Investigation on local compressive performance of corrugated web I-girder with rectangular grouted tubular flange

• Published in: Thin-walled structures 2022-10, Vol.179, p.109687, Article 109687
• Main Authors: Deng, Lixia, Shao, Yongbo, Liu, Guodong, Wang, Zhiyu, Wu, Chengjia, Wang, Jin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Corrugated web I-girder; Effective web length; Failure mode; Local compressive performance; Rectangular grouted tubular flange
• ISSN: 0263-8231; 1879-3223
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tws.2022.109687

A new composite corrugated web I-girder with rectangular grouted tubular flange (RGTF) has been proved to have superior performance in resisting both global and local buckling. Additionally, the tubular flange has a larger height compared to a flat-plate flange (FPF), and an improved resistance to local compression is expected. To investigate such local compressive performance, three corrugated web I-girder specimens are designed. Two specimens are new composite I-girders with top RGTF and bottom FPF, while the third one is a conventional I-girders with both top and bottom FPFs. Experimental tests on the three specimens subjected local compressive load at mid-span are carried out. Additionally, finite element (FE) model is built to simulate the failure process of the specimens. The experimental and the FE results indicate that all specimens fail with web failure. At the ultimate state, plastic hinges are formed in the top RGTF at both sides of the loading block. Due to different corrugations, the two new composite I-girder specimens have different failure modes, namely web yielding and elastic web buckling. The new composite I-girder specimens have larger effective web length to sustain the local compression than their flat-plate flanges counterpart, and hence they have larger load carrying capacity. •Experiments on three corrugated I-girders under local compression were carried out.•Different performances of corrugated web I-girders with plate flange and tubular grouted flange were compared.•Failure mechanisms of corrugated web I-girders under local compression were analyzed.