On Quasi-Static Crushing of a Stiffened Square Tube

The aims of this study are to obtain experimental data on the crushing of stiffened square tubes, and to develop a simple analytical expression for predicting the mean crushing strength of stiffened plates making up a plated structure. A series of axial crushing tests in a quasi-static condition was carried out on thin-walled square tubes which were composed of four identical panels. Specimens with longitudinal and/or transverse stiffenders, including unstiffened specimens, were tested, varying dimensions of plate and stiffener. The effective crushing length and the mean crushing strength of the test specimens were investigated. It was concluded that a longitudinally stiffened plate could reasonable be replaced by an unstiffened plate with equivalent plate thickness. Based on this approach, a simple expression for the effective crushing length and the mean crushing strength of stiffened plates was derived.