Stiffness Tests of Trapezoidally Corrugated Shear Webs

Picture-frame shear tests of the in-plane shear stiffness of discretely attached corrugated plates with trapezoidal corrugations were conducted. The test specimens were commercially available corrugated panels 23-⅝-in. (600 mm) (six corrugations) wide, with lengths ranging from a maximum of 90 in. (2,290 mm) to a minimum of 18 in. (460 mm). Two kinds of discrete attachments were employed at the ends of the corrugations, i.e., wide attachments and small attachments. The wide attachments consisted of a bolt and a wide washer in each corrugation end, which effectively clamped the entire width of each trough to the edge member. The small attachments were obtained by removing the washers. The sides of the panel were attached to their edge members by bolts at 6-in. (150-mm) spacing. The experiments agreed with theory, despite the fact that the latter are based on a panel that is infinitely many corrugations wide. For best accuracy of shear stiffness prediction by tests it may be necessary to take the axial deformations of the edge members into account in the case of the longer panels.