Shear strength of trapezoidal corrugated steel webs

• Test on shear behavior of trapezoidal corrugated webs is conducted.
• Formula for calculating elastic shear buckling strength is derived.
• Influence of initial geometric imperfections on shear strength is investigated.
• Prediction formula and design formula of shear strength are proposed.

Shear strength of trapezoidal corrugated steel webs is an important issue for the design of box girder bridges with trapezoidal corrugated steel webs. Eight H-shape steel girders with trapezoidal corrugated webs are firstly tested to investigate the shear behavior of webs. An extensive parametric study based on the linear elastic buckling analysis is then conducted to derive the simplified formula for calculating the elastic shear buckling strength of trapezoidal corrugated steel webs considering three different shear buckling modes. The proposed formula can give more satisfactory results for predicting the elastic shear buckling strength than some available formulae provided in the literature when compared with the numerical results. Furthermore, the nonlinear buckling analysis is conducted to intensively investigate the shear strength associated with initial geometric imperfections, and the formulae of the shear strength are proposed. Good agreements can be observed between the results calculated using the proposed prediction formula in this paper and the experimental results, and a design formula is also recommended for the routine shear design of trapezoidal corrugated steel webs.