Abstract
At first, surveyed in this paper are the initial imperfections which greatly affect the ultimate strength of stiffened plates with opening subjected to compression. For the initial deflections of stiffened plates with opening. Twenty existing steel bridge piers were measured to investigate the shape of distribution and the magnitude of them. Also, the residual stresses in small models were measured. Secondly, uni-axial compression tests were carried out by using four types of test specimens and then the elastoplastic and finite displacement analyses of the analytical models corresponding to the test specimens were executed. Thirdly, the parameters, which affect the ultimate strength of stiffened plates with opening, are examined. Finally, the effective methods for strengthening stiffened plates with opening and a practical method for predicting their ultimate strength are proposed.
