Authors
Abstract
The structural behavior of three steel plate girders under shear is studied. The first
one is the reference plate girder (G) which is prepared without web openings, and the
second one (GO) is fabricated to contain circular opening at the center of each web panel,
the diameter of the opening is 60% of the web depth, while the third plate girder (GOR)
is with reinforced strip welded around the circular web openings. The aspect ratio of the
panels is one and they all have the same dimensions. The experimental results obtained
from second and third plate girders have been compared with those obtained from the
reference plate girder. The comparison indicates that the reduction in the ultimate shear
load for plate girder with web opening is 51% and for the plate girder with reinforced
web opening is 35%. Also through the experimental results, new formulas are presented
to predict the ultimate shear load of perforated steel girders with large openings.
A nonlinear finite element analysis is carried out for the tested plate girders using the
package software program (ANSYS V.11). The analytical results contain the ultimate
shear capacity and Von Mises stress distribution. The results of finite element models are
compared with results of experimental tests. The difference in ultimate shear load was
10%, 9% and 1.5% for plate girders GO, GOR and G, respectively. Also a parametric
study with varying size of the reinforcement around the web openings is performed by
using the ANSYS program, and it is found that the thickness of the reinforcement strip
has higher effect than its width on the ultimate shear capacity of perforated plate girder.
Keywords
)
