Method of designing embossed ribs in plates

A method is provided of designing embossed ribs in a plate. The method includes the steps of inputting data of a loaded un-embossed plate and computing orthotropic properties of an embossed ribbed plate material for the plate. The method also includes the steps of computing stresses on the plate and computing optimum orientation of embossed ribs at each point in the plate using the computed stresses and orthotropic properties of the plate. The method includes the steps of computing gradient of objective function and constraints and solving local optimization to obtain a new location and spacing of the embossed ribs in the plate. The method further includes the step of outputting orientation, location and spacing of the embossed ribs in the plate.