Experimental and analytical behavior of haunched thin-walled RC girders and box girders

This paper presents an experimental and analytical investigation on the behavior of haunched thin-walled reinforced concrete (RC) girders and box girders subjected to centric and eccentric loads. Five tests were conducted on medium-scale RC girders and box girders to study the effect of load eccentricity and the influence of bottom slabs on their ultimate load-carrying capacities, failure mechanisms and load–deformation relationships. Accordingly, the tested girders were modeled using ADINA, and a non-linear finite element analysis was conducted. The investigation showed that load eccentricities considerably reduced the ultimate loads and the ductility of the girders with open sections. However, when the open section was converted to a full-span box section, the behaviors of the girders were significantly improved.