Numerical assessment of experiments on the ultimate strength of stiffened panels

► The behaviour of stiffened panels are simulated and compared with tests. ► The stiffened panel models have three longitudinal bays to produce reasonable boundary conditions. ► Four types of stiffeners are used to investigate different material and geometry configurations. The behaviour of stiffened panels are simulated numerically under uniaxial compression until collapse and beyond, and then compared with tests made to investigate the influence of the stiffener’s geometry and the boundary conditions. The stiffened panel models have three longitudinal bays to produce reasonable boundary conditions in the longitudinal direction. The material and geometric nonlinearities are accounted for in the FE analyses. The initial geometric imperfections, which affect significantly the collapse behaviour of stiffened panels, are assumed to have the shape of the linear buckling mode. Four types of stiffeners were made of mild or high tensile steel for bar stiffeners and mild steel for ‘L’ and ‘U’ stiffeners to investigate different material and geometry configurations, and four boundary conditions are analysed.