Abstract
In the bridge structures, stiffened plates are usually designed as rigidly stiffened when the orthotropic steel box girder is used as the main load-bearing structure. Therefore, the buckling mode of stiffened plates is plate buckling which occurs in subpanel supported by stiffeners. The orthotropic steel box girder is used as the main girder for Egongyan Rail Special Bridge, which is a self-anchored suspension bridge. Plates of the steel girder are rigidly stiffened with unequal spacing open ribs, and the most slender stiffened plate is the mid web stiffened with Tee ribs. In order to ensure the safety of the bridge, the buckling behavior of the web and orthotropic steel box girder under axial compression, including ultimate strength, post-buckling behavior and failure modes, should be clearly investigated by experimental and numerical methods. The design, loading and testing methods of the 1:4 scale model of the orthotropic steel box girder are introduced in detail firstly. The orthotropic steel box girder and the stiffened web finite element (FE) models are validated by the test results, and the effects of residual stress and the magnitude of geometric imperfections are discussed roughly. Based on the validated web FE model, a detailed parametric study is performed to systematically investigate the effects of residual stress and geometric imperfections on buckling behavior of the web. The effect of shapes of geometric imperfections discussed is highlighted. Through tracing stress states, the failure modes of stiffened plate are in agreement with the experimental phenomenon to some extent. Results show that shapes of geometric imperfections have significantly influenced post-buckling behavior and failure modes of the web, but slightly affected the ultimate strength. It is advised that residual stress and geometric imperfections should be controlled to make full use of excellent performance of steel materials.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benson, S., Downes, J., & Dow, R. S. (2015). Overall buckling of lightweight stiffened panels using an adapted orthotropic plate method. Engineering Structures, 85, 107–117.
Carlsen, C. A., & Czujko, J. (1978). The specification of post-welding distortion tolerances for stiffened plates in compression. Structural Engineer, 56, 133–141.
Chatterjee, S. (2008). The design of modern steel bridges (2nd ed.). Hoboken: Blackwell Science Ltd.
Chen, K. M., Wu, Q. X., Nakamura, S., & Chen, B. C. (2016). Experimental and numerical study on compressive behavior of convex steel box section for arch rib. Engineering Structures, 114, 35–47.
Chen, S. J., & Yang, K. C. (2002). Inelastic behavior of orthotropic steel deck stiffened by U-shaped stiffeners. Thin-Walled Structures, 40(6), 537–553.
Chou, C. C., Mcdaniel, C. C., Uang, C. M. & Seible, F. (2003). Numerical and experimental investigation of steel structural component of New San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. Computational Fluid & Solid Mechanics, 192–196.
Chou, C. C., Uang, C. M., & Seible, F. (2006). Experimental evaluation of compressive behavior of orthotropic steel plates for the new San Francisco-Oakland bay bridge. Journal of Bridge Engineering, 11, 140–150.
Dong, K. S., Dat, B. V., & Kim, K. (2014). Compressive strength of HPS box girder flanges stiffened with open ribs. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 95(4), 230–241.
Dong, K. S., Le, V. A., & Kim, K. (2013). In-plane ultimate compressive strengths of HPS deck panel system stiffened with U-shaped ribs. Thin-Walled Structures, 63(63), 70–81.
Grondin, G. Y., Chen, Q., Elwia, A. E., & Cheng, J. J. (1998). Stiffened steel plates under compression and bending. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 45, 125–148.
Grondin, G. Y., Elwi, A. E., & Cheng, J. J. R. (1999). Buckling of stiffened steel plates—A parametric study. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 50, 151–175.
Li, L. F., Shao, X. D., & Yi, W. J. (2007). Model test on local stability of flat steel box girder. China Journal of Highway and Transport, 20, 60–65. (in Chinese).
Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China. (2015). Specifications for design of highway steel bridge: JTG D64-2015.
Sheikha, I. A., Grondin, G. Y., & Elwi, A. E. (2002). Stiffened steel plates under uniaxial compression. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 58, 1061–1080.
Shen, H. X. (2012). Ultimate capacity of welded box section columns with slender plate elements. Steel and Composite Structures, 13, 15–33.
Shen, H. X. (2015). Behavior of high-strength steel welded rectangular section beam–columns with slender webs. Thin-Walled Structures, 88(528), 16–27.
Shi, G., Xu, K., Ban, H. Y., & Shi, Y. J. (2016). Local buckling behavior of welded stub columns with normal and high strength steels. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 119, 144–153.
Shin, D. K., Cho, E. Y., & Kim, K. (2013). Ultimate flexural strengths of plate girders subjected to web local buckling. International Journal of Steel Structures, 13(2), 291–303.
Standards, B. (2006). Eurocode 3—design of steel structures - part 1-5: plated structural elements.
Usami, T. (1990). A simplified analysis of the strength of stiffened box members in compression and bending. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 17(3), 237–247.
Acknowledgements
This paper was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51178396/E080505).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bai, L., Shen, R., Wang, L. et al. Experimental and Numerical Study on Buckling Behavior of a Rigidly Stiffened Plate with Tee Ribs. Int J Steel Struct 18, 582–595 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13296-018-0013-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13296-018-0013-2