Stresses & Strains in Plate Girder with Different Bracing Systems under Combination of Loadings

Abstract

Abstract: Lateral buckling is one of the most important factors in the design of steel plate girder. This buckling in the girder can be controlled by many methods. The most popular method is to add the intermediate bracing systems along the length of girder. The unsafely designed intermediate bracing systems can easily lead to serious consequences in the construction stage due to lateral buckling by torsion which happens rapidly and suddenly when the internal force in girder exceeds the ultimate value. Reversely, if the intermediate bracing systems are designed excessively, their specific stiffness will be larger than the required one then it is very costly in both material and installing process In the present study different types of torsional bracing systems are used in twin plate girder of span 8m. As the behavior of plate girders with different type of bracing system changes differently along the length and depth. Changing the layout of bracing systems could also make the design easy and more economical. Keywords: Cross-frame Bracings, Horizontal Bracings, Plate Girder, Finite Element Analysis