Patch loading resistance of girders with corrugated webs

The corrugated steel plate is a widely used structural element in many fields of application because of its favourable properties and has been applied since the 1920s. For the last 20 years it has been increasingly used in the web of steel and composite bridges. When such a bridge is incrementally launched, buckling of the thin steel web may occur. In this paper, a numerical model is developed on the basis of previous experiments. Numerical investigations are made for the determination of the patch loading resistance, and the geometric parameters which influence the patch loading resistance and the structural behaviour are determined and analysed. Existing design formulas from the literature are summarised from the point of view of bridges, and enhanced according to the numerical results and the existing and additional experiments.