Elastic buckling of simply supported bimetallic steel plates

Bimetallic steel plate is a laminated composite one consisting of metallurgically bonded cladding and substrate layers, such as the stainless-clad (SC) or titanium-clad (TC) ones. Due to significant corrosion resistance and cost efficiency, it has gained growing recognition as an alternative to stainless steel plate and is particularly suitable for offshore and marine structures. In this paper, the nominal elastic buckling stress of a bimetallic steel plate is derived by adapting the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) and compared with the solutions of classical plate theory (CPT). The plates are simply supported and subjected to uniaxial compression; two different types of cladding configurations are considered. The transverse shear stress distributions and shear correction factors are obtained by theoretical analyses. Finite element models of the bimetallic steel plates are developed by MATLAB and ABAQUS to validate the derivation. Parametric studies are then conducted to elucidate the effects of the cladding configuration, clad ratio, elastic modulus ratio and width-to-thickness ratio on the buckling stress. Based on the theoretical analyses, a series of simplified design formulae for the critical buckling stress and design requirements for interface shear strength requirements are proposed for further engineering applications. The research works may provide important bases for understanding and investigating the buckling behaviour of the bimetallic steel structures.