High Performance Steel: Research Front—Historical Account of Research Activities

Abstract

This paper provides a summary of the major research studies conducted or being conducted in the U.S., to address design issues related to use of high performance steel (HPS) in bridge construction. Emphasis of the paper is on the work related to HPS-485W steel, which has specified minimum yield strength of 485 MPa (70 ksi). Design issues that are addressed in this paper include (1) flexural capacity of compact and noncompact HPS sections in negative bending; (2) issues related to ductility of HPS composite girders in the positive sections (this section presents a simplified ductility check for composite plate girders); (3) tensile ductility of HPS plates; (4) shear capacity of the hybrid steel plate girders; (5) live load deflections; and (6) brief overview of the work that is underway to develop innovative bridge configurations capable of incorporating the advantages of HPS.