Influence of Web Ratio on Strength and Displacement Characteristics of a Steel Corrugated Web Plate Girder

Abstract

The influence of web ratio (ratio of flat to inclined web length portion) in a corrugated web plate girder on the strength and deflection characteristics is presented in this paper. Three corrugated web plate girders with web angles of inclination ?=30⁰, 45⁰and 60⁰ are considered in this study. In each corrugated web plate girder, the web ratio is varied from 0.2 to 1, in the increment of 0.2. These three corrugated web plate girders with web angles of inclination ?=30⁰, 45⁰and 60⁰ and  with their web-ratios are analyzed using FEM software for stresses and central deflections. A uniformly increasing central point load distributed uniformly across flange width at mid span is considered for the analysis. Load verses mid span deflection curves for various load increments and web ratios are plotted for all three girders. Stresses verses web ratios are also plotted. Results of all the three girders considered here show that corrugated web plate girder  with ?=60⁰ with web ratio 0.4, produces least equivalent (Von Mises) stress and least  deflection at mid span. Therefore  corrugated web plate girder with ?=60⁰ and web ratio 0.4 is considered to be superior corrugated web profile compare to remaining corrugated web profiles of  plate girders with  all web ratios considered here.

Keywords-Corrugated  web plate girder, web ratio, web geometry, finite element method