Analysis of Flange Transverse Bending of Corrugated Web I-Girders under In-Plane Loads

Abstract

This paper presents theoretical, experimental, and finite-element analysis results for the linear elastic behavior of corrugated web steel I-girders under in-plane loads. A typical corrugated web steel I-girder consists of two steel flanges welded to a corrugated steel web. Previous research has shown that a corrugated web I-girder under primary moment and shear cannot be analyzed using conventional beam theory alone, and a flange transverse bending analysis is required. A theoretical method, the fictitious load method, is presented herein as an analytical tool for quantifying flange transverse bending in corrugated web I-girders. To validate this method, four-point bending experimental results for a large-scale corrugated web I-girder are presented. The measured flange transverse displacements and flange stresses were in good agreement with the theoretical results especially in regions of constant shear. To gain additional insight, finite- element analysis results for the test girder are presented, and compared to both the experimental and theoretical results.