Analysis of steel orthotropic deck plates in the non‐elastic state under variable loads

Abstract

Steel orthotropic bridge deck plates have a remarkable reserve of carrying capacity which should usefully be studied further in practice. This paper shows the application of the finite strip method to the non‐elastic analysis of such plates with arbitrary cross‐sections of the longitudinal ribs (open and closed). It should be underlined that the application of this method is partly limited and approximate; however, some known advantages of this method in some cases are particularly beneficial. The constitutive equations are deduced on the basis of the Prandtl—Reuss theory of plastic flow and the von Mises criterion of flow for the elastic‐ideal plastic material. The methods of variable stiffness of initial distortion, which requires only once stating the stiffness matrix, were used. The calculations were made for two models of such plates for two different load schemes. The results obtained in this way were verified by the experimental investigations of four models of such plates on the big scale (the investigations were made in 1973) and quite good convergency of results in the studied range were obtained.