Lateral Torsional Buckling of Corrugated Web Plate Girders with Sinusoidal Web Profiles

Corrugated web plate girders (CWPGs) have grown in popularity in Canada in recent years because of their economic efficiency. Although research on the flexural performance of such members has increased in recent years, there are still additional advancements that can be made in their design, particularly in the calculation of lateral torsional buckling resistance. However, no research has been presented in Canada on this subject, and very minimal research has been published on CWPGs with sinusoidal corrugated webs. The purpose of this study was to examine the lateral torsional buckling strength of CWPGs with sinusoidal corrugated web profiles through experimental analysis of CWPGs that are currently being used in Canada. Nine simply supported specimens were loaded and failed in lateral torsional buckling (LTB). The nine specimens were chosen according to size in order to observe variations in LTB strength based on web thickness, web depth, and variations in identical beams. All beams tested recorded strengths far greater than conventional design strength, confirming the conservative nature of the current design procedure. As web thickness increased, a trend of ultimate capacity increasing was observed. The depth of the webs had no significant effect on LTB strength apart from what was gained by increasing the depth of the flanges. Based on the results, an equivalent web thickness equation is proposed for the purpose of calculating a more precise LTB resistance. A numerical analysis was run on a wide range of beam sizes and compared with the physical testing results. It was determined that the proposed equation effectively captured the physical testing results among more than just the tested beams. However, future work should further examine the reliability of the proposed equation by testing more specimens and/or using the finite-element method.