Tensile wrinkling of thin sheets.

Abstract

Several models for predicting the elastic behaviour of rectangular sheets pulled in tension form the main thrust of this study initially motivated by investigations made into wrinkling of sheets during the manufacture of car body parts. In the first model, an analytical form of the in-plane stresses, where the loading on the edges is parabolic, is assumed. Collocation techniques are used to find the wrinkling modes and the associated eigenvalues for the tensile loads. The next model involves displacement loading on two opposite edges, the other two being free from stress. The displacements and hence the stresses are found using finite difference techniques, with account being taken of the stress singularities in the comers. A plate with a constant stress loading along part of the boundary forms a further topic of investigation. Buckling under compression is also studied for all the models discussed. A brief study in shear buckling is included, and some investigation of wrinkling of rectangular and other shaped plates using finite element techniques forms the topic of another chapter. Some aspects of plastic behaviour are examined in the final chapter by assuming a non-linear power Iaw model, which is frequently used to study plastic instabilities.