How can I do a buckling check on a stiffened panel of an offshore structure?

Buckling check with FEM software

Sesam, DNV GL’s FEM software for offshore structural engineering, includes a postprocessing tool for capacity (Ultimate Limit State) checking of stiffened panels. This includes buckling checks and some yield checking.

The user identifies the panels to be checked by its corner points. The postprocessor automatically detects plates, stiffeners and girders of the panel and performs the capacity checking for selected load combinations in Sesam for fixed structures (or Sesam for floating structures for hydrodynamic analysis). This process is independent of the FE mesh of the model.