Ultimate load behaviour of horizontally curved plate girders

Abstract

A detailed study on the ultimate load behaviour of plate girders curved in plan is described in the paper. Medium sized girders built using rolled steel plates were tested to failure. The girders were supported at the ends and subjected to a concentrated load applied at the mid span. The behaviour of web panels was closely studied in order to obtain a complete picture of the tension field action. All the girders were analysed by the elasto-plastic finite element method and the results were compared with those obtained experimentally. The test results indicate that the load-carrying capacity decreases with the increase in curvature. The finite element results for deformation and ultimate strength show good agreement with the corresponding values observed in the experiments. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.