Keywords: composite plate girders, horizontally curved, ultimate shear strength, tension field, finite element method, corrugated webs, web openings, approximate method.

Plate girders curved in plan are frequently employed in the construction of modern highway bridges [1]. This paper is concerned with horizontally curved composite plate girders in which the behavior and load carrying capacity are predominantly governed by tension field action in the web panels. An approximate method to predict the ultimate shear strength of the girders is presented. Tension filed action in the web panels, composite behaviour between the steel part of the girder and the reinforced concrete slab with full interaction, presence of web openings and the effects of corrugated webs compared to flat webs are considered in the analyses. The Cardiff method for steel plate girders [2,3] is taken as the basis for the method. The method proposed by Baskar and Shanmugam [4] for straight composite plate girders is modified to account for the curvature effect in the horizontally curved girders. Web openings are accounted for by modifying the Cardiff model by using the method proposed by Narayanan and Avenessian [5,6]. In the same way the Cardiff model is modified appropriately to take into account the corrugated webs. A number of girders covering the parameters mentioned above have been analyzed using the proposed method and the ultimate shear strength predicted. The results are compared with the corresponding values determined by a nonlinear finite element analyses in order to assess the accuracy of the proposed method. It has been observed from the comparison that the proposed method is capable of predicting the ultimate shear strength with an acceptable accuracy and hence the method could be used for design office applications.

1

D.H. Hall, "Curved girders are special", Engineering Structures, 18(10), 769-777, 1996. doi:10.1016/0141-0296(96)00012-0

2

D.M. Porter, K.C. Rockey, H.R. Evans, "The collapse behavior of plate girders loaded in shear", The Structural Engineer, 53(8), 313-325, 1975.

3

H.R. Evans, D.M. Porter, K.C. Rockey, "The collapse behavior of plate girders subjected to shear and bending", Int. Ass. Bridge Struct. Eng, periodical, P-18/78, 1978.

4

N.E. Shanmugam, K. Baskar, "Design of Composite Plate Girders under Shear Loading", International Journal of Steel and Composite Structures, 6(1), 1-14, 2006.

5

R. Narayanan, N.G.V. Der Avanessian, "Equilibrium solution for predicting the strength of webs with rectangular holes", Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 75(2), 265-282, 1983.

6

R. Narayanan, N.G.V. Der Avanessian, "Strength of web containing circular cutouts", IABSE Periodica, 3, 64-83, 1983.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £145 +P&P)