Efficiency of Web Cutouts for Steel Plate Girders with Corrugated Webs Versus Flat Webs Under Shear Loading

Corrugated steel plate girders are widely used as structural elements in many fields because they have excellent properties; cutouts are often provided in these plate elements to enable inspection and servicing. This paper presents an experimental and analytical study for investigating the efficiency of a steel plate girder with corrugated webs (GCWs) and a girder with flat webs (GFWs) having cutouts under shear loading. In this paper, the influence of some important parameters on the load-bearing capacity of the girders is investigated. The experimental program was conducted on six full-scale plate girders that were tested under central load at midspan. Using ANSYS V20, nonlinear analysis for determining the ultimate load for the tested girders is performed. Finally, using the experimental method and finite element method, the load-carrying capacities of the plate girders having flat webs with the plate girders having corrugated webs with cutouts under shear loading are compared. The results obtained in terms of the ultimate strength, failure mechanism, and load deflection curves were compared with the results obtained from both the experimental and analytical studies. The shear capacity of the GCWs was better and tolerated loads 22% more than GFWs.