Lateral Torsional Buckling of Corrugated Web Plate Girders with Sinusoidal Web Profiles
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 27, Issue 4
Abstract
Corrugated web plate girders (CWPGs) have grown in popularity in Canada in recent years because of their economic efficiency. Although research on the flexural performance of such members has increased in recent years, there are still additional advancements that can be made in their design, particularly in the calculation of lateral torsional buckling resistance. However, no research has been presented in Canada on this subject, and very minimal research has been published on CWPGs with sinusoidal corrugated webs. The purpose of this study was to examine the lateral torsional buckling strength of CWPGs with sinusoidal corrugated web profiles through experimental analysis of CWPGs that are currently being used in Canada. Nine simply supported specimens were loaded and failed in lateral torsional buckling (LTB). The nine specimens were chosen according to size in order to observe variations in LTB strength based on web thickness, web depth, and variations in identical beams. All beams tested recorded strengths far greater than conventional design strength, confirming the conservative nature of the current design procedure. As web thickness increased, a trend of ultimate capacity increasing was observed. The depth of the webs had no significant effect on LTB strength apart from what was gained by increasing the depth of the flanges. Based on the results, an equivalent web thickness equation is proposed for the purpose of calculating a more precise LTB resistance. A numerical analysis was run on a wide range of beam sizes and compared with the physical testing results. It was determined that the proposed equation effectively captured the physical testing results among more than just the tested beams. However, future work should further examine the reliability of the proposed equation by testing more specimens and/or using the finite-element method.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of this study from Discovery Grant funding provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. In addition, the authors are grateful to Steelcon Fabrication Inc. (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) for providing the testing materials and the SIN beams. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.
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Published In
Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 27 • Issue 4 • November 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 20, 2022
Accepted: Jul 7, 2022
Published online: Sep 14, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 14, 2023
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