A fast equivalent-isotropic-plate model for the symmetrically stiffened plate under pulse loading

In engineering, a reasonable and efficient method to simplify the large-scale calculation of dynamic response of stiffened plates is highly desired. This paper proposes a novel equivalent-isotropic-plate model (EIPM) to convert a symmetrically stiffened plate to an isotropic flat plate within elasticity. EIPM provides concise and explicit formulas to calculate the equivalent plate thickness, which can save a lot of computational resources compared with direct simulation or solving complex differential equations. Under uniformly distributed impulse loading, EIPM performs excellently in predicting the maximum deflection response with an error of no more than 10%. The stiffened and the equivalent plates have similar vibration modes, but the former has a vibration frequency slightly higher than the latter by about 17% at maximum. After verification, EIPM is suitable for various complex stiffening forms with independence of materials and loads, and even qualified for large deformation problems. Due to its accuracy, efficiency, and applicability, the EIPM has potential applications in structural optimization and fast prediction of dynamic response.