Shear buckling stress and normalized shear strength of trapezoidal corrugated steel web

Abstract

The trapezoidal corrugated steel web (TCSW) with a high out-of-plane bending rigidity has been widely used as an anti-buckling web in order to withstand greater shear loads. Currently, the stability design of web is based on the calculation of shear buckling stress. Classic methods may produce large deviations in the prediction of the shear buckling stress and shear strength of TCSW. In this paper, both experimental investigations and finite element analyses are carried out on TCSW with a simple model and a full beam model to reveal the influence of boundary conditions on the mechanical behaviors. Results show that the elastic shear stiffness and the post buckling strength of TCSW is greatly influenced by the flanges, while the influence of restraints provided by the flanges on the elastic buckling stress of TCSW is negligible when the buckling is not controlled by global buckling. Parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the elastic buckling stress, based on which, classic methods for the elastic local buckling stress and the global buckling stress are improved. The interaction among local buckling, global buckling and interactive buckling stress is studied, and impacts of important parameters on the buckling stress are revealed. An improved calculation method for the elastic buckling stress of TCSWs incorporating all cases of buckling modes is developed. Finally, a design formula is recommended to evaluate the normalized shear strength of TCSWs, which is proven to be more accurate than previous methods.