Strength and Design of Pin-Ended Circular Arches with Sinusoidal Corrugated Web under Combined In-Plane Loads

Abstract

This paper presents numerical and experimental investigations of the in-plane strength and design of pin-ended circular arches having a sinusoidal corrugated web under combined in-plane loads. Finite-element models are developed that account for the effects of the corrugated web, initial geometric global and local imperfections of the arch and its web and flanges, residual stresses, the included angle and curvature of the arch, and different combined load cases. These are validated by test results and used together with the experiments to investigate the failure modes and strengths of such arches. It is found that an I-section arch with a corrugated web may fail in a global mode or in a web shear buckling mode. There are two types of global failure modes for arches under combined loads. In most cases, corrugated arches may fail in an elastoplastic buckling mode. However, when wind load plays an important role in the combined loads, corrugated arches may fail in a plastic yielding mode. An interaction design equation is proposed for predicting the global in-plane strength of steel arches with a sinusoidal corrugated web under combined axial and bending actions. The design equation provides lower bound predictions for the strengths of corrugated arches. General procedures are also proposed for the practical strength design of steel I-section arches with a sinusoidal corrugated web.