Patran Nastran buckling analysis for a flat plate

This post shows how to find the buckling index using Patran/Nastran for a flat aluminum plate under shear loading.

1. Create a flat plate geometry in Patran using Geometry create-> surface -> XYZ. The size of the plate used in this example is 8x10.

2. Create an isotropic material: under properties -> Create -> isotropic -> manual input. and in input properties enter the following values.

3. Create 2d shell properties: Create -> 2d -> shell. In property set name put plate. in input properties select isotropic material craeted in step 2 and enter thickness as 0.063.

4. Create mesh seeds as shown:

you should see the following.

5. Mesh the surface:

6. Apply the following boundary conditions to the plate.

7. Apply the following applied loads. 100lbs at each node on each edge as shown in opposite direction. this gives a total of a 1000lbs in opposite direction at each edge giving a shear stress of 1587psi. 

8. Run the model in Nastran using solution 105 (Buckling) and you should get a factor of 1.1383. The first mode of buckling deformation is shown. 

Note that the major advantage is that one can compare buckling index of different configuration. plate with hole, elliptical cutouts etc. which is not always available using standard formulas in standard textbooks. 


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