This study is devoted to vibration and acoustic radiation of stiffened plates in the presence of in-plane normal and shear loads using the finite element method. In structural modelling, the plate and stiffeners are treated as separate elements and the strain and kinetic energies of the stiffened plate with an elastic boundary are introduced. The results show good agreement with those obtained using other methods. Parametric studies show that in-plane normal forces have obvious influences on

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... acoustic radiation efficiency and the sound power level of the structure. Furthermore, the position of in-plane normal forces warrants attention; e.g., the farther the boundary in-plane normal forces from the boundary constraint are, the greater the effect on the acoustic performance is. However, in-plane edge shear loading has little influence on the acoustic performance of structures.