ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: An element-free Galerkin method for static analysis of concentrically and eccentrically stiffened thin plates will be presented. Imposing displacement compatible between the plate and the stiffener, displacement fields of the stiffener can be expressed in terms of the mid-surface displacement of the plate. The strain energy of plate and stiffener can be superimposed to obtain the stiffness matrix of the stiffed plate. Because there are no elements used in the meshless model of the plate, the stiffeners need not to be placed along the meshes as what they are done in the FEM. The stiffeners can be placed on any locations and will not lead to remeshing of the plate. The validity of the element-free Galerkin method is demonstrated by considering several concentrically and eccentrically stiffened plate problems. The present results show good agreement with the existing analytical and finite element solutions.
