This study aims at estimation of the elastic local buckling strength of stiffened aluminium plates. First, the
patterns of initial deflections and welding residual stresses are studied in details. Then, the energymethod-
based Fujikubo–Yao’s algorithm is so modified that the assessment of the elastic local
buckling strength of the stiffened aluminium plates becomes possible focusing on the specific
characteristics of welding residual stresses and initial deflections. The modified algorithm is
implemented into a computer code in MATLAB environment, where it is verified against the FEM.
Three groups of the stiffened aluminium plates are considered and used for some further parametric
studies.