The ISSC 2022 committee III.1-Ultimate strength benchmark study on the ultimate limit state analysis of a stiffened plate structure subjected to uniaxial compressive loads

This paper presents a benchmark study on the ultimate limit state analysis of a stiffened plate structure subjected to uniaxial compressive loads, initiated and coordinated by the ISSC 2022 technical committee III.1-Ultimate Strength. The overall objective of the benchmark is to establish predictions of the buckling collapse and ultimate strength of stiffened plate structures subjected to compressive loads. Participants were asked to perform ultimate strength predictions for a full-scale reference experiment on a stiffened steel plate structure utilizing any combination of class rules, guidelines, numerical approaches and simulation procedures as they saw fit. The benchmark study was carried out blind and divided into three phases. In the first phase, only descriptions of the experimental setup, the geometry of the reference structure, and the nominal material specifications were distributed. In the second phase, the actual properties of the reference structure were included. In the third and final phase, all available information on the reference structure and measured properties were distributed, including the material properties and laser-scanned geometry. This paper presents the results obtained from seventeen submitted FE simulations as well as details on the experiment. It also presents comparisons of the force versus the displacement curve, failure modes and locations for each phase, among others, and a discussion on the participants’ ability to predict the characteristics of the reference experiment with the information that is available for the phase. The outcome of the study is a discussion and recommendations regarding the design of finite element models for the ultimate state analysis of stiffened plate structures, with emphasis on the prediction of the ultimate capacity, force-displacement curve, and failure mode and location related to access to data, uncertainties and modeling of the material properties, geometric imperfections and distortions, and residual stresses.