Structural performance of prestressed composite girders with corrugated steel plate webs

•Performance of prestressed composite girder was evaluated by experiment and analysis.•Accordion effect enhanced prestress introduction efficiency of wide flange girder.•Accordion effect was reflected in the analysis using the concept of effective section.•Behaviors of the prestressed composite beams were evaluated by a fiber element model.•Horizontal shear transfer mechanisms were investigated in detail.

In this study, the structural performance of prestressed composite girders with corrugated webs was evaluated by conducting experiments on a total of five specimens with the key test variables of prestress level, tendon layout patterns, welding methods, and shear connectors. The test results showed that flexural performances of the prestressed composite girders were superior to the non-prestressed specimen. Partial interaction analyses were also performed on the test specimens to investigate the horizontal shear transfer mechanisms between steel girder and concrete, and their results were discussed in detail.