Analysis of the Shear Buckling Strength of Variable-Section Corrugated Steel Webs

Though composite box girder bridges with variable-section corrugated steel webs (CSWs) have been constructed worldwide, their shear behavior has seldom been investigated. This study accordingly analyzed the parameters affecting the elastic shear buckling strength of variable-section CSWs using a finite element analysis (FEA) of the Nanzhao Huaihe Bridge as a case study. The existing formulas for calculating the shear buckling strength of prismatic CSWs were first shown to be inapplicable when the web height exceeded 4,000 mm; alternative formulas were therefore derived and verified to provide suitable accuracy. New formulas were then proposed to calculate the shear buckling strength of variable-section CSWs, and their results exhibited good agreement with those from the FEA. The findings of this study indicate that the boundary conditions have insignificant effect on the calculated buckling strength of different types of variable-section CSWs, as their shear strengths differed by less than 5% under simple and fixed boundary conditions. The results of this study provide an important reference for the design of variable-section CSW bridges.