Reliability-based design recommendations for composite corrugated-web beams

Developments and advances in fabrication technology have led to a new generation of structural shapes in the composite construction market, among them, the composite sinusoidal-web girder. A sinusoidal-web girder is a built-up I-girder with a thin-walled corrugated web (with a sinusoidal profile) and flat plate flanges. The corrugated web considerably increases the rigidity and the resistance to shear forces and local effects, thus reducing the occurrence of local and shear buckling. In spite of the advantages this type of composite construction may offer, there are no standards addressing the design of such girders. In this paper, the development of reliability-based design recommendations for both composite sinusoidal beams and their connections to adjacent elements is reported. To this end: (i) finite-element models for connections and composite girders are developed and validated, (ii) theoretical models are proposed, (iii) reliability analyses are performed, and (iv) implicit reliability levels are checked against current practice. It is shown that the proposed theoretical models, despite all the complexities involved, are in good agreement with both experimental and numerical analyses. It is found that the safety levels resulting from the proposed design recommendations are consistent with current trends in structural engineering practice.

► Reliability-based design recommendations for composite sinusoidal beams are developed.
► Reliability-based design recommendations for composite connections are also suggested.
► A theoretical model to describe composite beam strength is developed.
► Statistics of the attendant random variables, including model error, are proposed.
► Implicit safety levels are consistent with current structural engineering practice.