Numerical study of the flange buckling behavior of trapezoidally corrugated web girders

• Published in: Engineering structures 2021-11, Vol.247, p.113120, Article 113120
• Main Authors: Qureshi, Amr E.K., Tohamy, Sedky A., Saddek, Amr B., Drar, Ahmed A.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABAQUS/CAE; Bending behavior; Bending moments; Buckling; Classification; Compression; Corrugated plates; Corrugated web; Design; Finite element method; Flange local buckling coefficient; Flanges; Mechanical properties; Plate girders; Slenderness ratio; Steel plates; Structural engineering; Structural members; Thickness; Webs (structural)
• ISSN: 0141-0296; 1873-7323
• DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2021.113120

•A new study for the economic and safe use of steel trapezoidal corrugated web in girders subjected to pure bending moment when fails by local buckling of its compression flange.•New numerical model is developed to be used in studying the bending behavior of trapezoidal corrugated web bridge girders.•The effective range of some parameters (e.g. flange-to-web thicknesses ratio) is declared to be considered in the design.•A new proposed equation has been suggested to calculate the local flange buckling coefficient of TCWPGs. Trapezoidal corrugated web steel plate girders (TCWPGs) are heavily considered as advanced structural elements in the structural engineering branch due to their many advantages. However, not many researchers focused on studying the calculation of the capacity of these girders under bending moment and the bending behavior of these girders when it fails by flange local buckling of the slender compression flange. In this paper, an intensive parametric study has been performed on trapezoidal corrugated web girders subjected to pure bending moment to investigate and analyze the flange local buckling coefficient. Flange slenderness ratio, web slenderness ratio, flange-to-web thicknesses ratio and the trapezoidal web enclosing effect were investigated numerically to study and analyze their effect on the coefficient of local flange buckling in this type of girders. Also, bending moment resistance of these girders has been studied. The behavior of these girders has been investigated using ABAQUS FE software. A criterion of the Egyptian code for classifying the compression flanges has been found to be suitable to be used for studying the effect of web thickness on the bending moment resistance of trapezoidal web girders. Depending on the shape of the web corrugations, it is specified if the compression flange slenderness should be depending on the average outstand distance or the maximum outstand distance. Also, some important advices have been introduced for the economic and safe design of these girders to be taken in designers’ consideration. Ultimately, a new design procedure has been deduced to present a classification limit for non-compact compression flanges in plate girders with trapezoidal corrugated web.