Postbifurcation behavior and imperfection sensitivity of elastic-plastic circular plates

Abstract Several aspects of the axisymmetric buckling of elastic-plastic circular plates are investigated. For plates that bifurcate in the plastic range, a comparison is made between the results of a numerical calculation of the postbuckling behavior and the predictions of an asymptotic analysis. Also, the imperfection sensitivity of elastic-plastic circular plates is investigated numerically when bifurcation of the perfect plate occurs in the elastic range and when bifurcation of the perfect plate occurs in the plastic range.