Welded T-bar stiffener

A welded T-bar stiffener is a longitudinal or transverse hull stiffener fabricated by welding a flange plate to a web plate to form a T, used where a rolled section of the needed scantling is unavailable or uneconomic. The T-bar’s effective section in plate-panel analysis combines the web and flange with an attached width of plating, and its section modulus must meet the local rule requirement against lateral pressure. T-bars give more flange area than bulb flats for the same web, raising bending capacity and buckling resistance, at the cost of an extra fillet weld run and tripping bracket needs at long spans. Web height, web thickness, and flange breadth are the three design variables.