Elastic stability of all edges simply supported, stepped and stiffened rectangular plate under Biaxial loading

In this paper using finite difference method the lower bound buckling load for simply supported (a) stepped and stiffened rectangular thin plate (b) linear and non-linear variation of thickness (c) uniformly distributed compressive forces in both directions (d) uniformly distributed compressive force in y direction and non-uniform distribution of compressive force in x-direction is discussed. The thin plate is divided into 900 rectangular meshes. The partial derivatives are approximated using central difference formula. Eight hundred and forty one equations are formed and using the program developed and the least eigen-value is obtained. The buckling coefficients are calculated for different types of stepped and non prismatic plates and the results are presented in tables and graphs for ready use by designers. Buckling factors for some cases are presented in the form of three separate tables and compared with the values obtained by Xiang, Wei and Wang. The results are in close agreement. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.