order to find the more appropriate number of masters that
is to be used in the present stability problem, the case of a simply
supported rectangular plate under uniform stress in the direction
of its length is investigated. The plate ratio is a/b = 5, the b/h
ratio is equal to 100, Youngs modulus E = 209 109 N/m2 and
Poissons ratio = 0.3 are considered. The number of degrees
of freedom actually considered after reduction (or masters) is
varied to determine its relative effect on the value of the buckling
coefficient K . The comparison is made in respect to the exact
Timoshenkos value, given by expression (12), which in this case
corresponds to four. The tolerance used is 103 .

G. Ikhenazen et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 66 (2010) 11121117

Three analyses are performed using different uniformly discretized meshes. In all cases the discretization is based on the
rectangular eight noded finite element. The division of the three
meshes is constructed in such a way that too long elements are
avoided.
Table 1 reports for each discretization, the total number of
elements used, the total number of degrees of freedom, the number
of degrees of freedom actually considered after reduction (or
masters), the ratio of number of masters/total number of degrees
of freedom, the minimal critical buckling coefficient K value and
the relative error reached.
As it is expected, it can be noticed from the figures that the
K value is slightly over estimated [14] and as the uniform grid is
more refined, the results reached are improved, such a tendency
characterises the finite element method.
It can be seen also that the increase in the number of master
degrees of freedom from 60 to 100 in both 50 and 100 elements
models has little effect on the minimal critical load coefficient
K even if the results obtained with 100 elements are slightly
improved.
It appears from the results that it would be better in using 200
master degrees of freedom in a refined grid than in using the same
number of masters in a coarser one. Indeed, the 200 unknowns
second idealisation led to a result of 4.0317, whereas in the third
one the result is definitely better with a value of 4.0023.
On the other hand, a ratio of about 17% of the total degrees of
freedom as master seems to be the more appropriate to conduct
with the present buckling analysis as in the three tests this
ratio represents the stating level from which the results become
interesting. Consequently, if good results have to be achieved, this
value should be used as a minimal ratio associated with, of course,
a refined grid.
It can be concluded that the buckling analysis requires a
significant number of nodal points to yield answers of good
accuracy, and elimination of unknowns appears to be of potential
use to solve this type of problem.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Introduction
As stated previously, the aim of this investigation is to examine
the linear buckling behaviour of a range of mild steel plate, simply
supported and subjected to in-plane patch loading as depicted in
Fig. 1.
Knowing the importance of the plate thickness impact on the
buckling load [2123], the b/h ratio is fixed to 100 (thin plate).
The plate ratio a/b varies from 0.5 to 10, the modulus of elasticity
E = 209 109 N/m2 and Poissons ratio is taken equal to
0.3. The analyses are performed using uniformly refined meshes.
In all cases the discretization is based on the rectangular eight
noded finite element and the division of the meshes is constructed
in such a way that too long elements are avoided. The out of
plane displacements uz at master degrees of freedom for the first
three buckling loads are considered. The buckling coefficient K
corresponding to the lowest in-plane load which gives the plate
buckling is recorded.
3.2. Interpretation and comparison of results for load cases 0 <
l/b 1
The obtained numerical results give important quantitative and
qualitative information about the buckling behaviour of thin plates
under in-plane compressive patch loading.
Analyses are performed for six different loading cases corresponding to various relative load breath l/b = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6,

1115

Fig. 4. K vs. a/b plots for l/b = 1; 0.8; 0.6; 0.4.

Fig. 5. K vs. a/b plots for l/b = 0.2; 0.1.

0.8 and 1 where l is the length (or breath) on which the loading is
applied and b is the plate width.
The buckling coefficient K is displayed against the plate ratio
a/b (a is the plate length) for the different load cases in Figs. 4 and
5. It can be noticed that the well known garland K vs. a/b curve [1],
corresponding to the uniform compression of simply supported
plate which can be obtained entirely by translating the particular
case where the buckling is in one half wave, has been obtained.
Moreover, it is immediately apparent that this particular curve
shape no longer applies when the compression is not uniform.
In the present work it can be seen from the drawn graphs, that
for short plates, i.e. for plates with a/b < 1, a very small increase in
the aspect ratio leads to a large decrease in the buckling coefficient
K . This effect is much less apparent when a/b 1. It can be observed also as a/b increases, the buckling coefficient K approaches
the value: l/4b which correlates with Saint Venants principle which
states that for large a/bs, the edge effect can be neglected and most
plates can be considered to be under a uniform state of stress. These
limiting values are shown on the right side of Figs. 3 and 4.
Table 2 illustrates the K values obtained, in the one hand, by
Yamaki [9] who used a simplified stress distribution, and in the
other hand, those obtained numerically in the present work and
analytically by Pavlovic and Baker [10], both investigations using
an exact stress distribution. First of all, it can be seen from this table
that in the case of l/b = 1, even though the authors have used
different methods of calculation the results are in accordance with
each others. Conversely, the figures are different when the ratio l/b
is different from 1. Indeed, it can be noticed that if Yamakis results
are reasonably accurate for uniformly compressed plate (l/b = 1),
they underestimate K for l/b 6= 1. Furthermore, in the case of

1116

G. Ikhenazen et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 66 (2010) 11121117

Table 1
Minimal critical buckling stress coefficient K for a uniform compressed plate with a/b = 5 ratio.
Number of elements

Number of degrees of
freedom

Number of masters

Number of masters/number of
degrees of freedom in %

Minimal critical buckling

coefficient K

Relative error in %

25 2

349

60
100

17.19
28.65

4.0806
4.0802

2.02
2.01

20 5

640

60
100
200

9.38
15.63
31.25

4.0506
4.0506
4.0317

1.27
1.27
0.79

20 10

1260

60
80
100
130
200

4.76
6.35
7.94
10.32
15.87

4.4483
4.2252
4.0853
4.0051
4.0023

11.21
5.63
2.13
0.13
0.05

Table 2
K values for the problem depicted in Fig. 1. Comparison of results stemming from the use of true (PavlovicBaker and the present work) and approximate (Yamaki) stress
distributions.
a/b

0.5
1.0
1.4
2.0

l/b

1.0

0.1

Yamaki

PavlovicBaker

Present work

Yamaki

PavlovicBaker

Present work

6.25
4.00
4.47
4.00

6.25
4.00
4.47
4.00

6.27
4.00
4.49
4.00

27.09
19.34
21.12
19.34

28.68
21.43
26.78
25.78

29.59
22.12
27.30
26.06

Fig. 6. K1 (or K2 ) vs. a/b plot for l/b = 0.

Fig. 7. K1 vs. a/b plot for l/b = 0.

a/b > 1 there is a considerable difference in K values when a

simplified stress distribution is used. It appears from Table 2 that
the finite element analysis has given K values approaching those
obtained by the analytic method using an exact stress distribution.

Table 3
K values for the problem depicted in Fig. 2. A comparison of results stemming from
the use of true (PavlovicBaker and the present work) and approximate (Leggett
and Timoshenko) stress distributions.

3.3. Interpretation and comparison of results for load case l/b = 0

It is always interesting to observe the narrow and wide
plate behaviour under compression point loading. Therefore, the
stability under the action of two concentrated forces (see Fig. 2)
has been investigated in the present work.
The results stemming from the present work are plotted in
Figs. 6 and 7. Note the change of scale in Fig. 7 for a/b 1. It can
be seen from the graphs that the K values tend to 1.45 as a/b tends
to zero, while they approach the value 3 as a/b is greater than 6.
This latter case is the well-known case of compressed bar to which
correspond the K value of 4. The plausible explanation of such an
underestimated result is that the element used in the analysis does
not behave well in the case of point loading. Fig. 6 indicates that, as
the points load move far away from each other, this type of element
fails to accurately model the behaviour of the plate.
Table 3 compares some of the minimal buckling coefficients
corresponding to a/b 1 obtained from true stress distribution

a/b

1.00
0.66
0.50
0.40
0.33

Simplified stress distribution

True stress distribution

Timoshenko

Leggett

PavlovicBaker

Present work

1.91
1.42
1.31
1.28
1.28

2.46

1.51
1.47
1.46

2.13
1.47
1.42
1.45
1.47

2.54
1.75
1.49
1.45
1.47

using the finite element in the present work and the analytical
method [10] and their corresponding counterpart obtained by
means of the approximate stress pattern employed by Leggett [7]
and Timoshenko [24]. It can be seen from the table that except
for the square plate case, the results obtained from the finite
element method, which use the true stress distribution are closely
approaching PavlovicBakers results. From Table 3, it appears also
that, for the range of square to narrow plate which are compressed
symmetrically by a pair of point loads, the computed error in
the buckling coefficient, in accordance to the other exact stress
distribution is not too large. Indeed, the discrepancy varies from
0% up to 16% in respect to PavlovicBaker results.

G. Ikhenazen et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 66 (2010) 11121117

In general, the results obtained in the case of l/b = 0 with a/b

1 are satisfying, and hence one can conclude that if the element
used in the present analysis does not behave well under point
loading with long plates (a/b 1), it responses quite correctly
with narrow plates (a/b 1).
4. Conclusion
In the present paper, the buckling phenomenon of variously
dimensioned rectangular elastic thin simply supported plates
under compression has been considered.
Numerical finite element method analyses have been performed in order to determine the critical buckling coefficients for
different load cases, from uniform to point loading compression. In
particular the exact stress distribution has been used.
A problem reduction strategy has been proposed to estimate the
number of degrees of freedom to be reduced out leading to little
or no loss in seeking solution accuracy and a ratio of about 17%
of the total degrees of freedom as master seems to be the more
appropriate to conduct with the present buckling analysis.
Numerical investigations have shown that most long plates
non-uniformly loaded can be considered under uniform state of
stress, fact that correlates with Saint Venants principle.
In the present analysis a good accuracy of the minimal critical
buckling load and a big saving in computer time have been
obtained.
Another conclusion emerging from the present work is that
once again the true stress distribution must be used in the analysis
if a good accuracy is required. Finally, it can be said that the finite
element method was found to be an effective analysis tool as the
results obtained in the present investigation correlate well with
those previously obtained by other authors using an exact stress
distribution through analytical method. Lastly, further research
could involve undertaking experimental work in order to validate
the results obtained by the present analysis.
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