General behaviour and effect of rigid and non-rigid end post in stainless steel plate girders loaded in shear. Part II: Extended numerical study and design proposal

After the deep analysis and evaluation of the experimental and numerical results obtained during the described experimental campaign [Estrada I, Real E, Mirambell E. General behaviour and effect of rigid and non-rigid end post in stainless steel plate girders loaded in shear. Part I: Experimental study. Journal of Constructional Steel Research 2005 [submitted for publication]], an extended numerical analysis in code ABAQUS [Hibbit, Karlsson and Sorensen Inc., ABAQUS/Standard, Version 6.3. User’s manual. Rhode Island (USA); 2002] has been carried out dealing with the evaluation of the postbuckling strength in stainless steel plate girders. Finally, a proposal of design expressions for predicting their ultimate shear capacity is made since current design specifications dealing with shear resistance included in Eurocode 3, Part 1–4 [European Committee for Standardisation. ENV 1993-1–4. Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures. Part 1.4: General rules—supplementary rules for stainless steel. Brussels; 1996] have been demonstrated to be overly conservative.Taking special attention of the material non-linearity and the rigid or non-rigid condition of the end post, specimens covering a wide range of slenderness and aspect ratios (a/da/d from 0.5 to 3.0) have been numerically tested. Austenitic and Duplex stainless steel grades, which are the most commonly used in construction, have been evaluated during the whole analysis development.Finally, a new design proposal based on the Rotated Stress Field model developed by Höglund [Höglund T. Shear buckling resistance of steel and aluminium plate girders. Thin-Walled Structures 1998;29(1–4):13–30], adequately adapted to the particular features of stainless steel is presented in order to reach a more optimum use of this relatively modern resistant material in construction.