Plastic buckling of moderately thick annular plates

This paper is concerned with the plastic buckling of moderately thick annular plates under a uniform compressive stress state. The analysis is based on the incremental theory of plasticity which employs the Prandtl-Reuss equations and the plate material is assumed to obey the Ramberg-Osgood stress-strain relation. The effect of transverse shear deformation is taken into consideration by adopting the Mindlin plate theory. The governing differential equations for the plastic buckling problem are solved analytically and the plastic buckling stress factors for annular plates with the allowance of transverse shear deformation axe presented for the first time. The influences of the boundary conditions, thickness to outer radius ratios, and inner to outer radius ratios on the buckling stress factors are also examined.