Strength of Stiffened Flanges in Horizontally Curved Box Girders

Abstract

Longitudinal stiffeners are often attached to increase the buckling strength of thin-walled box girder flanges. The minimum required rigidity for longitudinal stiffeners for curved box girder flanges is given by the AASHTO “Guide specifications for horizontally curved steel girder highway bridges.” However, this requirement is simply adopted from the current AASHTO specifications for straight stiffened flanges. The validity of this requirement has been questioned in a series of recent studies. The effect of important design parameters on the minimum required stiffener rigidity is investigated numerically in this study by examining the prebuckling stress distribution and elastic and inelastic buckling stresses of horizontally curved stiffened flanges. In order to characterize and quantify the analytically collected data, a series of parametric studies were performed. A new equation for the minimum required rigidity for the longitudinal stiffeners is derived from regression analyses. Through the evaluation of a few selected case studies and a design example, the validity and reliability of the proposed new equation is demonstrated.