Effect of shear span-to-depth ratio on behavior of sandwich core steel girder with corrugated web

Abstract

Girders with corrugated steel web are preferred and widely used in recently constructed bridges and industrial buildings. Sandwich core girders with corrugated web are constructed by adding two plates (skins) to the corrugated web. This study aims to investigate the shear span-to-depth ratio impact on the performance of sandwich core steel girders with corrugated web. Three span-to-depth ratios (a/d): 1.0, 1.833 and 2.5, were examined. The test includes three girders with sandwich web thickness of 30 mm, three girders with 60 mm sandwich web thickness, and three girders with conventional flat webs. A total of nine simply supported steel girders subjected to a concentrated load were fabricated and tested up to failure. The responses of the examined girders are presented in term of the load deflection curves, the ultimate load, and the maximum displacement. Among the conclusions drawn in this study that girders with sandwich core thickness of 30 mm demonstrate higher ultimate load capacity than girders with sandwich core of 60 mm, the maximum difference in the ultimate load capacity was about 20% and can be seen at a/d equals to 1.0. The results also pointed out that the behavior of the beams was noticeably impacted by the shear span-to-depth ratio.

Keywords

• steel beam
• shear span
• corrugated web
• sandwich core
• experimental results